Pennsylvania’s WellSpan Health Announces New Medical Drone Delivery Service
Drone company Zipline delivers medical supplies and clinical laboratory specimens on four continents and is used in the US by several major healthcare networks and retail organizations
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, continue to demonstrate their value in the medical industry. In February, WellSpan Health announced it will soon begin using drones to deliver prescriptions to patients and to transport medical supplies and clinical laboratory specimens between its facilities located in Pennsylvania.
WellSpan Health, one of the leading healthcare systems in Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland, is partnering with Zipline, a supplier of drone logistic services, in the endeavor.
“We’re making our [healthcare] system lower cost, faster, and more sustainable by bringing this exceptional technology to South Central Pennsylvania,” said Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN, President and CEO, WellSpan Health, in a news release. “We know the easier it is to access care the healthier people can be. With Zipline, we’re connecting healthcare straight to your front door.”
Zipline’s Platform 2 (P2 Zip) drone will be used for the venture. The drone is designed to fly in almost all weather conditions. If true, this would be a boon to the drone delivery service industry.
Previous attempts to implement drone delivery services have been hampered by a typical drone’s low performance in bad weather such as heavy rain and high winds. This seems to be what has held back wide adoption of drone delivery in the US.
“WellSpan continues to reimagine what healthcare can look like for our patients. With Zipline, we’re creating a future for our patients, where getting a prescription filled is as simple as pressing a button,” said Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN (above), President and CEO, WellSpan Health, in a news release. WellSpan Health’s drone delivery customers will be able to receive text notifications tracking the progress of their medical supplies and clinical laboratory specimens on their smartphones. (Photo copyright: WellSpan Health.)
Delivery of Medical Supplies Direct to Patients’ Front Door
ABC27 reported that “WellSpan will be the first health service in the state of Pennsylvania that will introduce this type of technology and delivery system.”
According to the drone company’s website, Zipline:
- Serves more than 4,000 health centers worldwide and more than 45 million people.
- Has completed more than one million deliveries.
- Plans to operate more flights annually than almost all the major US airlines by next year.
- Delivers 75% of Rwanda’s blood supply outside Kigali, the country’s capital city.
Additionally, Zipline’s all-electric, zero-emission drones reduce carbon emissions by an average of 97% when compared to gas-driven vehicles.
Each P2 Zip drone features Zipline’s autonomous airspace Detect and Avoid (DAA) deconfliction technology and contains fully redundant flight systems.
“This acoustic system is composed of a series of small, lightweight acoustic microphones and onboard processors used to navigate airspace and grant 360-degree awareness with a range of up to 2,000 meters,” DRONELIFE reported. “This innovative onboard system enables the aircraft to autonomously detect and maneuver around other aircraft and obstacles in real-time, making large scale autonomous commercial operations more feasible.”
According to a fact sheet, the P2 Zip drone can carry loads up to eight pounds and has a cruising speed of 70 miles/hour. It’s service range is either a 10-mile radius or a one-way trip of 24 miles. It only requires two feet of open space to execute a delivery and can hover at more than 300 feet above the ground while delivering a package.
“Zipline has been improving access to healthcare for eight years. Together with WellSpan Health we will bring prescriptions and medical products right to patients’ doorsteps with fast, sustainable, and convenient delivery,” stated Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, in the news release.
Other Healthcare Drone Delivery Services
Dark Daily has published many ebriefs about drones being used for medical supply and clinical laboratory specimen deliveries.
In “Dr. Risch Laboratory Group in Switzerland Partners with Drone Company to Deliver Medical Laboratory Specimens in a Unique Way,” we reported how the medical laboratory group was testing drone delivery of specimens to 14 clinical laboratories and eight sample collection locations throughout Switzerland. What makes this service unique is that the Jedsy drone they used can deliver packages directly to windows, regardless of where the window is located on the building.
In “Oregon-based Interpath Laboratory Launches Pilot Program to Explore Delivering Biological Specimens by Drone from Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center,” we covered how Interpath Laboratory in the Pacific Northwest launched a drone delivery pilot program for delivering clinical laboratory test specimens from Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center to Interpath’s medical laboratory in Pendleton, Ore.
And in “California Company Creates ‘Uber for Blood’ to Speed the Transport of Life-Saving Medical Laboratory Supplies and Blood Products in Rwanda,” we reported how Zipline drones were being used in Rwanda and Tanzania for the transportation of medical supplies and blood products, and how delivery times had been reduced from four hours to just 30 minutes.
As drone delivery technology continues to improve, UAVs are more likely to be used in healthcare situations. If the issue of bad weather has been resolved, it’s reasonable to assume that within a short period of time clinical laboratories may begin receiving many more samples to test via drones.
—JP Schlingman
Related Information:
WellSpan Will Bring Innovative Medical Drone Delivery to PA with Logistics Leader Zipline
WellSpan Health to Bring Medical Drone Delivery to Pennsylvania
The Essential Guide to Implementing Drone Delivery in Healthcare
