Case study with Kettering Health Specialty Pharmacy
Specialty pharmacy shipping volume growth is an ongoing challenge for health systems in 2024. While expansion is a good thing, there are bound to be some growing pains along the way. You can put your confidence in us to make scaling your business as seamless as possible.
Longtime VPL customer Kevin Blackburn, RPh, Pharmacy Director at Kettering Health, recently sat down with us to share how VPL has helped his team manage their shipping growth over the years with unwavering commitment to the highest standards for their patients.
“Before we had VPL, we were going to the FedEx and UPS websites to set up shipping directly,” said Kevin. “This complicated things because staff were spending a lot of time shopping around, or using shipping methods that weren’t the most cost-effective.”
Back then, Kettering was shipping over 40,000 parcels annually and has since expanded its volume significantly. As shipping operations began to take over more and more of his team’s time, Kevin recognized the need for a better solution.
By partnering with VPL, Kettering saved $144,000 on its freight management program in the first year with 55,371 shipments managed. Today, VPL manages 60,000+ shipments with a volume increase of 51 percent. With that much growth, managing volume is still a key concern.
Kettering's biggest challenge today
“Our biggest challenge in 2024 has been increased shipping volume,” said Kevin. “Each year, we continue to push more volume through the system. That said, shipping is taking up more and more of our time, but we need it not to.”
We’re committed to growing alongside our customers to solve their biggest headaches. Now that Kettering is a veteran with VPL, Kevin spoke to how we’ve helped his team meet the demands of their increased shipping volume within their specialty pharmacy.
“[VPL] took it upon themselves to integrate their solution with Asembia-1, our patient management system. This integration makes it very easy for us to pull regular reports to ensure that we’re meeting our policies and procedures.”
He continued, “Our specialty pharmacy is concentrated on oncology medications to treat patients with cancer. We can’t afford to have delayed shipments. Our policy is to get things to patients within a 24-hour period and very seldom does that not happen. If it does, we can reach out to VPL to handle it.”
With centralized access to carriers and couriers, real-time data analytics, and clinical integrations, VPL helps health systems save time and money while optimizing specialty pharmacy shipping volume growth. To see what we can do for your health system and/or specialty pharmacy, request a demo today at https://getvpl.com/demo/.
About VPL Rx
VPL Rx is a clinically minded shipping, tracking, and compliance solution designed to modernize pharmacy distribution and promote healthier patients. Our quicker shipping workflow delivers prescriptions safely with real-time tracking, delivery alerts, and last-mile intervention. Exportable performance reporting and data analytics help pharmacies optimize costs and maintain compliance and accreditation.
