A Better Mobile App for Lab Outreach & Medical Courier Operations

These days, there’s a mobile app for just about everything, and that includes lab outreach operations for tracking and managing medical couriers for pickups and deliveries. But if you’ve ever tried to find a good courier management solution on the Apple or Google app stores, you probably know that store apps typically come with major limitations.

Most mobile apps aren’t designed for business needs in the first place, or they’re lacking the functionality that’s needed for specific real world use cases. And medical courier management is a good example of one of those use cases.

There are many general-purpose courier mobile apps available on the Apple App Store or Google Play, but nearly every solution is designed for managing the delivery of consumer goods. They’re really not designed specifically for medical courier operations, and they’re completely missing the core features and capabilities that lab managers need.

Typically, lab managers need a solution that can handle:

• Dispatching
• Pick-up scheduling
• Route optimization
• Specimen tracking
• Real-time GPS and data
• Signature capture
• Customer receipts
• Administrative functions

Unfortunately, you won’t find these capabilities in any consumer app store. Some apps provide basic tracking capabilities but they’re missing the core features that are really needed for lab outreach, specimen tracking, and true medical courier management.

For this reason, MCE developed the most comprehensive mobile app designed specifically for medical courier operations. As a technology provider, software developer, and systems integrator for the healthcare courier industry for over 15 years, MCE has listened to the concerns and frustrations labs experienced within their courier operations. With this information MCE has developed an extensive technology platform that meets the needs of both lab administrators in the office and couriers in the field.

MCE, which is a cloud-based mobile and desktop software solution, is a single app that helps you manage and track specimens in real time, from pickup to lab delivery, with complete scheduling, route optimization, traceability, proof of delivery, and signature capture.

Lab managers can access MCE through an administrative website from any Internet-connected device, and couriers can access the mobile app on a mobile computer, such as Zebra’s TC26 touch mobile computer, a high-powered, durable and enterprise-class device for medical courier management.

The app delivers all the functionality that our medical laboratory customers told us they needed, including:

• Real-time GPS tracking of pickups, deliveries and routes
• Real-time dispatch and instant courier notifications of new pickups
• Route optimization for less drive time and better efficiency
• Specimen identification and tracking
• Signature capture and proof of delivery

The administrative website provides:

• Map views of courier locations
• Routing plans
• Dispatching
• Paperless digital processes and automation
• Dashboards and reports on courier status and performance, and more.

Having these capabilities at their fingertips made an immediate impact for our lab customers. For example, a recent audit showed that using MCE saved one of our clients $1.23 per stop versus using conventional lab courier scheduling, tracking and routing. At 500 stops per day, that’s a savings of $615 per day, $3,075 per week, and $159,900 per year!

But going digital and using a dedicated medical courier mobile app also made lab managers’ and couriers jobs and lives much easier.

By having all pickup and delivery workflows automated and optimized for seamless efficiency and traceability, there was no longer doubt over the status and timing of any delivery, specimen, or its chain of custody. They could also add additional pickup or delivery sites easily, instantly notify their couriers, and have routes optimized in real time.

In the years that MCE has been used by medical labs across the U.S., we’ve consistently received overwhelmingly positive feedback on how much the solution helps labs improve their courier efficiency while ensuring full traceability and compliance. But we also continue to gather feedback and suggestions to continuously improve our software and make sure it delivers what labs and medical courier operations need.

It’s the sort of industry use case functionality and focus you don’t get with app store apps, and it’s something you can see for yourself by simply arranging a quick demo with our team at Taylor Data.

Connect with us right now, and we’ll be happy to set up a demo, learn more about your needs, and explore how MCE can address each of those needs in an all-in-one solution for specimen tracking and courier management. Just contact us now to get started.