October 31, 2023- Cleveland Clinic plans to begin using drones to deliver certain medications directly to patients’ homes, starting in 2025.
Initially, the service will be used to send specialty medicines and other prescriptions to patients’ homes from more than a dozen Cleveland Clinic locations across Northeast Ohio. Eventually, the program will expand to include delivery of lab samples, prescription meals, medical and surgical supplies, and items for hospital-at-home services. Most of these shipments would typically be sent via automotive courier or ground delivery.
Cleveland Clinic will use drone company Zipline’s Platform 2 system, which can complete precise deliveries to dense urban areas, and completes a 10-mile delivery in about 10 minutes. Docks for the drones and loading portals will be added at several of Cleveland Clinic’s facilities in Northeast Ohio.
When a prescription is ready, a Cleveland Clinic technician will load the drone. It will then autonomously undock, fly at 300 feet to a patient’s home, and deploy an autonomous delivery droid that steers to the correct location and drops off its package to areas as small as a patio table or the front steps of a home. The drone will then fly back and dock itself. Patients will be able to track their deliveries in real time.