The Future of Healthcare is Now

At our 2022 UPS Healthcare Forum, I had the opportunity to address a group of pharma, lab diagnostics, and medical device executives. I shared some background on UPS Healthcare as a specialized segment of UPS and discussed the six key drivers impacting the healthcare industry and shaping how we’re evolving to meet our customers’ needs.

Timing is everything

In early 2020, we were standing up UPS Healthcare as a vertical focused solely on healthcare logistics. We combined our GMP-compliant warehouses, healthcare acquisitions and functional support units under one structure.

Then the pandemic hit. And we immediately saw the role we could play in helping the world get back on its feet.

Our clinical unit, Marken, was supporting vaccine trials so we had early insight into the fragile, temperature-sensitive molecules being developed. We knew that we needed to expand our global cold chain capabilities to support their delivery.

We had no idea which vaccine candidates would launch first, so we designed our cold chain for all possibilities. Now, as we look at the road ahead, we have the unique opportunity to re-think how we build and adapt our healthcare network.

Key Drivers to Future Supply Chains

During my Forum discussion, I referenced the six key drivers impacting the healthcare industry.

• Shorter clinical trial approval cycles: The pandemic proved that time-to-market could be much faster. Digital tools, telehealth services, and AI now also play a role in clinical studies.
• Innovation in medicine: Biologics, cell and gene therapies, and personalized medicine demand extremely specific storage and transport temperatures.
• “De-risk” our supply chains: We need to create flexible and alternative sources of drugs and devices.
• More collaboration between public and private sectors: During the pandemic, the partnership of private and public entities in Operation Warp Speed likely contributed to the saving of hundreds of thousands of lives. But it goes beyond vaccine distribution ? private/public collaboration will also play a key role in developing greener supply chains.
• A need for better equity in distribution: The pandemic exposed gaps in the global supply chains for lower and middle-income countries. There is clearly a need for increased collaboration between governments and humanitarian agencies.
• Move to virtual, home-based healthcare: The hospital of the future may not be a physical space. It could be a network with nodes and connections that can monitor patients anywhere – virtually.

We are building a globally connected, tech-enabled cold chain network to cover the globe. We will continue to build healthcare compliant space at all temperature ranges all over the world, closer to the source and close to the end user. And we will have an active transportation network to support it. We understand that our customers want an end-to-end service offering – the first mile, the last mile, and the middle part where all the magic happens.

We’re extremely proud to have contributed to pandemic relief efforts, and we are a stronger organization because of our involvement. We’ll continue to work diligently towards our goal of being the number one healthcare logistics provider in the world.

Dive deeper into the Six Key Drivers of Healthcare by downloading the UPS Healthcare Forum Whitepaper .