University of Rochester Medical Center
The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) is a large, integrated academic health center located in Rochester, New York, employing over 37,000 staff across six counties. URMC supports 11 hospitals and 630 off-site facilities, plus 850 daily home deliveries, delivering essential medications and other supplies critical to patient care.
Courier Services Expand to Meet Rising Demand
The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Courier Services has transformed from a small-scale operation intoan agile delivery network. Before COVID-19, URMC managed just 30 daily deliveries with six drivers. But as delivery became essential to patient care, URMC scaled up quickly and now completes over 850 daily deliveries across six counties, connecting patients with critical prescriptions and healthcare essentials from seven pharmacies, including major hospital networks. This explosive growth required an innovative approach to manage increasing volume and complexity.
Telematics in Action
URMC initially adopted Fleetistics to gain visibility over vehicle locations using Geotab telematics, a critical capability for their sprawling service area. Knowing where vehicles are at all times in a large fleet spread across multiple locations is vital for a complex operation. Beyond logistics, telematics helped URMC recover three stolen vehicles. URMC’s telematics reach now spans 21 departments, making it a key tool for monitoring assets. This visibility and tracking provided helpful insights, but didn’t solve the challenge of ever-growing pharmacy deliveries.
Unlocking Growth and Efficiency
Faced with exponential demand, URMC’s courier service could no longer rely on static routes. Tight delivery time windows and an expanding network of stops demanded a dynamic solution. Fleetistics introduced URMC to partner Route4Me to address these demands. Enabling optimized, reliable routing with a supportive, easy-to-use interface, Route4Me’s last mile optimization allowed URMC to shift to 95% on-demand routing. Route optimization helps URMC to utilize resources such as staff, vehicles, and time efficiently. Route4Me intelligently accounts for time windows, stop volume, and driver schedules, cutting route planning time from hours to minutes while creating efficient routes. This seamless operation has helped URMC to expand services from the Employee Pharmacy to seven pharmacies across 11 hospitals. This growth has been both manageable and profitable, positioning URMC for continued expansion.
Scaling for the Future with Trusted Partners
Geotab telematics from Fleetistics provided real-time tracking across the vast delivery network, while Route4Me’s route optimization turned complex logistics into smooth, scalable workflows. This integrated ecosystem positions URMC to handle even higher delivery volumes, with plans to exceed 1,000 daily deliveries.
