Coming soon: Prescriptions delivered by drones

Years in the making, the concept of prescription delivery by drone is beginning to come to fruition, with multiple major health systems putting programs in place. It’s not an instance of using technology for technology’s sake, either, as research increasingly shows drones can help increase patients’ access to much-needed medications.

More large health systems deploy drones

This summer, Cleveland Clinic announced its first drone delivery of prescriptions in Beachwood, an eastern suburb of Cleveland and home of the health system’s administrative campus. The no-cost program is available to patients already participating in the system’s home delivery program. 

Cleveland Clinic uses drones from Zipline, which got its start in 2016 delivering medical products by drone to remote areas of Rwanda. In suburban Cleveland, Zipline’s drones lower a small droid on a tether from a height of 300 feet. The droid releases its package once it touches down on the ground or other solid surface; the tether then ascends back to the drone. 

Cleveland Clinic initially announced the program in late 2023. Similar programs are in the works at Memorial Hermann, WellSpan, and Advocate Health, while health systems such as Intermountain Healthcare and Columbus-based OhioHealth already have drones in place. All partner with Zipline.

Aiming to make a “meaningful difference”

For many health systems, drones are one piece of a larger digital pharmacy experience that aims to fill the void of retail pharmacy closures. It’s a critical void: Research has shown access to community pharmacies improves rates of medication use, especially in underserved communities. 

Organizations are taking a pragmatic approach. Cleveland Clinic, for example, is beginning with patients within a 5-mile radius of its Beachwood campus and sticking to specialty medicines. Controlled substances aren’t covered. The system said in a statement the convenience of home delivery should “make a meaningful difference for patients.”

Advocate’s program is due to launch next year in Charlotte, Chicago, and Milwaukee. The organization anticipates more than 100,000 annual deliveries across the three markets, though that will include home health supplies as well as prescriptions. Advocate’s results will likely serve as a barometer for Cleveland Clinic and others that have announced plans to deploy drones for more than prescriptions.

Expanding reach, not brick and mortar footprint

There’s a reason these programs have taken a few years to get off the ground: They’re complicated. Along with acquiring drones and the bases where they’re stored and charged, organizations need to navigate safety and technical regulations. (Health system leaders can expect to have a few conversations with the Federal Aviation Administration.) There’s also the hurdle of integrating drone delivery options into the clinical workflow, from making it an order option to deciding who loads the prescription into the droid.

That said, implementing drone delivery “expands pharmacy reach without the huge investment required for the development of additional brick-and-mortar infrastructure,” noted a Journal of Medical Internet Research paper. Once drone infrastructure is in place and programs have demonstrated initial outcomes, expansion requires less heavy lifting.

Plus, these programs are poised to reduce disparities in access to care. Researchers at Old Dominion University found that drones could get prescriptions to residents of Virginia’s Eastern Shore in 10 to 20 minutes, compared to a 40- to 50-minute drive to the nearest pharmacy. In underserved communities such as this area – prone to coastal flooding with a high concentration of elderly residents – drone delivery “offers a transformative approach to improving healthcare access and resilience,” according to the PLoS One paper.

Brian Eastwood is a Boston-based writer with more than 10 years of experience covering healthcare IT and healthcare delivery. He also writes about enterprise IT, consumer technology, and corporate leadership.