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 desires to have extra of its pharmacies ship prescriptions to considered one of its 11 micro-fulfillment facilities, or hubs that use robotic know-how to fill affected person prescriptions.
The aim is to have the services deal with prescriptions for five,000 pharmacies earlier than the 12 months 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 12 months.
How does a micro-fulfillment heart 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 all the way down to timeliness: Facilities often deal with refills that do not require speedy pickup.
The services 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’s nonetheless some human involvement on the services, although. A workforce of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians works behind the scenes on the facilities to make sure that the fitting capsules attain the right bottles.
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Robotic facilities drive price financial savings for Walgreens
The micro-fulfillment services 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 to this point and allowed its pharmacists to spend extra time with sufferers. She stated 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 12 months, with the aim of elevating that whole to 180 million or increased with the assistance of the facilities, she said.
Rick Gates, Walgreens’ chief pharmacy officer, added that the facilities give Walgreens “much more flexibility to deliver 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 services 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 goal to deliver drugs to prospects in two days or much less on common.
Firms like Walmart, Kroger, and Albertsons every have micro-fulfillment facilities that course of gadgets like groceries, however none have publicly disclosed prescription success facilities.
CVS has additionally applied automation in its provide chain, although not publicly for its pharmacies. At CVS’s Lumberton, New Jersey, distribution heart, 152 robots work collectively to course of 1.9 million merchandise per week.
Walgreens was the second greatest pharmacy within the U.S. by pharmaceuticals 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 desires to have extra of its pharmacies ship prescriptions to considered one of its 11 micro-fulfillment facilities, or hubs that use robotic know-how to fill affected person prescriptions.
The aim is to have the services deal with prescriptions for five,000 pharmacies earlier than the 12 months ends, up from 4,800 shops in February and 4,300 shops in October 2023.
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