New drone delivery service to launch in 2024

Key takeaways:

• Michigan Medicine is partnering with Zipline to offer drone delivery services for prescription drugs in 2024.
• This partnership will support the overall effort to improve patient access to specialty pharmacy services.
• Prescription fulfillment rates are expected to more than double current rates with this new innovative service.

Michigan Medicine is embarking on a new era in pharmacy prescription services by partnering with Zipline, a world leader in instant delivery service, to deliver prescriptions to patients around Washtenaw County in 2024.

Zipline’s new home delivery service uses autonomous, electric drones to make fast, extremely quiet, and ultraprecise deliveries to rural, suburban and even dense urban areas. Each drone is environmentally efficient, producing a fraction of CO2 emissions per mile than an average electric vehicle, and up to 98% less CO2 emissions than a gas-fueled vehicle.

Zipline drones, chargers and loading portals will become part of the new pharmacy facility currently under development in Dexter. Drones can make deliveries 24 hours/day, through severe weather conditions and temperatures, within a 10-mile service radius. 

This partnership with Zipline is a key element of U-M Health’s efforts to significantly expand patient access to specialty pharmacy services. With Zipline, it is anticipated that the fulfillment rate of prescriptions will more than double what is currently filled through the existing in-house pharmacy. 

The pharmacy team continues to work closely with the Zipline team to prepare for the launch of this new innovative drone service in 2024.  More information will be shared as it becomes available.

Learn more from the press release.