Drones will carry drugs and supplies to Utahns' homes starting next year, according to Intermountain Healthcare.
A collaboration between Intermountain and logistics company Zipline will enable the first-of-its-kind drone delivery system.
Since 2016, Zipline, a drone delivery firm based in San Francisco, has been serving rural populations in African countries.
Zipline's first medical drone delivery in the U.S. was in May 2020, when it delivered personal protective equipment (PPE) to Novant Health Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of a limited-permission pilot program.
According to Bloomberg, Zipline has struck a service agreement with Utah-based not-for-profit medical company Intermountain Healthcare for its planned backyard drone deliveries in Salt Lake City.
The company stated in a news release that it intends to be able to perform hundreds of deliveries each day and deliver to about 90% of patient homes in the region.
Intermountain said it will employ Zipline's drones to transport to patient residences within a 50-mile radius of the Salt Lake-area distribution facility initially. Intermountain Healthcare intends to extend its drug and product offerings in the future, including prescriptions, specialty pharmaceuticals, and over-the-counter items.
"Making access to healthcare faster and more convenient will lead to better health outcomes for our patients," Marc Harrison, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, said.
"And with Zipline, we're making the idea of true care at home a reality for many of our patients."
The first deliveries are scheduled for the spring of 2022. Zipline claims that its autonomous drones will be able to parachute cargo weighing up to four pounds into people's yards and driveways.
The FAA's approval is still pending, but the company is hopeful that it will acquire the Part 135 certification required for package delivery in the coming weeks.
Intermountain's healthcare network in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada includes 24 hospitals and 215 medical clinics, servicing roughly half of Salt Lake City's 1.25 million residents. Zipline will begin by focusing on delivering supplies to homebound and immunocompromised patients. In later stages, delivery drones will fill normal prescriptions as well as distribute over-the-counter medications within a 15 to 30-minute interval.
Zipline, which recently marked its fifth anniversary in the skies, delivers every four minutes on average. It recently reached 200,000 commercial deliveries and raised $250 million at a $2.75 billion valuation.
It's also important to mention that the company has significantly expanded its reach in Africa in recent months, securing new agreements in Nigeria and agreeing to double its presence in Ghana to be able to serve 90% of the country's population.
