Now more than ever, healthcare facilities are under pressure to reduce costs so they can continue to provide high-quality care for their patients. An often overlooked, but sizeable area is shipping costs. Due to the complex transportation needs of healthcare, many of these facilities need help managing their shipments across multiple points of care and driving down costs. To accomplish this, facilities partner with OptiFreight® Logistics by Cardinal Health, an industry leader in comprehensive healthcare freight management.
Monitoring shipping costs leads to sustainable savings
OptiFreight® Logistics saves healthcare customers up to 30 to 50 percent on shipments* ordered direct from suppliers as well as outbound to other healthcare facilities or to patients. OptiFreight® Logistics takes a collaborative approach with its customers to manage more freight based on customization, optimization and innovation with an overall goal to create additional savings for customers.
“Today, we work with many carriers and couriers to serve our customers in regions all over the United States and Canada,” Laber noted. “We have the largest, most experienced team in the industry, managing more than 7,000 suppliers and over 20 million shipments each year to more than 22,000 shipping locations*. Last year alone, we saved customers more than $537 million in shipping expenses*.”
OptiFreight® Logistics is strengthened by the scale and supply chain expertise of Cardinal Health, a $130 billion global, integrated healthcare services and products company.
The OptiFreight® Logistics team uses robust data analytics to view transportation spend and identify cost-savings and efficiency opportunities. Its customer website provides shipping advice and videos to quickly and effectively train new users.
Urgent transportation support during a global pandemic
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, OptiFreight® Logistics has helped many customers navigate the immediate demand for specialized transportation needs, such as international imports of personal protective equipment (PPE), bulk orders of necessary supplies and even additional local courier support around their hospital networks.
“The financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has placed increased pressure on hospitals to look for even more ways to save money,” Laber said. “Our customers are facing urgent shipping needs and look to us for the solution. In a crisis like this, it really makes a difference to have a strategic, well-connected freight management team that is just one call away. I have been so impressed with our team and all our carriers that have shown dedication and innovation to quickly serve the needs of health systems during this challenging time.”
Evolving to meet the needs of the healthcare industry
OptiFreight® Logistics is continuing to evolve to support the growing complexity of healthcare transportation. “There are many, many ways to optimize savings,” says Laber. “We provide a total management approach inclusive of managing multi-carrier small parcel shipments, large freight, same-day and next-day deliveries via couriers and regional parcel carriers and customize a solution for each customer.”
“Bringing new savings ideas to our customers is what gets us excited,” says Laber. “Our team is located across the United States, working alongside customers to help with training, building efficiencies, scaling the program appropriately and improving processes.”
OptiFreight® Logistics serves healthcare facilities across the continuum of care. Learn more at cardinalhealth.com/optifreight or email [email protected].
Sponsored by Cardinal HealthTM OptiFreight® Logistics
*Based on internal OptiFreight® Logistics 2019 customer data
