When you need to transport lab specimens, you must deliver them safely, securely, and on time. The lives of those you love may literally depend on it.
Shipping biological material such as tissue or fluids entails far more than packing them into a box and calling your local delivery company. It’s important to understand the legal and logistical requirements for handling lab specimens properly.
Discover what goes on behind the scenes when transporting critical medical shipments so you can be sure they’re in good hands no matter where they go.
The Importance of Accurate Lab Specimen Delivery
Every lab specimen is an original; it can never be replicated or replaced. That’s why safe and reliable transportation is utterly essential. Every single sample should be treated as priceless, irreplaceable property.
In addition, lab specimens contain critical information that can affect a patient’s health in life-altering ways. If a tissue or fluid sample is lost, delayed, or contaminated, the results could be disastrous in terms of adequate healthcare.
Medical professionals have enough to focus on without worrying about transporting lab specimens. The time it takes to manage all the daily tasks involved — coordinating pick-up and delivery times, managing meticulous records, ensuring proper handling and packaging of the specimens, and maintaining cars and drivers — adds up fast.
But when you let a qualified medical courier service handle your lab specimen deliveries, you’re doing yourself and your team a huge favor. A courier service can take care of all aspects of your shipments.
Whether they need to travel down the street or across the country … whether they need to be delivered overnight or within the hour … whether they’re sent by air or ground … or whether it’s one specimen or 100, partnering with a courier service can ensure everything is done properly, accurately, safely, and on time.
Specimen Processing and Consolidation
An experienced medical courier service regularly handles hundreds or even thousands of lab specimens every day. Because of the frequent high volume of samples, it’s necessary to consolidate and process them using consistent, reliable methods.
When choosing the best medical courier service, insist on the following qualifications:
• A medical courier should operate its own secure facilities
• They process and consolidate all deliveries through a central hub
• They treat every lab sample with careful, temperature-controlled conditions
• They take every safety and security measure ensure each sample’s viability
Aside from accuracy and quality control, the most important reason for specimen processing and consolidation is cost savings. Done correctly, it’s an efficient way of delivering a high volume of specimens to different destinations around the country. Courier services save money, and they pass these savings along to their customers — and the savings can add up quickly for busy labs and medical facilities.
The process begins when a customer service rep from the courier calls your customers each day — on your behalf — to see if they have any pick-ups. Your clients will appreciate your proactive approach to serving them.
In addition to this “call first” service, you may also take advantage of the “just go” service, which allows a doctor’s office to interact with the same driver every day and not worry about calling ahead. This type of daily arrangement typically saves the customer around 15-20% off their delivery costs.
Full Chain of Custody and Transparency
While keeping lab specimens safe and whole during transport is imperative to medical couriers, so is security. In fact, security should be as important to the courier service as it is to their customers.
From pick-up to its final destination, every single specimen must be accurately trackable and identifiable 100% of the time.
As the whereabouts of all specimen packages must be fully transparent (to the courier service and the customers), their contents must remain completely confidential. The most dependable medical courier services have highly secured servers at all their locations so their customers can be confident that their information is handled confidentially.
Everyone involved in the chain of custody should be trained and knowledgeable about handling specimens appropriately and safely. Even drivers ought to be required to wear uniforms, be bonded/insured, and have photo identification with them at all times.
Stat Experts, one of the country’s leading medical courier services, uses Datarac software to track package location and movement in real-time. Proof of delivery documentation and invoicing are automated and constantly monitored. This kind of secure network simplifies communication, minimizes disputes, and streamlines the delivery and freight settlement process.
The type of state-of-the-art technology a medical courier should be using includes 24/7 online tracking, advanced shipment notification, bar code scanning, instant communication, same-day electronic PODs, and data capture.
Why Choose Stat Experts for Lab Specimen Delivery
When choosing a qualified medical courier service, it pays to consider using Stat Experts. We offer the highest quality of service available for the most reasonable rates we can offer.
The Stat Experts team works closely with our customers to find just the right service package to meet your needs while saving you money. Whether you need daily pick-ups, optimized routing, or urgent deliveries, Stat Experts can build a plan just for you.
You can rely on Stat Experts because we offer:
• TSA-certified drivers
• Shipping for specimens from anywhere in the U.S.
• Full OSHA, HIPAA & CAP compliance
• Pick-up and delivery of medical specimens, including temperature controlled
• Scheduled routing and transfers between multi-site healthcare systems
• Warehouse and facility support
• On-site storage of medical equipment and parts
• STAT Service (3-, 2-, or 1-hour deliveries)
Contact Stat Experts today to get a quote for your medical courier needs. We’re ready to make your job easier and handle all the details for you.
