U.S. health systems and laboratories are losing millions of dollars and harming the delivery of care due to avoidable last-mile logistics delivery errors, according to a study by global consulting firm LEK Consulting and MedSpeed, an Illinois-based provider of medical courier services.
Examples of these errors include mishandled laboratory specimens, compromised pharmaceuticals, and delayed surgical supplies. Because they occur in the health care sector, they can quickly lead to costly and severe consequences, the researchers said.
“In healthcare, almost every patient interaction relies on last-mile logistics,” Ilya Trachtenberg, managing director of LEK, said in a statement. “One delivery gone wrong can mean the difference between timely, effective care and harmful delay. These errors can derail surgical procedures, jeopardize lab results, impact patient safety, and damage reputations.”
In additional findings, the white paper titled “The True Value of Last Mile Logistics in Healthcare” found that:
- $1 million is the average annual loss for medium-sized health systems due to sample mishandling, such as lost biopsies, spoiled blood samples, or improperly stored treatments.
- More than 50% of nurses reported that medical courier errors resulted in at least one procedure being delayed or canceled in the past year, with each event costing an average of $4,500.
- Mistakes involving critical items such as temperature-controlled pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, or sterile supplies can result in patient safety risks, reputational damage, and legal exposure.
“As health systems and laboratories face an increasingly challenging environment, scaling up last-mile logistics is no longer optional,” said Jake Crampton, CEO of MedSpeed. “Reliable, high-performance logistics is not a nice-to-have, it is a basic requirement for delivering cost-effective, patient-centered care.”
