Scott Szwast, VP of international and healthcare strategy, UPS Healthcare shares their predictions for 2025.
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Driven by ageing populations and the growth of chronic diseases, the healthcare industry is innovating like never before. As treatment and healthcare delivery evolve to meet these needs, the margins for error get even smaller – with a patient at the end waiting for their treatment.
With Europe’s aging population, these trends are even more pronounced – in fact, the OECD projects a 350% increase in healthcare expenditure by 2050.
The demand for quality, precision logistics is only set to grow, so how will the industry continue to adapt, ensuring each shipment gets where it needs to be at the right time and temperature?
Home health
We are witnessing a revolution in digital tools which are transforming our lives both at home and in healthcare. This is partly because of COVID, but also because patients are consumers who want the convenience we have in our daily lives in healthcare.
And it has accelerated, of course, a lot of what’s going on in healthcare. The best example of this, which is commonplace, is telemedicine which has been adopted worldwide. We only need to look to Denmark where elderly patients with chronic conditions are monitored remotely using wearable devices. If something goes wrong messages are sent directly to their healthcare professional, which has helped reduce hospital admissions by 60%, and the mortality rates by 40%.
Combined with monitoring, you can also engage in home delivery of prescriptions, or specimen collection which is a win-win for everyone. Hospitals get to free up scarce beds for patients who need them more urgently, while patients benefit from an improved experience at home.
The growth of decentralised healthcare marks a real inflection point for supply chains. With the right investment and design, we can see them go from merely properly storing and transporting complex shipments to playing an active role in changing how we deliver healthcare and, most importantly, driving better patient outcomes.
Digitisation (automation, AI, digital networks)
Driven by the need for precision, transparency, and patient safety, the healthcare sector has become a front-runner in leveraging digitisation and advanced technologies.
We can all see the revolutionary potential AI has for healthcare, enabling more accurate diagnostics, personalised treatments, streamlined operations, and much more. Excitingly for supply chains, it can help us better make sense of various data streams, not only improving efficiencies but also helping us shift from a reactive to a predictive model when it comes to identifying issues that could put healthcare shipments at risk.
The visibility of this data, however, is only one-half of the equation. Being able to act on this data – having ‘control’ – is the other. In operations, robotics and automation technologies streamline processes such as picking, packing, and shipping. Automated systems equipped with computer vision and machine learning algorithms enhance accuracy and scalability while reducing reliance on manual labor and mitigating human errors.
The best supply chains can and will run from a 'control tower' overview, pulling together a comprehensive data stream from pick-up to delivery that makes your supply chain ‘smarter’ and, by extension, more resilient – especially if one area were to go down. When the treatments are as complex as they are today smart, fast, sustainable decisions based on real-time data instead of guesswork are essential.
Sustainability
All these trends and innovations must be accomplished in the context of increased demand for sustainable operations by customers and governments. Healthcare accounts for 4.4% of global CO2 emissions – more than either the aviation or shipping industries and so every little counts.
In the healthcare industry, more than two-thirds of medical industry emissions are because of Scope 3 causes - defined as activities that impact a company’s value chain but are not carried out directly, such as transport and packaging.
So, there’s not only an incredible need for sustainability gains but an incredible opportunity. Alongside the efficiency gains bought about through the increased use of AI, automation, and other digital tools, we expect circular practices to gain momentum with greater emphasis on using less, using longer, and using again.
Whether through recyclable packaging, renewable energy, reducing wastewater, or taking advantage of more readily available renewable energy there are real opportunities to drive the sustainability agenda in the healthcare space, with a positive financial impact.
Looking ahead
Now this can all sound abstract, but when you consider even 0.5% of pharma shipments impacted or spoiled by temperature can incur substantial costs (in the millions) – not to mention affect patients – we can see how important supply chains are for the future of healthcare. Building multi-modal supply chains that are resilient, adaptable, and sustainable is critical to delivering the future of healthcare.