Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) has created a supply chain solution tailored to support the burgeoning hospital-at-home movement.
Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal’s Velocare is described as a supply chain network and last-mile fulfillment solution capable of reaching patients in one to two hours with critical products and services required for hospital-level care at home.
To start, Cardinal Health at-Home Solutions is supporting a Medically Home health system customer pilot with Velocare, collectively enabling scaled, high-acuity care in the home. (In January 2022, Boston-based Medically Home announced that Cardinal Health was one of its investors.)
Cardinal said Velocare brings together its capabilities through a combined offering intended for health systems, payers, digital health companies, telehealth providers and other entities moving high-acuity care to the home. Legacy Cardinal Health capabilities include global logistics and distribution expertise, management of a large network of suppliers and vendors, and access to a wide range of home-based care providers. The pilot with Medically Home will test the use of new technology, new order handling processes, small-format depots and short-haul delivery vehicles.
"We're excited to further expand our at-Home Solutions supply chain and logistics excellence to now reach patients receiving hospital-level care at home," said Rob Schlissberg, president, at-Home Solutions, in a statement. "With their mission of putting the patient at the center of care, combined with their differentiated supply chain network, Medically Home leads the way in bringing the hospital home. Our collaboration is driving scale and efficiency, and ultimately provides positive patient outcomes."
The Velocare pilot includes real-time evaluation of the technology, service levels, effectiveness, patient experiences, plus consideration for future growth in new markets.
"The ability to further scale the delivery of goods to the home will advance the rapidly growing hospital-at-home market, driving scale and efficiency for Medically Home's high-acuity care model," said Rami Karjian, CEO of Medically Home, in a statement. "The complexity of supply chain logistics is one of the significant barriers to health systems providing hospital-at-home care to their patients. This collaboration with Cardinal Health further enables the transformation of the delivery of patient care, which is at the heart of everything we do."
Cardinal described how Velocare works:
• Order: Orders are placed through the Velocare platform for specific goods and/or services to be delivered to patients receiving care in hospital-at-home programs. Common items available through delivery include medical waste containers, medically tailored meals, medical supplies, medical devices, and remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology. All contracting, credentialing, and integration within the Velocare supplier network is managed by Cardinal Health.
• Route: When an order is placed, a care coordinator team reviews and routes that order to the nearest local Cardinal Health depot or warehouse for immediate service.
• Deliver: The depot team then loads the ordered items into a Cardinal Health vehicle and promptly delivers them to the home in coordination with the patient and/or their care team. Throughout this process, Velocare technology provides visibility to ensure care is delivered to patients on time.
• Collect: Once a hospital-at-home stay is complete, Cardinal Health will arrange for the collection of remaining medical supplies. Any RPM technology will be cleaned, tested and reconditioned in a facility registered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to then be redeployed. Cardinal Health will also consolidate all billing and invoicing across its network of suppliers to streamline the payment process.
