Cleveland Clinic is the latest health system to invest in drones that deliver prescription medications to patients' homes.
More than a dozen locations in Northeast Ohio will be able to send specialty drugs and other medications directly to patients' doorsteps in 2025, Cleveland Clinic said in an Oct. 31 news release. Before the drones take flight, the system is installing docks and loading portals, and it's working with government officials to ensure compliance.
The service will be scalable to later airlift lab samples, prescription meals, medical and surgical supplies, and hospital-at-home items.
Cleveland Clinic is teaming up with Zipline for its drones that fly at 300 feet, can complete a 10-mile delivery in about 10 minutes, drop off packages on an area as small as a patio table, and be tracked by patients.
A few other health systems and hospitals are also collaborating with Zipline, including Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine; Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health; Tacoma, Wash.-based MultiCare Health System; and Columbus-based OhioHealth. In 2020, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health became the first system to use Zipline's drone technology to deliver prescriptions.