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NEW TECHNOLOGY


Tanzania announces world’s largest drone delivery service for critical medical supplies Tanzania announced that it is launching the world’s largest drone delivery service to provide emergency on-demand access to critical and life- saving medicines. Beginning in the first quarter of 2018, the Tanzanian government will begin using drones to make up to 2,000 life-saving deliveries per day to over one thousand health facilities, serving 10 million people across the country. The drones and delivery service are built and


operated by Zipline, a California-based automated logistics company. In October of 2016, Zipline and the Government of Rwanda launched the world’s first national drone delivery service to make on-demand emergency blood deliveries to transfusion clinics across the country. Since the October launch, Zipline has flown more than 100,000 km (over 62,000 miles) in Rwanda, delivering 2,600 units of blood over 1,400 flights. The global problem throughout both the


developed and developing world, access to life- saving and critical health products is hampered by what is known as the last-mile problem: the inability to deliver needed medicine from a city to rural or remote locations due to lack of adequate transportation, communication or supply chain infrastructure. The result is that all too often someone in need


of lifesaving care does not receive the medicine they need to survive. The Solution Countries across east Africa are leading the world in developing cutting edge solutions to the last-mile problem by pioneering on-demand drone delivery of life-saving medicine. Rwanda launched the world’s first na- tional drone delivery operation in October of 2016. Tanzania will make on-demand drone delivery


of blood transfusion supplies, emergency vac- cines, HIV medications, anti-malarials and critical medical supplies like sutures and IV tubes. Work- ing in conjunction with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and the country’s Medical Stores Depart- ment (MSD), Zipline will establish four distribution centers across the country. The first distribution center, located in Dodo-


ma, the country’s capital, will begin its first flights in the first quarter of 2018. Three additional distribution centers will follow. Each of the four distribution centers will be equipped with up to 30 drones and is capable of making up to 500 on-demand delivery flights a day. The drones can carry 1.5 kilos (3.3 lbs) of


cargo, cruising at 110 kilometers (68 miles) an hour, and have a round trip range of 160 kilo- meters (approx 100 miles). Health workers place delivery orders by text message and receive their package within 30 minutes on average. Zipline’s drones take off and land at the distribution center only, requiring no additional infrastructure at the clinics it serves. Deliveries happen from the sky, with the drone descending close to the ground and air dropping the medicine to a designated spot near the health centers.


PRODUCTS & SERVICES Who chooses the


gatekeepers? Compliance credentialing software for safety,


security should carry Supply Chain’s stamp by Rick Dana Barlow


tive staff, patients, their family members and friends. Most everyone else should satisfy estab-


A


lished parameters and qualifications for the health, safety and welfare of everyone. In other words, they should jump through plenty of hoops to guarantee little-to-no chance of aberrant and derelict behavior, violent outbursts, contagious diseases and illnesses, random malfea- sance and unauthorized and unwanted solicitation because backgrounds must be thoroughly vetted and health records up-to-date.


Supply Chain hooked into the creden- tialing world more than a decade ago, selecting from nearly a dozen of software companies, or developing something in- house, a product to install to qualify sales representatives for clinical, medical/surgi- cal, other healthcare and non-healthcare products and pharmaceuticals (search hpnonline.com for our extensive cover- age through the years, including a list of players). By 2010, the industry extended the need for credentialing via the HITECH Act to encompass all business associates entering and moving throughout the facil- ity, including delivery services for flowers, packages and even pizza. Over time, industry demand for cre- dentialing software failed to sustain the number of competitors and corporate op- tions available so many of the companies succumbed to mergers and acquisitions. Today, several relatively common names prevail either as product offerings of familiar companies or under an entirely different brand name. Because compliance credentialing ex-


tends beyond simple supplier access, questions can be raised about Supply


48 October 2017 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com


ccessing certain areas of a hospital should be easy enough for clearly identifiable clinical and administra-


Chain’s contributions to and influence on software selections, as such decisions logically may reside with the Information Technology department. After all, IT has to figure out how to plug any credentialing software into the hospital’s system, which can include enterprise-resource planning and electronic health record capabilities. Further, IT has to ensure any and all sys- tems safely sit behind rigid firewalls as a cybersecurity measure to prevent against hacking.


Round holes, square pegs? As compliance credentialing morphs into a much larger issue, where does Supply Chain fit into the mix? At or near the top of the sourcing, influ-


encing and decision-making heap, experts tell Healthcare Purchasing News. “First, a well-managed compliance and credentialing program involves all stake- holders, from compliance and Supply Chain to IT and clinical departments,” said Chris Luoma, Vice President, Product Manage- ment, GHX, which offers its Vendormate service. “Second, a high-functioning supply chain works with every department in the enterprise — administration, IT, clinical, etc. — to standardize vendor relations, contracting, on boarding, compliance and logistics across the various relation- ships a health system must have. Finally, standardized vendor relationships and business processes simplify the process for third parties. This simplification leads to higher compliance rates. When you take all of this into account, it becomes obvious that Supply Chain owns a critical component of a successful compliance and credentialing program. As such, Supply Chain professionals should be involved


Chris Luoma


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