UPS Plans Home Health Services With US Vaccine Project

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – United Parcel Service Inc. wants to go beyond the doors of the United States with new momentum in the health sector.

Reuters has learned that the world's largest parcel delivery company is about to test an American service that is sending nurses to vaccinate adults at home while the company and its health-care customers are working to cope with the competitive pressures and pressures of Amazon.com.

UPS did not disclose the vaccines that it would use as part of the project, but drug and vaccine maker Merck & Co announced to Reuters that it was considering joining forces with society as part of this initiative.

The project, which has not yet been reported, shows how UPS is targeting a larger slice of the $ 85 billion outsourced healthcare logistics market. Deutsche Post's DHL Group leads the market, which is expected to reach $ 105 billion by 2021.

"The world is headed for services above the threshold," said Chris Cbadidy, who had joined GlaxoSmithKline PLC last year to oversee the global strategy of health care logistics, in an interview with the company. UPS Worldport factory in Louisville.

Here's how the test, which is scheduled for release at the end of the year, will be as follows: Workers at the 1.7 million square foot UPS health care complex in Worldport will pack and ship the vaccine one of more than 4,700 franchised UPS stores. A home-based nurse recruited by UPS's clinical trial logistics unit, known as Marken, will pick up the isolated package, transport it to the last kilometer to the patient's home and administer the package. vaccine, which will target a viral disease in the adult.

The goal of the test is to "see if we can connect all these points," said Wes Wheeler, general manager of Marken, which was purchased by UPS in 2016 and oversees the vaccine project.

It is at a time when the parcel delivery sector is preparing for the impact of the economic crisis and competition from Amazon, which has become a rival to the competition, which is building its own logistics network to contain the considerable cost of shipping. abandonment of millions of parcels by buyers.

UPS health care customers, who are subject to policy oversight of high drug prices and system waste, are also under pressure from Amazon.

The world's largest online retailer partners with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co to reduce prescription drug costs for their employees. In addition, he tipped the sector last year with the purchase of a billion dollars from the online pharmacy PillPack.

Experts say an increase in US adult vaccination rates would reduce health care costs by curbing preventable diseases that lead to physician visits and hospitalizations.

Merck, a major UPS customer for healthcare, has a portfolio of vaccines against the virus, shingles and hepatitis B flu. The spokeswoman, Pamela Eisele, said the company was considering the project while she was looking for new ways to increase access to her drugs and vaccines and to increase rates of vaccination of adults.

Experts said the UPS project could also save money by having the vaccine delivered by contracted home nurses, rather than by better-paid doctors. But the test, a first for a large US shipper, is not a guarantee for UPS: the CEO Marken said he had to find a way to charge the new service to health insurers.

NEW BORDERS

UPS, DHL and specialty shippers have some home health projects around the world, mostly in countries with single payer health systems.

DHL, the leader in health care logistics, with an annual business turnover of more than 3 billion euros ($ 3.4 billion) related to the medical sector, transports British patients to their home country. home to their non-emergency appointments at the hospital.

Polar Speed, a specialty logistics company purchased by UK in the US and acquired in 2014, brings together trained and audited drivers who enter homes to file prescriptions, deliver and install medical refrigerators and infusion pumps, and eliminate waste such as syringes and dressings.

Pharmaceutical companies are already paying Marken to administer vaccines to patients testing their experimental drugs.

Cathy Morrow Roberson, who founded the logistics consulting firm Trends Trends & Insights after more than 10 years working as an badyst at UPS in Atlanta, said the vaccine project exploited the strengths and expertise gained by the company. society since the early 2000s in the health sector.

"They reap the benefits of all the acquisitions and investments made," she said.

The effort is designed to put even more distance between UPS and Amazon, which has neither the specialized warehouse nor the temperature-controlled transport and temperature control infrastructure that healthcare companies need. . Amazon currently uses UPS and FedEx Corp for PillPack home deliveries.

Major insurers contacted by Reuters have refused to say what they pay for administering the vaccines. However, an badysis of MarketScan's 2010 health claims data highlights the topic: the average cost of a herpes zoster injection was $ 208.72 at the physician's office and $ 168.50 at a pharmacy. . The flu vaccine costs less than $ 30 in both places. The provider of this data refused to update it.

Providing home vaccines at a competitive price may not be the only obstacle to the success of the UPS project, said Stephen Buck, chief executive of Courage Health and former vice president of McKesson Corp.

"Pharmacies and doctors may not be happy that a new player is competing with them," Buck said.