Cardinal Health addresses complexities of hospital-at-home

DUBLIN, Ohio – Cardinal Health has launched Velocare, a supply chain network and last-mile fulfillment solution that the company says is capable of reaching patients in one to two hours with the critical products and services that are required for hospital-level care at home.

Cardinal Health’s at-Home Solutions division is piloting Velocare with a health system customer of Medically Home.

"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. "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."

Cardinal Health was one of a handful of companies that became strategic investors in Medically Home earlier this year to advance hospital-at-home care.

Velocare builds on Cardinal Health’s legacy capabilities, which include global logistics and distribution expertise, management of a large network of suppliers and vendors, and access to a wide range of home care providers, by adding new technology and order handling processes, small-format depots and short-haul delivery vehicles.

The complexity of supply chain logistics is one of the significant barriers to health systems adopting hospital-at-home care for their patients, says Rami Karjian, CEO of Medically Home.

"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," he said. “This collaboration with Cardinal Health further enables the transformation of the delivery of patient care, which is at the heart of everything we do." 

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 and 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 U.S. 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.