Zipline and Intermountain Healthcare partner to deliver medicine via drone

Photo: Drone photography by Ricardo Gomez Angel via Unsplash

SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — In a press release from October 3, Intermountain Healthcare announced their partnership with Zipline, a logistics company specializing in drone delivery. They will be partnering to deliver prescriptions and other medical products directly to Intermountain patients’ homes via drone starting on October 4 around Salt Lake County.

October 4 marks the start of the delivery partnership as a kind of prototype, according to Glen Beeby, Intermountain Healthcare media contact. Initially, drone delivery will only be available in a 50 mile radius around the Zipline distribution center in South Jordan.

Beeby commented that if the program is well received, they are considering expanding it to focus on helping people in rural areas around Utah including Wasatch and Summit Counties have easier access to medicine and medical products.

Intermountain Healthcare will be the first healthcare company west of the Mississippi to employ a drone delivery system for medicines and medical products.