Healthcare provider Michigan Medicine says it plans to more than double the number of prescriptions its in-house pharmacy fills each year by using the new quick drone delivery system Zipline revealed last month.
Michigan Medicine, which is part of the University of Michigan’s large medical school, says it is working with Zipline to prepare the start of prescription drone deliveries next year. The group said the operation will serve hundreds of thousands of patients around Ann Arbor’s Washtenaw County, and allow it to more than double the volume of prescriptions its internal pharmacies fill each year by using UAVs capable of making 10-mile flights in just 10 minutes.
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Michigan Medicine’s existing prescription facilities will integrate the automated drone delivery system Zipline unveiled March 15, as will a new specialty care prescription center set to open later this year.
The platform involves Zipline’s loading portals being installed inside customer work zones, enabling orders to be placed in compact delivery droids as soon as they’re ready. Transport drones then lift those smaller craft for flights to patients’ homes, and from an elevation of 300 feet winch the self-guiding droids down to delivery spots as small as a patio table or set of stairs.
The new Zipline drones can make round-trip deliveries within a given 10-mile radius, or 24-mile one-way flights where recharging will occur in the network of docking stations the company is currently setting up.
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Zipline’s drone delivery work with Michigan Medical will be of particular service to patients with complex or rare diseases whose treatments require frequent refills of temperature-sensitive or otherwise tricky prescriptions that – when necessity requires – must be accessible for transport at day or night, and in all kinds of weather.
The aerial option is designed to be faster, cheaper, and less polluting than current ground transportation.
“By deploying Zipline we are able to make deliveries faster than ever before, saving time for both patients and our medical workers, enabling faster, affordable pharmacy care that leads to better patient outcomes,” said Marschall S. Runge, CEO of Michigan Medicine and dean of the University of Michigan Medical School. “We are always looking for innovative, sustainable improvements to serve our patients. We’re thrilled to soon provide the next frontier of care to our patients with Zipline.”
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Michigan Medical is expected to be one of the first – if not the first – Zipline client to use the company’s new drone delivery platform, whose network of charging stations will allow it to operate in a decentralized fashion and pick up orders wherever they await, rather than in home base-to-destination round trips.
“Together with Michigan Medicine we are improving the health care experience by bringing prescriptions and medical needs right to patients’ doorstep,” said Zipline CEO Keller Rinaudo Cliffton. “With Zipline, getting prescriptions will be faster, more convenient, and more sustainable than ever before.”
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