A robotic, not a human pharmacist, could also be filling your prescription at Walgreens. And there is about to be much more of them.
Walgreens instructed CNBC on Sunday that it needs to have extra of its pharmacies ship prescriptions to certainly one of its 11 micro-fulfillment facilities, or hubs that use robotic expertise to fill affected person prescriptions.
The objective is to have the amenities deal with prescriptions for five,000 pharmacies earlier than the yr ends, up from 4,800 shops in February and 4,300 shops in October 2023.
As of February, the facilities took care of 40% of prescriptions for supported pharmacies, amounting to 16 million orders crammed every month.
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The transfer to broaden automation arrives as Walgreens readies itself to go personal in a $10 billion deal. The pharmacy chain introduced in March that it had agreed to be acquired by personal fairness agency Sycamore Companions, with the deal anticipated to shut within the fourth quarter of the yr.
How does a micro-fulfillment middle work?
When a Walgreens pharmacy supported by a middle receives a prescription order, the system decides if it must be crammed by pharmacists at that location or despatched to the middle. The choice usually comes right down to timeliness: Facilities normally deal with refills that do not require fast pickup.
The amenities then use robots, conveyor belts, and scanners to fill prescriptions precisely. Whereas pharmacists fill prescriptions by hand at shops, robots dispense prescriptions down a rigorously managed meeting line at facilities.
There may be nonetheless some human involvement on the amenities, although. A crew of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians works behind the scenes on the facilities to make sure that the correct tablets attain the right bottles.
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Robotic facilities drive price financial savings for Walgreens
The micro-fulfillment amenities have had a noticeable influence on Walgreens for the reason that first one opened in early 2021. Kayla Heffington, Walgreens’ pharmacy vice chairman, instructed CNBC that the facilities have helped Walgreens save $500 million up to now and allowed its pharmacists to spend extra time with sufferers. She mentioned that the facilities allowed Walgreens to enhance prescription quantity by 126% year-over-year, whereas concurrently bringing down prices by near 13%.
Walgreens is now filling greater than 170 million prescriptions per yr, with the objective of elevating that complete to 180 million or greater with the assistance of the facilities, she said.
Rick Gates, Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer, added that the facilities give Walgreens “much more flexibility to convey down prices.”
“Proper now, they’re the spine to actually assist us offset a few of the workload in our shops,” Gates instructed CNBC.
He famous that the amenities give Walgreens a bonus over impartial pharmacies and different rivals that lack robotic prescription success.
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Amazon Pharmacy has its personal automated pharmacy success facilities that purpose to convey medicines to prospects in two days or much less on common.
Corporations like Walmart, Kroger, and Albertsons every have micro-fulfillment facilities that course of objects like groceries, however none have publicly disclosed prescription success facilities.
CVS has additionally carried out automation in its provide chain, although not publicly for its pharmacies. At CVS’s Lumberton, New Jersey, distribution middle, 152 robots work collectively to course of 1.9 million merchandise per week.
Walgreens was the second greatest pharmacy within the U.S. by prescribed drugs market share in 2024, proper after CVS.
A robotic, not a human pharmacist, could also be filling your prescription at Walgreens. And there is about to be much more of them.
Walgreens instructed CNBC on Sunday that it needs to have extra of its pharmacies ship prescriptions to certainly one of its 11 micro-fulfillment facilities, or hubs that use robotic expertise to fill affected person prescriptions.
The objective is to have the amenities deal with prescriptions for five,000 pharmacies earlier than the yr ends, up from 4,800 shops in February and 4,300 shops in October 2023.
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