- First expansion that builds on strategy to support U.S.
hospital transport services in partnership with Matternet
- UPS quickly scaling service to support enhanced patient care at
lower cost
- Announcement comes after UPS Flight Forward™ received FAA’s
first Part 135 Standard approval for drone airline
UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced the expansion of its industry
leading drone delivery service. UPS Flight Forward will now
begin drone flights at the University of Utah Health campus in Salt
Lake City. The University of Utah is the first hospital campus
expansion after the service was launched at WakeMed’s flagship
hospital in Raleigh, N.C. The WakeMed program announced in
March marked the first FAA-sanctioned use of a drone for routine
revenue flights in the U.S. In September, UPS’s drone airline
subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, received the first ever FAA’s Part
135 Standard certification awarded in the United States, which
gives UPS and Matternet flexibility to rapidly scale hospital
operations.
Drone transportation for healthcare logistics creates
substantial opportunities for enhanced patient care and cost
savings. Currently, the majority of medical samples, instruments,
supplies and documents at University of Utah Health are transported
by courier cars. Drones provide capability for on-demand and
same-day delivery, the ability to avoid roadway delays, increase
medical delivery efficiency, and improve the patient experience
with potentially life-saving benefits.
“UPS is rapidly expanding drone delivery, next generation
tracking tools and other technologies to help the health care
industry solve logistics problems, enhance efficiency and deliver
improved patient outcomes,” said Scott Price, Chief Transformation
and Strategy Officer at UPS. We are transforming the
company’s Smart Global Logistics Network by using the latest
innovation to bring new value to customers.”
Flight operations at University of Utah Health will be geared
toward building out a more cost-efficient medical delivery system
as the campus undergoes tremendous growth. New medical construction
includes its new Acute Care Center, Craig H. Neilsen Rehabilitation
Hospital, and Sugar House Health Center. The addition of drone
logistics will help establish an environmentally responsible,
short-range transportation solution in support of the state’s Utah
Clean Air partnership.
University of Utah Health hails itself as the Mountain West's
only academic healthcare system, which provides care for Utahns and
residents of five surrounding states. With more than 5,000
healthcare professionals in the network, drones can enable staff to
focus more on care services vs. courier services, and better
support rural area healthcare needs as drone transportation
services expand.
Standard transport protocols will include medical professionals
packing a secure drone payload container with medical items. The
drones will then fly autonomously along a predetermined flight path
to its delivery point.
Matternet’s unmanned drone system on the Utah medical campus,
and also WakeMed, will fly under the FAA’s Part 135 Standard
certification granted to UPS on Sept. 27, which makes UPS Flight
Forward the first company to attain this key certification. More
than 1,500 flights have been completed on the WakeMed campus since
operations began there. UPS and Matternet expect to rapidly expand
health campus drone deliveries to other locations in the near
future as part of UPS Flight Forward’s new technology services in
support of hospital logistics.
About UPS Healthcare and Life Sciences UPS
Healthcare and Life Sciences provides global supply chain solutions
and expertise to pharmaceutical, biopharma and medical device
companies. UPS has approximately 8 million square feet of cGMP- or
cGDP-compliant healthcare distribution space globally. UPS also
maintains one of the world’s largest networks of field stocking
locations with approximately 900 sites. For parcels requiring
strict temperature environments, from CRT to cryogenic, and those
requiring around-the-clock monitoring, UPS has solutions such as
UPS Temperature True™ and UPS Proactive Response™
services. UPS is committed to expanding its healthcare
capabilities including acquisitions of Marken, CEMELOG and Poltraf,
to meet the complex and evolving supply chain needs of the
healthcare and life science sectors. Visit ups.com/healthcare.
About Matternet
Matternet has developed world-leading technology for on-demand,
aerial delivery in urban environments. In March 2017, Matternet
became the first company in the world to be authorized for full
operations of drone logistics networks over densely populated areas
in Switzerland. In May 2018, Matternet was selected to carry out
drone logistics operations for U.S. hospitals under the FAA's drone
Integration Pilot Program. In March 2019, Matternet and UPS
announced a partnership to provide drone delivery services to U.S.
healthcare systems, with current operations at WakeMed Health, and
plans to rapidly expand services to other hospital networks. For
more information about Matternet, please visit:
https://mttr.net
About University of Utah Health
University of Utah Health is the state’s only academic health
care system, providing leading-edge and compassionate medicine for
a referral area that encompasses 10% of the U.S., including Idaho,
Wyoming, Montana and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences
research and education in the region, U of U Health touts a $373
million research enterprise and trains the majority of Utah’s
physicians and more than 1,250 healthcare providers each year at
its Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and Colleges of Nursing,
Pharmacy and Health. With more than 20,000 employees, the system
includes 12 community clinics and four hospitals — University
Hospital; University Neuropsychiatric Institute; Huntsman Cancer
Hospital; and the University Orthopaedic Center. For 10 straight
years, U of U Health has ranked among the top 10 U.S. academic
medical centers in the rigorous Vizient Quality and Accountability
Study, including reaching No. 1 in 2010 and 2016. For more
information, go to https://healthcare.utah.edu/
Executive Statements
UPS Dan Gagnon, UPS Vice President of Healthcare
Logistics, Marketing & Strategy Approved Statement:
“Our Healthcare and Life Sciences team has been delivering
innovation for over 19 years, and the UPS medical drone program is
just another example of our commitment to deliver better
healthcare. We’re thrilled to work with University of Utah Health
in support of its goals to create healthier communities and improve
patient outcomes. The drone program will reduce lab test result
turnaround times by reducing the length and variation of courier
transit times.”
Matternet Andreas Raptopoulos, CEO
MatternetApproved Statement: “Matternet is thrilled to be
expanding its on-demand drone delivery hospital operations in the
U.S. in partnership with UPS. We are transforming the way
traditional healthcare logistics work by creating a new mode of
transportation to deliver urgent items that has immense benefits to
hospitals and the cities that surround them. University of Utah
Health believes in our mission to transform medical logistics and
improve patient care, and we are excited to work with the
organization to realize the value of medical drone delivery.”
University of Utah Health Gordon Crabtree, Chief Executive
Officer, University of Utah Hospitals &
ClinicsApproved Statement: “University of Utah Health’s
drone delivery program will provide many benefits including patient
convenience, reduced delivery times, and support for the Utah Clean
Air partnership by reducing vehicle traffic. It’s extremely
exciting that we are on track to launch Utah’s first functioning
drone delivery program. Not only are we committed to providing
innovative and quality care to our patients, but we are committed
to improving Utah’s air quality by being on the forefront of this
new technological frontier. We look forward to this exciting
collaboration with UPS and Matternet.”
UPS
David Graves, Corporate Public Relations: davidgraves@ups.com
Kyle Peterson, Public Relations Manager: kylepeterson@ups.com
Matternet
Jenny Russo, Matternet PR Manager, jenny@matternet.us
University of Utah Health
Kathy Wilets, Director of Public Relations, kathy.wilets@hsc.utah.edu
Suzanne Winchester, Associate Director of Public Relations, suzanne.winchester@hsc.utah.edu
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