A robot, not a human pharmacist, can be filling its recipe in Walgreens. And there are many more of them.
Walgreens told him CNBC Sunday is that more of their pharmacies send recipes to one of their 11 microflomation centers, or centers that use robotic technology to fill patient recipes.
The objective is to make the facilities handle the recipes for 5,000 pharmacies before the end of the year, compared to 4,800 stores in February and 4,300 stores in October 2023.
As of February, the centers were in charge of 40% of the recipes of pharmacies with support, for a value of 16 million orders each month.
Related: Walgreens Boots Alliance gets an invoice for $ 2.7 billion of the IRS after the fiscal audit
The movement to expand automation comes as Walgreens prepares to go privately in an agreement of $ 10 billion. The pharmacy chain announced in March that it had agreed to be acquired by the private capital firm Sycamore Partners, and the agreement is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the year.
How does a microfulgation center work?
When a Walgreens pharmacy compatible with a center receives a prescription order, the system decides whether pharmacists must fill it in that place or sent to the center. The decision is often reduced to punctuality: the centers generally handle recharges that do not require immediate collection.
The facilities then use robots, conveyor belts and scanners to fill the prescriptions precisely. While pharmaceuticals fill the recipes by hand in stores, robots dispense recipes for a carefully managed assembly line in centers.
There is still some human participation in the facilities, he thought. A team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians works behind the scene in the centers to ensure that the right pills reach the right bottles.
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Robotic centers drive cost savings for Walgreens
Microfulgation facilities have had a remarkable impact on Walgreens since the former opened at the beginning of 2021. Kayla Taxton, Vice President of Pharmacy of Walgreens, told the pharmacy. CNBC That the centers have helped Walgreens save $ 500 million to date and allowed their pharmacists spend more time with patients. She said the centers allowed Walgreens to improve the prescription volume in 126% year after year, while lowering costs in 13%.
Walgreens is now filling more than 170 million recipes per year, with the aim of increasing that total to 180 million or higher with the help of the centers, Sheed.
Rick Gates, the Walgreens pharmacy director, added that the centers give Walgreens “much more flexibility to reduce costs.”
“At this time, they are the spine to really help us to compensate part of the workload in our stores,” Gates told Gates CNBC.
He pointed out that the facilities give Walgreens an advantage over independent pharmacies and other rivals that lack robotic prescription compliance.
Related: ‘The changes are imminent’: Walgreens to obtain a ‘significant’ number of stores
Amazon Pharmacy has its own automated pharmacy compliance centers that aim to bring medications to the client in two days or less in acidic.
Companies such as Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons have microflomeo centers that process articles as edible, but none has publicly revealed recipe satisfaction centers.
CVS has also implemented automation in its supply chain, thought not publicly for its pharmacies. In CVS’s Lumberton, New Jersey, distribution center, 152 robots work together to process 1.9 million products per week.
Walgreens was the second largest pharmacy in the US. UU. By market share of medications prescribed in 2024, just after CFS.
A robot, not a human pharmacist, can be filling its recipe in Walgreens. And there are many more of them.
Walgreens told him CNBC Sunday is that more of their pharmacies send recipes to one of their 11 microflomation centers, or centers that use robotic technology to fill patient recipes.
The objective is to make the facilities handle the recipes for 5,000 pharmacies before the end of the year, compared to 4,800 stores in February and 4,300 stores in October 2023.
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