Among the more progressively minded hospitals, supply chain management extends its reach and influence to just about every clinical and operational area. The most recent examples include surgical services, diagnostic imaging, interventional radiology and, to some extent, oncology. But the last frontier for supply chain management to penetrate remains a clinical operation conveniently overlooked: The laboratory.

Managing freight and shipping costs – both outbound and inbound – can be a process to hate. That is, if you’re trying to do it yourself or even doing it at all. By many estimates, hospitals and other healthcare facilities typically ignore, if not overlook, what they’re spending on shipping product out or having products shipped in. But they shouldn’t.