Advocate Health Partners With Zipline for Nation’s Largest Hospital Drone Delivery Network

Advocate Health revealed March 26 it will start the nation's largest hospital-based drone delivery network through a deal with Zipline. The Charlotte-based system will finish more than 100,000 deliveries each year across three markets once it reaches full operation.

First flights begin in 2027 around Charlotte, then spread to Chicago and Milwaukee. There are plans for Georgia too. This will help patients who live far from cities.

Drones will carry prescriptions, lab specimens, and medical supplies straight to patients' homes and facilities. They'll also transport specimens between hospitals and labs in each market, which cuts down how long people wait for test results.

"This technology will ensure patients not only have the prescriptions and supplies they need, but have them delivered right to their doorsteps, and during a time when their local pharmacy may have closed," said Collin Lane, executive vice president of professional and support services for the health system, according to Newswise.com.

Zipline's electric drones pick up orders at an Advocate facility, then fly to where they're going. When they arrive, the aircraft hovers up to 300 feet in the air while a pod on a tether descends to the ground with the order inside.

The pod makes deliveries in high winds and bad weather. It leaves the order behind, then flies back to charge for its next trip. Drones operate with FAA approval and have backup flight systems built to reduce noise and interactions with people.

"Zipline will help Advocate Health get patients what they need fast and reliably, even at home," said Hillary Brendzel, managing director of U.S. Markets for Zipline. "It's the clearest sign yet that hospital-based drone delivery is a new cornerstone of how health systems serve their communities."

Zipline works on four continents. Since 2014, when it started, the company has made more than 2 million commercial deliveries. This week, it raised $200 million to support its expansion across the United States.

The third-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the United States sits in Charlotte. It serves 6 million patients across 69 hospitals and more than 1,000 care locations. The group provides care under different names: Advocate Health Care in Illinois, Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin.

Financial terms weren't shared. The health system didn't release information about fees for customers or a specific launch date within 2027.