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This undated photo shows a package with a parachute being dropped in Rwanda from Zipline aircraft. Intermountain Healthcare is partnering with Zipline to deliver prescriptions and medical supplies to Utah residents within a 50-mile radius of a planned Salt Lake City distribution center.

Courtesy Zipline

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This undated photo shows Zipline workers at a northern California testing facility. Intermountain Healthcare is partnering with Zipline to deliver prescriptions and medical supplies to Utah residents within a 50-mile radius of a planned Salt Lake City distribution center.

Courtesy Zipline

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This undated photo shows a Zipline aircraft flying autonomously in Rwanda. Intermountain Healthcare is partnering with Zipline to deliver prescriptions and medical supplies to Utah residents within a 50-mile radius of a planned Salt Lake City distribution center.

Courtesy Zipline

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Intermountain Healthcare will begin delivering drugs and home care items right to your door beginning next year.

Commercial delivery service company Zipline announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Intermountain on Thursday. Together, the two organizations will deliver prescriptions and medical supplies to patients within a 50-mile radius of a Salt Lake-area distribution center. The service makes care more accessible and convenient for its patients.

“Making access to healthcare faster and more convenient will lead to better health outcomes for our patients,” Dr. Marc Harrison, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, said in a news release. “And with Zipline, we’re making the idea of true care at home a reality for many of our patients.”

The two companies will initially focus on delivery of specialty pharmaceuticals and home care products but eventually will expand to deliver a range of medications and products, including prescriptions and over-the-counter items.

Over time, the operation is expected to grow to the point at which it will complete hundreds of deliveries each day and be capable of delivering to approximately 90% of patient homes in the region.

Zipline and Intermountain will begin construction in early 2022 and plan to begin deliveries by midyear. Zipline currently operates at multinational scale in Ghana and Rwanda, with plans to soon launch operations in Japan and Nigeria. After five years of operations, Zipline recently announced it has completed more than 200,000 commercial deliveries.

Zipline’s automated delivery service features a fleet of small, fixed-wing autonomous aircraft. The aircraft can travel long distances in most weather conditions and parachute packages in an insulated cardboard box to an area about the size of several parking spaces. Zipline’s aircraft are entirely electric and can help reduce vehicle traffic and carbon emissions from medical deliveries in Utah.

“Intermountain Healthcare shares our vision of powering telemedicine with instant logistics. Patients can connect with providers from the home, and then receive the medications and supplies they need in a matter of minutes, directly to their doorsteps,” Keller Rinaudo, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, said in the release. “For example, a cancer patient could receive her medication without ever leaving her home. Or a single parent could get his child’s antibiotics without a trip to the pharmacy. Instant access to care is not just about convenience. It comes down to making healthcare more equitable, efficient, and reliable for people, regardless of where they live or their circumstances.”

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