February 8, 2023 – Cardinal Health took a deep dive into the hospital-at-home movement this past fall with the launch of Velocare™, a supply chain network and last-mile fulfillment service capable of reaching patients in one to two hours with products and services required for hospital-level care at home. Through what it described as a strategic collaboration with Boston-based Medically Home, Cardinal Health at-Home Solutions was already supporting a Medically Home health system customer with Velocare.
The announcement also signaled Cardinal Health’s deepening ties with Medically Home. In January 2022, Cardinal Health joined Baxter International and Global Medical Response in a $110 million round of funding for Medically Home.
Here’s how the Velocare program works:
- 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 (RPM) technology. All contracting, credentialing and integration within the Velocare supplier network will be managed by Cardinal Health.
- When an order is placed, a care coordinator team reviews and routes it to the nearest local Cardinal Health depot or warehouse for immediate service.
- The depot team loads items into a Cardinal Health vehicle and delivers them to the home in coordination with the patient and/or care team. Velocare technology is used to ensure care is delivered to patients on time.
- After a hospital-at-home stay has been completed, Cardinal Health arranges for the collection of remaining medical supplies. RPM technology is cleaned, tested and reconditioned in a facility registered by the Federal Drug Administration, then redeployed. Cardinal Health consolidates billing and invoicing across its network of suppliers to streamline the payment process.
Medically Home works with a number of leading health systems across the country, says Alex Hoopes, director, healthcare innovation, Cardinal Health at-Home. “We have launched our pilot with one of those customers so we can test and learn in a controlled environment before expanding. There are several existing and future Medically Home customers that we believe will benefit from Velocare.”
Read more in the latest issue of Repertoire Magazine.