Cardinal Health Aims to Bring Hospital-Level Care to the Home

Cardinal Health has launched Velocare, a supply chain network and last-mile fulfillment solution able to reach patients in one to two hours with integral products and services needed for hospital-level care at home.
 
Via a strategic collaboration with Medically Home, Cardinal Health at-Home Solutions is supporting a Medically Home health system customer with Velocare to permit scaled, high-acuity care in the home.
 
The combined offering is intended for health systems, payers, digital health firms, telehealth providers, and other organizations moving high-acuity care to the come. Cardinal Health brings global logistics and distribution expertise, management of a large supplier/vendor network, and access to a range of home-based care providers.
 
The pilot will tests use of new tech, order handling processes, small=format depots, and short-haul delivery vehicles for safe and consistent care.
 
“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,” Rob Schlissberg, president of Cardinal Health at-Home Solutions told the press. “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 tech, service levels, effectiveness, patient experiences, and consideration for future growth in new markets.
 
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 technology. All contracting, credentialing, and integration within the Velocare supplier network is managed by Cardinal Health.
 
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. 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.
 
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.
 
“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. “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.”