Cleveland Clinic’s Pioneering Drone Prescription Delivery Service Set for 2025 Launch

Cleveland Clinic is set to introduce prescription drone deliveries in 2025, commencing with the transportation of specialized and urgent medications directly to patients’ residences.

Cleveland Clinic facilities in northeast Ohio will have designated drone docks and loading portals installed. Once a prescription is prepared for dispatch, a technician from the Cleveland Clinic will load the drone.

Subsequently, the drone will autonomously detach, ascend to an altitude of 300 feet, and then dispatch an autonomous delivery device that navigates to the correct destination. The drone has the capability to transport parcels to spaces as small as a patio table or the doorstep of a home, after which it will autonomously return and reattach to its docking station. The patients will have the capability to track their deliveries in real time, as indicated by the collaborating companies.

In due course, the program will extend its services to include the delivery of laboratory samples, prescription meals, medical and surgical supplies, as well as items for hospital-at-home care. These deliveries are typically carried out using traditional automotive courier or ground transportation methods.

Cleveland Clinic has joined forces with Zipline, a drone company, and will be utilizing their Platform 2 system. Zipline already collaborates with various other healthcare organizations, including Michigan Medicine, Intermountain Health, and MultiCare Health System.

Zipline embarked on medical product deliveries in 2016 and currently operates in seven countries. Zipline’s Platform 2 system, introduced in March, is capable of precise deliveries in densely populated urban areas and can complete a 10-mile delivery within approximately 10 minutes.

Notably, earlier this month, Amazon Pharmacy disclosed a novel prescription medication drone delivery service, with the initial operations commencing in College Station, Texas. Amazon revealed that pharmacy deliveries would be placed directly outside customers’ front doors within 60 minutes, at no extra charge for eligible Amazon Pharmacy patrons. Amazon Pharmacy has partnered with Prime Air, the online retailer’s drone service, which initiated commercial deliveries in the same Texan city in December.

Cleveland Clinic is a healthcare system comprising 6,700 beds, encompassing a 173-acre main campus located near downtown Cleveland, 23 hospitals, and over 275 outpatient facilities distributed across regions in northeast Ohio, southeast Florida, Las Vegas, Toronto, Abu Dhabi, and London.

Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, expressed enthusiasm, saying, “Zipline has been committed to improving healthcare access for eight years. We are excited to soon offer fast, sustainable, and convenient delivery to Cleveland Clinic patients.”

In 2024, Cleveland Clinic will begin working with government authorities to guarantee adherence to all safety and technical requisites for drone delivery, as well as the installation of drone docking and loading facilities, the healthcare system stated.

The system and aircraft have been designed with multiple layers of safety, including preflight checks and continuous monitoring by operations teams, as specified by the company.