Clock Medical Supply Case Study

Clock Medical Supply, Inc., a family-owned medical distribution company serving the plains and southeast states, provides medical supplies to retirement homes and post-acute facilities. The company had been using Prophet 21 to handle its distribution management needs. Still, in a competitive industry where Amazon and others could undercut their prices or deliver a more seamless ordering process, Clock Medical needed an unassailable competitive advantage.

The Epicor Prophet 21 Challenge

The company’s Resident Care Program provides medical supplies to retirement homes and post-acute facilities. Supplies are ordered online by the facilities and picked, packed, labeled, and delivered to the resident facility in company trucks. Orders are custom-billed to the facility at the resident level.

Previously, Clock Medical Supply used standalone custom programs to capture and transmit the data to the post-acute facilities as needed. These programs could only be run by an IT specialist, not the accounting department. Clock Medical sought to streamline the fulfillment process without solely relying on an IT staffer.

Clock Medical Supply uses Epicor Prophet 21 ERP to manage its inventory, supply chain, customer orders, and financials. To streamline resident billing, the facilities sought integration between Clock Medical’s order management system and each facility’s management software (Vitals and PointClickCare), and the billing/payments provider (InfoSync). The process also required complex delivery routing, custom pricing, and integrating the customer’s general ledger codes into the invoicing data.

“We needed a solution that worked in both directions,” Dennis Clock explained, “where we send data-compliant invoices to their systems, and they send us payment and remittance files that feed directly into Prophet 21. It’s a win-win. They avoid hours of manual invoice entries, and we get paid seamlessly directly into P21.”

The TwinEngines Solution

TwinEngines audited Clock Medical’s supply chain and sales cycle to find gaps between Prophet 21’s capabilities and customer needs. TwinEngines developed ClockNet, a web-based platform integrating Prophet 21 into the end-to-end sales process. Custom modules were developed that filled specific gaps in the process. These include:

Customer Software Integration

Vitals Assisted Living Software and PointClickCare – These facility management platforms manage the resident census, care plans, financials, etc. The TwinEngines system uses accesses the data for resident billing and shipping addresses — vastly simplifying the management overhead for the facility.

PointClickCare uses an API connection, while Vitals uses XML file integration. TwinEngines developed automated processes to import and export data to and from these platforms.

InfoSync invoicing and payments platform – InfoSync provides a multi-site financial payments and remittance platform. It facilitates payment from the facilities for the residents’ line-item orders.

TwinEngines developed the ability to transmit invoice information to InfoSync in a form they can accept and receive the posting information so that the InfoSync payments match the line items in Prophet 21. The TwinEngines solution also assigns GL codes that streamline the facility’s accounting and simplify the billing of their residents.

Delivery Management

After facilities order online, Clock Medical delivers the orders directly to the residents at facilities in Clock Medical delivery vans. Orders are consolidated for a delivery day, labeled for each resident, routed intelligently across a multi-state region, and delivered with real-time notification.

TwinEngines developed an integrated delivery platform that imports orders from Prophet 21 and Brightree, creates a delivery run, routes the deliveries for efficiency, assigns the driver and vehicle, and notifies delivery. The system integrates through APIs with MS Bing Maps and the Detrack Delivery Management system for proof of delivery.

Results

The ClockNet system has brought a new level of customer loyalty in an industry that is notoriously price-driven. Owner Dennis Clock explained:

“The senior care market is shifting from a traditional nursing home business to a patient-centric approach, and we are making that transition as the industry moves.

“Our system allows us to remain connected to that resident as they move from assisted living to the hospital to SPIF and other post-acute settings. Clock Medical can remain the medical supplier regardless of who cares for the patient.

“These care settings may be unique to our business, yet TwinEngines already had the technologies to facilitate our vision and was able to apply them to our industry quickly. That force multiplier elevated the level of customer service for our industry. That competitive advantage will help keep our customers for life.”