Intermountain Healthcare plans drone prescription deliveries

Nov 12, 2021, 6:41 AM

(File photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Former Anchor/Producer/Reporter

SALT LAKE CITY — Intermountain Healthcare is teaming up with electric drone manufacturers to start drone prescription deliveries to homes.

Want to skip the pharmacy and have your medications delivered right to your doorstep? It might be a reality soon, but the drugs won’t be dropped by a delivery driver. Instead, your prescriptions could come from a drone in the sky.

Electric drone maker Zipline announced its partnership with Intermountain Thursday. The company says its fleet is capable of flying in any weather conditions and can drop packages from the sky with a parachute to the area of a few parking spaces. It claims to have made over 200,000 successful deliveries by air.

“Making access to healthcare faster and more convenient will lead to better health outcomes for our patients,” said Intermountain Healthcare President and CEO Marc Harrison in a news release.

The deliveries will start with specialty prescriptions within about 50 miles of a distribution center to be built in Salt Lake City. Intermountain plans to build that facility in early 2022. The two organizations hope to start deliveries by mid-year.

Zipline co-founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo said in the same news release, “Patients can connect with providers from the home, and then receive the medications and supplies they need in a matter of minutes, directly to their doorsteps.”

After working out the kinks, Intermountain says it will be able to deliver virtually all prescription, homecare, and even over-the-counter products anywhere in the Salt Lake City metro area.

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Intermountain Healthcare plans drone prescription deliveries

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