Hummy Song, PhD │ HP X CHIBE Hybrid Research Seminar

Leapfrogging for Last-mile Delivery in Health Care

with Hummy Song, PhD | Assistant Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions, The Wharton School

HYBRID SEMINAR

In Person: 1104 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive | Virtual: Attendees may attend via Zoom (https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95353951407)

Radical technological innovations may allow leapfrogging over traditional solutions to improve access to quality medical care, especially in hard-to-reach areas. Using data from Rwandan public hospitals, we examine the impact of using drones for the delivery of blood products on inventory management and health outcomes. We find that adopting drone delivery leads to a 62% reduction in on-hand inventory of blood products, 42% reduction in their wastage, and 88% decrease in inpatient mortality from postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). Hospitals that experienced road infrastructure improvements prior to adopting drone delivery see a quarter of the decline in PPH mortality compared to facilities that only adopted drone delivery, suggesting a leapfrogging effect.