As we enter the end-of-year holiday shipping surge, logistics providers, shippers and receivers are busier than ever. The increased volume of shipments, combined with unpredictable and disruptive weather, strains transportation and logistics networks, and can mean shipping delays, longer lead times and higher shipment costs. 

The impact of these elements is felt across every industry, but they’re especially costly in healthcare. Shipment delays of lifesaving medications and essential tools for surgeries and medical treatments can have a serious impact on hospitals, integrated delivery networks, surgery centers, clinics and independent laboratories and pharmacies — and, most importantly, on patients’ health outcomes.

Throughout the year, healthcare providers are under tremendous pressure to find cost savings and efficiencies, while ensuring that they get the product they need to maintain optimal patient care. That pressure only increases during the peak season. Following are some that ways healthcare facilities can manage through to the new year.

Maintain a comprehensive view of your supply chain. Especially during peak season, real-time logistics data is critical. Without access to the right data, healthcare organizations don’t have visibility into their supply chains. On the other hand, with a comprehensive view of your supply chain, you can track near real-time status of your shipments, make strategic logistics decisions, and identify and solve potential complications with speed and agility.

Throughout these coming weeks, keep a closer-than-usual eye on your inbound and outbound shipments. Sign up for your carriers’ service alerts so that you can proactively address weather delays. In addition, be prepared for increased costs created by higher demand. These are the temporary surcharges shippers apply to their base shipping rates to cover increased operating costs, including hiring additional labor and leasing extra equipment to manage capacity constraints and extended operating hours. These surcharges often are highest in late November and early December, when holiday shipping is at its heaviest. Carriers typically publish their surcharges in advance on their websites.

Plan ahead and anticipate delays. Inclement weather and spiking demand are unpredictable and very common this time of year. That’s why advanced planning is key: Though you can’t predict exactly what difficulties will arise over the next couple of months, you can create contingencies for multiple possibilities to help you act quickly when you need to.

Review data from previous peak seasons so that you understand trends and roadblocks. This will help you to manage risk and identify opportunities for optimization. In addition, integrating smart tools and software can give you a deeper understanding of your logistics needs.

You can also plan ahead by understanding growth rates and demand so you can make sure that volume needs are readily available and determine whether you need to hold safety stock to cover fluctuations, and prevent running out of necessary supplies and equipment.

Be sure to communicate early and regularly with your customer base, suppliers and vendors so they can prepare for peak season with their own contingency plans. Discuss capacity and feasibility issues, and encourage suppliers and customers to order early, when possible, to increase lead times.

Within your healthcare facility, set expectations and establish risk-management plans specific to peak season. For your outbound shipments, contact recipients to verify when their location is open and able to receive deliveries.

Partner with a healthcare logistics management provider. Largely due to staffing constraints and lack of automation, it can be difficult for healthcare organizations to understand where their gaps are and where they can be more efficient. That’s where a trusted, experienced logistics management provider comes in. Such a partner can work on your behalf to implement healthcare shipping best practices, help optimize your supply chain, and identify efficiencies and savings opportunities not just during peak season, but all year around.

Your logistics management partner should offer innovative technology that will give you detailed data analytics, and help translate what the data mean and how it can best help you drive cost savings and increase efficiencies. The more experienced your partner, the more data they will have to inform their recommendations to find greater efficiencies and cost savings. You need access to real-time insights, including shipping status, to enable you to act decisively and plan strategically throughout peak season.

Your logistics partner should also be able to look at your shipping spend — including inbound and outbound small parcel, large freight, and same-day shipments across every department or location — and provide mode-optimization suggestions on what shipping methods and timing are most cost-effective, as well as find and manage controllable carrier fees, and uncover and eliminate unnecessary handling charges.

Finally, your partner should be consultative, with logistics experts who can serve as extensions of your own supply chain team, providing guidance across multiple modes of transportation, identifying cost-savings strategies, and building a targeted, analytical approach to navigating potential disruptions — during peak season and throughout the year.

Emily Gallo is senior vice president and general manager of Cardinal Health OptiFreight Logistics.