Dec. 21, 2023 — In 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos\u00a0<\/span>went on\u00a0<\/span>60 Minutes<\/span><\/i><\/a> to make a bold announcement: In 5 years, Amazon customers would be getting deliveries by drones. People could receive just about any item they wanted in only 30 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A decade later, drones haven\u2019t exactly become ubiquitous. As one headline teased, the company\u2019s drone delivery service, Prime Air, in its first few weeks \u201cdelivered to fewer houses than there are words in this headline.\u201d As 2023 progressed, the\u00a0<\/span>outlook<\/span><\/a> didn\u2019t seem to improve. Last month, <\/span>The <\/span><\/i>New York Times<\/span><\/i><\/a> called the venture \u201cunderwhelming.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But there\u2019s considerably more enthusiasm for drones when it comes to health care. \u201cDrone delivery is here, just not where people expect it to be,\u201d said Hillary Brendzel, head of U.S. health care practice for Zipline, a San Francisco-based drone delivery company. Instead of groceries or batteries, the future of drones may very well be in medicine.<\/span><\/p>\n In late October, Cleveland Clinic\u00a0<\/span>announced a partnership<\/span><\/a> with Zipline, with plans to begin drone prescription delivery in more than a dozen locations across Ohio by 2025. Other hospitals \u2013 such as\u00a0<\/span>Upstate Medical University<\/span><\/a> in Syracuse, NY, and\u00a0<\/span>Intermountain Healthcare<\/span><\/a> in Salt Lake City, UT \u2013 have announced similar programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n The technology, which is still being tested, could soon become the norm, said Don Carroll, associate chief of pharmacy at Cleveland Clinic. \u201cWe want to be able to help our patients get in front of their health issues by having timely access to all of their medications.\u201d The drones could also ferry lab samples, medical supplies, and items for hospital-at-home services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just about convenience. Moving lab samples between facilities \u201cin minutes and at a moment\u2019s notice, instead of the hours it currently takes\u201d means that patients will get \u201cdiagnosed and treated faster, leading to better health outcomes,\u201d said Brendzel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pharmacies are experimenting with drone delivery too, including\u00a0<\/span>Walgreens<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>CVS Health<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Walmart<\/span><\/a>, and most recently,\u00a0<\/span>Amazon<\/span><\/a>. At no extra charge, Amazon Pharmacy customers in College Station, TX, can get their medications — including treatments for everything from the flu and pneumonia to asthma and blood pressure meds — delivered to their doorstep in less than an hour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Other companies are exploring drones for emergency response, a faster way to deliver defibrillators and other medical supplies to people who urgently need them.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n \u201cLeading U.S. health systems see the benefits,\u201d said \u00a0Brendzel — not just for prescriptions but in all aspects of health care, including medical and emergency supplies. \u201cThey’re now investing in drone delivery, which means that instant, autonomous delivery is about to move from sci-fi to routine for patients across the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n History and Advances<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The use of drones in health care is not new. During the pandemic, drones were used for everything from\u00a0<\/span>health monitoring<\/span><\/a> to\u00a0<\/span>delivering COVID tests<\/span><\/a>. Zipline has been using drones to deliver blood, vaccines, and other medical supplies in the East African country of Rwanda since 2016, and according to\u00a0<\/span>data collected from Rwandan public hospitals<\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s directly resulted in an 51% reduction in maternal deaths due to postpartum hemorrhage.<\/span><\/p>\n But safety concerns have lingered. Amazon drones reportedly crashed\u00a0<\/span>at least eight times<\/span><\/a> between 2021 and 2022, including one incident which caused a\u00a0<\/span>20-acre brush fire<\/span><\/a> in Oregon. And last year, a delivery drone hit power lines in Queensland, Australia,\u00a0<\/span>knocking out power<\/span><\/a> for about 2,000 homes.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n But drone technology has come a long way, even in the past couple of years. Just consider\u00a0<\/span>this clip<\/span><\/a> of more than 30 \u201cZips\u201d — the pet name for Zipline\u2019s platform 2 drones — from late November, seamlessly sharing the skies at one of the company\u2019s test sites, without so much as a single near miss.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Both <\/span>Zipline<\/span><\/a> and\u00a0<\/span>Amazon<\/span><\/a> introduced next-generation drones this year that aren\u2019t just more maneuverable, able to avoid collisions in densely populated areas, but also quieter than ever. In a March video from Science YouTuber Mark Rober that\u00a0<\/span>quickly went viral<\/span><\/a> — 29 million views to date — he called the Zip droid \u201cwhisper quiet\u201d and noticed that cows mooing nearby were actually louder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Zips are also capable of making a 10-mile delivery in just 10 minutes, to precise locations like a front porch or backyard patio table, lowering a \u201cdelivery droid\u201d (about the size of a toaster) with a tether wire from the Zip as it hovers around 300 feet above ground. To avoid packages left unattended, customers must be home to receive their deliveries, which can be tracked on their phone and scheduled for precise times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Improving Access to Medicine<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n All this may sound like something out of <\/span>The Jetsons<\/span><\/i>, but unlike floating treadmills and cars that\u00a0<\/span>fold into briefcases<\/span><\/a>, health care drones are a more practical and even necessary tech innovation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPharmacy deserts are now a real phenomenon,\u201d said Carroll, referring to\u00a0<\/span>widespread drugstore closures<\/span><\/a> in recent years that have left many Americans without easy access to a pharmacy. More than\u00a0<\/span>40%<\/span><\/a> of U.S. counties are pharmacy deserts, GoodRx research shows, and Black and Hispanic\/Latino neighborhoods may be disproportionately\u00a0<\/span>affected<\/span><\/a>. \u201cNot everyone has convenient access to a pharmacy anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Even those with pharmacies nearby aren\u2019t always able to get there, whether it\u2019s issues with transportation or not being able to get off work during pharmacy hours.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe patient journey from diagnosis to medication is one that we don\u2019t do well in traditional health care,\u201d said Vin Gupta, MD, chief medical officer of Amazon Pharmacy. \u201cI\u2019ve seen firsthand the end consequence of people not presenting to care. There\u2019ve been multiple incidences of patients of mine who are high risk for, say, the flu, and despite our best efforts, it took a week or longer between when they started feeling ill to them getting medication.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n But drone deliveries\u00a0could enable more patients \u201cto stay out of the ER, and hopefully out of the ICU,\u201d Gupta <\/span>said.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Speeding Up Emergency Response<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As some companies are already exploring, drones could play a vital role in emergency response. In the summer of 2020, researchers at the Karolinska Institute \u00a0in Sweden\u00a0<\/span>tested the efficiency<\/span><\/a> of using drones to quickly dispatch automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in parallel with ambulances in cities like Gothenburg and Kung\u00e4lv. During the 4-month study, they found that in emergencies involving cardiac arrest, defibrillators arrived before an ambulance 64% of the time, with a median time benefit of one minute and 52 seconds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe can deliver AEDs in summer and winter, in daylight and in darkness,\u201d said lead researcher Andreas Claesson, PhD, an associate professor at the university\u2019s Center for Resuscitation Science. \u201cWhen deployed, we arrive before emergency medical services with a very good time benefit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Defibrillators are just the tip of the iceberg. Anything in the same general weight class of an AED (up to 1.5 kg, or about 3 pounds) could feasibly be delivered by drone. \u201cLike naloxone nasal dispensers for opioid-intoxication,\u201d said Claesson. \u201cOr trauma dressings or tourniquets for uncontrolled bleeding from shootings, stabbings, or other terror attacks.\u201d If medical equipment is needed fast, faster than what an ambulance on four wheels can get there, a drone could mean the difference between life and death.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n Defibrillator drone delivery might be arriving on U.S. shores soon, thanks to the Atlanta-based company Skyfire Consulting. Founded in 2014 to help police, firefighters, and other first responders use drone technology in their daily operations, Skyfire has focused on decreasing the wait time between the first signs of cardiac arrest and life-saving measures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHistorically, defibrillators have been very heavy and cumbersome, both things that make it tough to fly them on drones,\u201d said Skyfire\u2019s CEO and founder Matt Sloane. But in recent months, they\u2019ve been running test flights in Buford, GA, and Huntsville, AL, with Avive defibrillators, \u201cone of the smallest and most technologically advanced AEDs on the planet,\u201d said \u00a0Sloane.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOnce a person goes into cardiac arrest, you have about 5 minutes to start lifesaving treatment, or that person\u2019s chances of survival go down considerably,\u201d he said. But with drones, deaths from heart attacks could decrease dramatically, especially in rural communities where it could take up to 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n \u201cWe\u2019re working closely with local hospitals, fire, and emergency services agencies to come up with the best places to employ this technology and the best way to deploy these aircraft to get to a patient’s side most quickly,\u201d said <\/span>Sloane.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Flying Into the Future<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Exciting as the innovations might be, none of it will happen overnight. Cleveland Clinic will spend much of 2024 coordinating with local government officials to make sure they\u2019re in compliance with safety and technical requirements, and installing Zipline docks and loading portals across northeast Ohio. \u201cWe\u2019ll start with a smaller number of deliveries in 2025 and plan to expand that number as time goes on,\u201d said Carroll.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Just as important, he said, is \u201ceducating our patients on how drone deliveries work.\u201d It may end up being the biggest challenge of all. In much the same way that the public was\u00a0<\/span>slow to embrace<\/span><\/a> ATMs over human bank cashiers, Americans may need some convincing to skip the annoying (but familiar) line at the pharmacy in favor of droid delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/img.webmd.com\/vim\/live\/webmd\/consumer_assets\/site_images\/article_thumbnails\/news\/2023\/12_2023\/drone_package_delivery\/340x280_drone_package_delivery_ap_box.jpg?resize=320px:*&output-quality=75\")
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