What does it take to start a business in lab logistics?
The surge in e-commerce deliveries in 2020 and Amazon’s market dominance may cause some business owners and startups to overlook a last-mile opportunity in the medical field.
During the past year, couriers and fleets have benefitted from e-commerce but many have set themselves apart by developing a niche in transporting medical specimens from doctor’s offices to laboratories.
Millions of COVID-19 tests have been transported to laboratories, adding even more volume to a market that was already bursting at the seams. In the United States alone, laboratory tests are conducted on blood and tissue samples more than 13 billion times a year.
The barriers of entry to this market segment are higher than for e-commerce. For starters, couriers have to comply with HIPAA and additional OSHA regulations. They also have to provide a more premium service considering the type of freight being transported.
Besides offering 24/7 pickups from doctors’ offices and clinics, last-mile fleets in the medical field have to manage time-sensitive deliveries and specialized handling requirements. Medical samples are not the type of freight that can be dropped off at a doorstep. Many specimens are irreplaceable, and delivery errors can have deadly consequences for patients.
Starting off right
To succeed in laboratory logistics, companies will need to have a digital approach to manage the flow of time-sensitive information with customers. It is now possible for any startup or existing business to get up to speed quickly by using the right technology.
Medical clinics may already be using barcodes to label specimens to be picked up and delivered to laboratories. Fleets will need to use applications for scanning barcodes at all pickup and delivery points to prove that they arrived at the right time and place to pick up the correct items.
All parties can now benefit from technology at collection sites that secures items being transferred and also provides visibility to all parties in the chain of custody.
BoxLock’s integrated system provides the most efficient and effective method for transferring medical specimens and samples. The system uses smart IoT padlock devices that have real-time cellular connectivity to its cloud-based access control and visibility platform. Doctor’s offices use an integrated scanner on a BoxLock device to capture barcodes on items before placing them in collection boxes. This step ensures that all parties have an accurate inventory of the items that are awaiting pickups.
The system can send instant notifications to the courier and to the laboratory operations staff that specify what sites have samples ready for pickup, and identify the customer and type of testing service.
One of the main benefits for using the system is the immutable chain-of-custody. As soon as items are scanned and placed into a collection box, couriers receive instant notifications. They can also create an “available for pickup” status in their dispatch and route planning system through APIs with the cloud-based BoxLock platform.
When drivers arrive at a doctor’s office they use a unique QR code to open permissioned BoxLock devices and then scan all items they are picking up.
If you are considering a new business opportunity in medical logistics and want to stand out with customers by providing a secure, value-added process for transferring medical specimens at scale, visit BoxLock today at https://www.getboxlock.com/lab-logistics