MSI Health Solutions offers ‘relief’ 

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. – A recent acquisition gives MSI Health Solutions a home base on the West Coast, positioning the company to better serve its provider customers in California and expand its business deeper into the Northwest. 

MSI, which provides medical delivery courier services, as well as outsourced respiratory therapy services, announced it acquired Garden Grove, Calif.-based Adonia Logistics in January. Adonia Logistics employs 34 couriers in California. 

“We needed to make it easier for us to recruit and train couriers on the West Coast to grow more in that area, especially in the Northwest,” said Zeb Pirzada, president and CEO. “Everyone thinks about California and forgets about Oregon and Washington state.” 

Currently, MSI has about 280 couriers and serves 30 states across the country. 

Here’s what Pirzada, whose background includes Landauer-Metropolitan, a division of QMES, which became the foundation of AdaptHealth, had to say about the ins and outs of outsourcing. 

The X factor 

MSI differentiates itself in the market, Pirzada says, by training its couriers to meet the needs of each specific provider they serve and by being accredited by The Compliance Team. 

“A lot of HMEs, whether they’re large or regional, can use a courier service locally, but they’re not going to be accredited,” he said. “We follow all the compliance guidelines – that gives them relief that they’re working with a service that understands the HME market and is accredited.” 

The pay-off 

While at QMES, Pirzada says he led the company’s efforts to outsource certain services in the early 2010s. 

“When I left in 2015, everyone was focusing their outsourcing on the front end, but no one was looking at the inherent costs of drivers and RTs,” he said. “I wanted to offer ease of service and one cost structure. What’s the true cost? They’ll see it on our invoice. It’s easier for them to do the math and plug it into their EBITDA.” 

The come back 

Outsourcing can go in and out of vogue, Pirzada acknowledges, often due to a change in management, but MSI comes out on top in the end. 

“It’s pretty funny, providers need us, and they don’t need us,” he said. “When they need us, they call us and say, ‘We need a courier in this place.’ Six months later, they’ll call back and say they don’t need a courier anymore. They believe they can hire their own or their business model has changed. But they come back to us. For every two we lose, we’re gaining five.”