CVS presenter outlines drone uses for medical logistics, emergency response and disaster relief

Representatives of CVS Health briefed the Joint Interim Committees on unmanned aircraft uses for medical logistics, emergency response and disaster-relief operations, saying the company is piloting systems that could reach medically vulnerable patients and support community emergency care.

Matt Sloan, subcommittee chair for research applications, introduced Joshua (Josh) Wright of CVS Health, who said his team “manages and protects about 54,000,000 patient packages annually” and is developing what he called “CVS Air Response,” built on three pillars: medical logistics, emergency community response and disaster response. “The drone piece, for better or worse, tends to be easy,” Wright said, adding the program focuses on business-to-business medical deliveries in the near term.

Why it matters: Committee members raised regulatory and timeline questions as they weigh procurement and network-security implications. Several members said federal funding for rural health innovation and states’ Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) planning could shape how and when programs expand.

Wright said the medical logistics pillar is intended for point-to-point medical transfers—examples he mentioned include CVS-to-CVS, clinic-to-lab and facility-to-hospital flows—and specifically cited Quorum specialty infusions as a use case that required uninterrupted delivery during disasters. He described an Asheville deployment after a storm where drone-enabled situational awareness helped CVS maintain “no change in their patient experience and didn’t experience any change in their medical adherence” for critically dependent patients.

Wright described the emergency community response pillar as enabling fast delivery of devices such as automated external defibrillators (AEDs) or naloxone, and said CVS believes faster delivery could materially improve survivability for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. “We think we have the potential to move a national standard of survivability … from a dismally low 8 to 10 percent … to somewhere in the 30 to 40 percent survivability range,” he said.

On timing and scale, Wright told the committee the program is moving “thoughtfully” and expects to be operational “in 2026 in some capacity,” acknowledging regulatory and safety challenges ahead. A committee member noted Alabama’s AAM planning is at an early stage and questioned how quickly the state could adopt systems and policy.

Committee discussion also flagged practical advantages for rural coverage: a member pointed out CVS locations are often within a short driving distance of many rural residents, and Wright said that retail footprint could serve as nodes for medical logistics and emergency response.

The presentation included references to operational airspace tools: Wright said CVS is testing systems in Michigan that use Thales technology for airspace awareness and operational deconfliction. He emphasized a desire to build shared operational awareness rather than systems that only deconflict their own flights.

The committee did not take any formal votes on CVS’s proposals during the session; the meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn.