Medical Courier App: Meaning, Importance, Features, and Top 5 Solutions

Until the early 1900s, ‘medical couriering’ was not a part of the everyday lexicon. 

Healthcare industries would rely on traditional practices like using horse-drawn carts to carry medical cargo or sending human messengers for urgent medical letters.

Fast forward to today, medical courier services have come a long way from where they started.

“Surprisingly, the global medical courier market is projected to reach $16.23 billion by 2032.” 

Thanks to the advent of digital innovations like a medical courier app and temperature-controlled logistics, medical couriers have evolved to become an indispensable part of today’s fast-paced healthcare industry.

A medical courier is integral to the swift and accurate delivery of medical items and materials.

This blog explains what a medical courier means and how it benefits to become one. It further elaborates on the concept of a medical courier app, its advantages, and the features to look for while choosing it. 

It also enumerates the top 5 medical courier apps that you might want to consider for your medical courier business.

What is a Medical Courier?

A medical courier is a professional or specialist responsible for handling medical deliveries.

Here is a general list of medical items it transports:

• Medical records
• Test results
• Medical specimen
• Medical supplies
• Blood and organs
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• X-rays

These couriers ensure the safe and efficient transportation of medical materials between healthcare facilities, laboratories, clinics, pharmacies, research institutes, and individual patients. So, they play a pivotal role in the healthcare industry. 

As medical deliveries sometimes include time-sensitive items like blood and urgent medications, delivery speed and accuracy are paramount in the medical courier industry. 

Now that the meaning of a medical courier is clear, let’s understand what a medical courier app is.

What is a Medical Courier App?

A medical courier app is a specialized software application that facilitates the safe and timely transportation of medical goods, including critical healthcare items, pharmaceuticals, and supplies.

It enables healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical facilities to prioritize orders, create delivery schedules, optimize routes, and assign them to drivers. 

It also enables configuring customer notifications to convey delivery statuses to stakeholders, including medical facilities, laboratories, research institutes, or individual patients.

Top 5 Medical Courier Apps to Consider in 2024

Here is the list of the top 5 medical courier apps you can consider choosing from.

1. Upper

Upper is the ideal route planning and optimization software that can handle medical delivery operations efficiently. The best part is the route optimization functionality that uses advanced algorithms to create optimal routes. It minimizes the time and effort to plan routes manually, cutting the total delivery distance and transit time and improving delivery efficiency. 

Further, Upper lets you schedule medical delivery routes for weeks or even months in advance and archive recurring routes for quick reference. Upper also provides dynamic estimated times of arrival to keep your customers informed about their delivery status. This visibility into the delivery operations paves the way for elevated customer satisfaction and delivery experience.

Features

• Import Stops with Spreadsheet: Directly import up to 500 delivery addresses from Excel and CSV files and filter redundancies before optimizing routes.
• Create unlimited routes: Create an unlimited number of routes, providing the flexibility you need for varying delivery schedules and locations.
• Scheduled routes: Schedule optimal routes for months and weeks ahead of time and send them to drivers with a single click.
• Proof of Delivery: Reduce the risk of fraudulent claims by collecting signatures from your customers or photos of items delivered as a digitally verifiable record. 
• Data-based reports and analytics: Real-time analysis and analytics reports help you get valuable insights into the performance of drivers and deliveries and make informed decisions. 
• API Integration: Seamlessly integrate Upper API into your existing software and systems to make the entire process easier and smoother.

Pricing starts at $100/month for up to 3 users on a monthly subscription basis for the Essentials edition.

2. Track-POD

Track-POD is a delivery management system that has its USP in an electronic proof of delivery app. It provides a mobile solution to track medical delivery vehicles in real time, analyze their performance, and confirm the delivery status. 

Moreover, Track-POD provides a smart vehicle check and maintenance feature that enables smart and paperless fleet management and proactive maintenance.  Besides, it provides multi-stop route optimization, advanced reporting, customer portals, and per-item barcode scanning that make medical delivery management hassle-free.

Pricing starts at $29 per month per driver/vehicle.

3. Onro

Onro is one of the leading names in the last-mile delivery software industry and provides a customizable app solution to manage medical deliveries. One of the salient features is the Dispatcher Panel to manage your main medical courier operations. 

It also provides a driver app to equip your medical couriers with route optimization, proof of delivery, and barcode scanning to streamline their workflows. It also provides an app for your medical clients to place orders and stay updated on the delivery status through automated customer notifications.

Pricing starts at $129 for the Starter edition, which includes 70 deliveries, with $0.17 per additional delivery.

4. Kosmo

Kosmo provides the last-mile delivery and route optimization platform that optimizes routes based on factors, including capacity, time windows, and drivers’ start points. It also lets you incorporate dedicated drivers into your system to personalize your delivery fleet.

Further, Kosmo lets you keep all your stakeholders abreast of the delivery status through real-time alerts and updates via SMS, text, email, or WhatsApp. You can also reduce your delivery time through advanced algorithms it leverages to assign routes to the most optimal drivers.

Pricing starts at $69 per month for the Launch version, which allows adding up to 300 stops.

5. Onfleet

Onfleet is a renowned name when it comes to last-mile medical delivery businesses. One of the distinguishing features is its communication abilities. Be it interacting with your internal staff or notifying your customers about delivery updates, Onfleet offers dedicated communication channels for each. 

Another salient feature it comes with is the ‘Search and Filter’ functionality. You can use it to input text, time, or status-based queries and swiftly find the desired drivers, customers, or pickup/delivery tasks. It also creates the most efficient routes for medical delivery drivers, saving fuel, transit time, and exhaustion. 

Pricing starts at $550/month for the basic Launch version.

4 Benefits of Becoming a Medical Courier 

To begin with, a medical courier is a pillar of the success of today’s healthcare logistics industry. As they contribute to the well-being of patients through time-sensitive and critical deliveries of organs or supplies, they improve a country’s health index. A medical courier business has various potential benefits, as follows.

1. Flexible schedules

Different medical courier companies offer flexible working schedules. It lets you work during non-conventional hours of your choice. You can also opt to become solo contractors who work on demand, providing you with greater autonomy and enhancing work-life balance.

2. Varied work environments

As a medical courier, you can work with hospitals, laboratories, and research centers. This variety of working environments and regular interactions with professionals from different verticals of the healthcare industry make your job interesting.

3. Job security

Unlike the other industries, the healthcare sector generally doesn’t face a recession. Therefore, the demand for medical services and deliveries stays constant. It makes your medical courier’s job secure and stable.

4. Career advancement opportunities

Based on your medical courier company’s hierarchical structure, the opportunities for career advancement may be there. If you have good experience and work ethic, your chances of promotion to supervisor or managerial roles can be fairly high.

So, the benefits of becoming a medical delivery professional are multifaceted, as clear above. 

Going ahead, let’s now understand how to become a medical courier.

What Does it Take to Become a Medical Courier?

An appropriate combination of skills and qualifications is necessary for you to become a medical courier.

1. Driver’s license

As medical deliveries involve traveling to several locations to collect or deliver medical items, a valid driver’s license is crucial. It should also have a clean record without any history of violations and penalties.

2. Relevant regulations

A medical courier has to handle sensitive patient information at times. Therefore, it is imperative for you to be aware of regional and country-specific regulatory laws for medical logistics. 

For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is applicable in the US. Similarly, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is applicable across the European Union (EU). Besides, you must adhere to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations.

3. Training and certifications

A few healthcare companies may need you to have hands-on training in handling and delivering medical supplies and equipment safely. They may also seek certifications from organizations like the National Career Health Association (NHA) and the Medical Transportation Certificate Commission (TMCC).

4. Physical fitness

A medical courier’s job requires you to lift, push, or pull heavy packages and climb stairs to deliver medical items. Therefore, physical fitness is essential to manage this profession’s rigors.

5. Attention to detail

A medical courier involves transporting sensitive and critical medical supplies. So, a presence of mind and meticulous attention to detail are crucial to ensure delivering these items at the right time and place. 

6. Communication skills

Coordinating with patients, colleagues, and healthcare providers is vital to avoid any miscommunication and ensure timely and efficient medical deliveries. So, a requisite trait you must have to become a medical courier is excellent communication skills.

So, it is clear that a medical courier’s job needs the knowledge, experience, and commitment to achieve on-time and secured medical deliveries.

Today’s medical logistics is witnessing a soaring demand for real-time tracking of medical items, securing their deliveries, and optimizing routes to cut delivery times and associated fuel/maintenance costs.

A medical courier app can be a one-stop solution to meet all these needs.  

Let’s understand how it can be beneficial for you.

4 Advantages of a Medical Courier App

A medical courier app forms the cornerstone of a successful medical delivery business. Here are the different benefits it provides.

1. Timely deliveries

Most medical delivery apps come with a ‘live-tracking’ feature that provides real-time visibility of the driver’s location and status of each medical delivery. It helps you take proactive measures like route readjustments in case of traffic or unforeseen events like accidents to avoid delays. Moreover, a medical delivery app helps create optimized routes for drivers to minimize the time they spend on traversing routes and prevent delivery delays.

2. Reduced delivery errors

A medical courier app lets you replace manual data checks and paper-based records with barcode scans and digital records. It reduces the probability of human errors like dispatching an item to the wrong location or incorrect entry of the number of shipped medical materials. It helps improve the overall delivery efficiency and accuracy.

3. Enhanced security and tracing

A medical courier system helps track medical cargo right from when it leaves till its reception at the intended destination. This ability to track your parcel’s progress in real time and acquire up-to-the-minute information about it enhances traceability, minimizing the chances of its loss during transit.

4. Improved customer service

Medical delivery apps can help you send accurate delivery estimates and real-time updates to your customers. It leads to greater transparency in your delivery operations, paving the way for increased customer trust and satisfaction levels. 

Moreover, these apps typically come with the electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD) feature. This functionality lets you keep a digitally verifiable record of each successful delivery. It reduces the need for paperwork and avoids any chances of issues or conflicts regarding the delivery status in the future.

Moving ahead, let’s understand the basic features you should seek in your medical courier app.

11 Essential Features to Look for While Choosing a Medical Courier App

Your choice of a medical courier app depends on factors like unique requirements, budget, and scale of operations.  

However, here are a few common features or functionalities that you may consider before making the final choice.

1. Real-time tracking

GPS tracking is one of the key features you should seek in any medical courier app. This feature provides you with real-time updates on your medical courier staff’s locations, estimated time of arrival, and potential bottlenecks. Sharing these ETAs with customers via emails or notifications keeps them informed, enhancing their delivery experience.

2. Barcode scanning

Sending parcels along the designated routes and securing their reception at the intended destinations is imperative to prevent costly medical delivery mistakes. Barcode scanning helps scan the unique digital identifier (barcode) associated with each distinct item. It enhances your parcel’s traceability at all the checkpoints through the route and reduces manual data entry errors while recording deliveries.

3. Advanced route scheduling with archiving

Planning optimal routes for medical deliveries in advance can help save time in creating them at the eleventh hour. So, your software should allow you to schedule routes for weeks or months in advance and archive them for future reference.

4. Delivery time windows

Your customers may want you to deliver their orders in specified time windows. Failure to do so can lead to failed delivery attempts and additional costs to redeliver them. So, another feature you must look for in your medical courier software or app is delivery time windows. It helps you plan multiple routes while considering customers’ preferred delivery time slots.

5. Priority orders

Time-sensitive medical supplies like oxygen cylinders or blood are often high-priority orders that you may need to fulfill on time. So, your medical courier app must offer the feature of setting your orders’ priority orders as ‘High,’ ‘Medium,’ and ‘Low’ to deliver urgent stops first. 

6. Safety checklist

A vehicle driver safety checklist is a systematic list of items and procedures that you and your fleet must adhere to for safe and secure medical delivery services. It can include vehicle inspection details, personal protective equipment, sanitizers, gloves, and masks. Your app should allow for integrating this checklist to enhance compliance with safety standards and protocols.

7. Electronic proof of delivery

Proof of Delivery (ePOD) involves keeping digital records (or proofs) of successful deliveries in the form of either a customer’s signature or photo. It not only reduces the paperwork to record deliveries but also improves the overall accountability for each delivery. Your medical courier app must provide the functionality of the digital proof of delivery.

8. Customer Dashboard

Using customer dashboards helps your partners or stakeholders self-manage their orders, enhancing their experience. When each partner or customer can enter their orders and make changes themselves, it reduces your burden of managing the order entry work. So, your app should feature a customer portal or dashboard to allow your clients or partners to log in and manage their orders.

9. Integration capabilities

Efficient integration with existing systems helps streamline delivery operations, reduce manual data entry, avoid reconciliation errors, and enhance overall efficiency by ensuring all the systems work synchronously. So, your medical courier service app must seamlessly integrate with your inventory management, electronic health records (EHR) systems, order processing, and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

10. User-friendly interface

A user-friendly interface is paramount for you, your drivers, and the administrative staff. Your app should be intuitive and easily navigable to reduce your staff’s learning curve. A well-designed user interface allows users to access essential features and information easily, minimizing errors and enhancing productivity.

11. Secure data storage & transfer

As medical courier services involve transporting sensitive medical supplies and sharing critical patient information, data security is essential. Your medical courier app must provide robust security measures to safeguard data during storage and transfer. It should provide encryption, access controls, and adherence to data exchange regulations to preserve the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive information.

Following the features to seek in your medical courier app, the next section takes you through the top 5 medical delivery driver apps to choose from.

Medical Courier Business + Medical Courier App = Future of Healthcare Businesses

A medical courier has emerged as the beacon to guide today’s fast-paced healthcare industry through the intricate network of medical logistics. However, running a medical courier business without a medical courier management system or app is simply unimaginable. 

This is because a medical courier app contributes to optimizing delivery routes, communicating with stakeholders, including customers, maintaining transparency, and tracking deliveries throughout transportation. If you are a medical delivery business owner, it is high time you integrate a medical courier app to redefine the efficiency of your delivery management.