Amazon is erasing the space between the physician’s workplace and the pharmacy with the introduction of recent Amazon Pharmacy kiosks that may rapidly dispense medicines to sufferers after a medical appointment.
The kiosks will initially be situated inside places of work for One Medical, Amazon’s major healthcare firm, in places throughout the better Los Angeles space beginning in December. Enlargement to further One Medical places of work and different places is predicted quickly after.
The objective of the freestanding kiosks is to facilitate simpler filling of prescriptions, eliminating the necessity for an additional journey or ready in line at a standard pharmacy.
In response to Amazon, the kiosks might be stocked with a variety of generally prescribed medicines, together with antibiotics, inhalers, and blood strain medicines. Managed substances and medicines requiring refrigeration usually are not accessible. The stock is tailor-made to the prescribing patterns of every workplace location.
After a supplier writes a prescription, sufferers can select to have it despatched to Amazon Pharmacy for in-office kiosk pickup. Within the Amazon app, sufferers get a QR code to scan on the kiosk to select up their medicine, which is delivered inside minutes with a {custom} label printed on the spot.
The initiative shouldn’t be with out human intervention — cameras contained in the kiosks permit an Amazon pharmacist to get a dwell view and evaluate medicines earlier than they’re allotted, and people pharmacists may reply any affected person questions by way of a video or telephone session.
Giving prospects a pickup level is a departure for Amazon Pharmacy, which works by way of house supply of medicines. Hannah McClellan, vp of operations for Amazon Pharmacy, instructed GeekWire that Amazon is ready to scale the kiosks past the L.A. rollout.
“We do have many extra kiosks able to go,” McClellan stated. “I see One Medical as a launch pad for the kiosk, however I believe they’ve runway far past One Medical, and albeit, far past major care places of work. There’s so many ways in which they’ll drastically enhance the pharmacy pickup expertise at this time.”
The Seattle space has eight One Medical places, and McClellan stated Amazon’s hometown might be “excessive on the checklist” for the place kiosks are positioned.
The tamper-resistant kiosks weigh roughly 1,700 kilos and are secured to the ground, with further security measures together with vibration sensors and surveillance cameras to discourage break-ins. Amazon says affected person data is protected in accordance with HIPAA laws and the complete system has undergone rigorous testing and regulatory evaluate.
There is no such thing as a further charge to make use of a kiosk for Prime and non-Prime members. Sufferers pay just for their prescription medicines, and insurance coverage is accepted simply as with conventional pharmacy choices.
Amazon’s final hope is that comfort cuts again on the practically one-third of prescriptions within the U.S. which might be by no means crammed annually, main to raised well being outcomes and billions in preventable healthcare prices.
“This isn’t a watered-down model of a pharmacy,” McClellan stated. “Now we have minimize zero corners. Each single factor that’s accessible to you at a retail pharmacy pickup is out there to you right here. We actually have simply introduced the pharmacy expertise to your supplier workplace, and made it extremely quick and clear.”
Amazon launched the Amazon Pharmacy service in November 2020, following its $753 million acquisition of prescription-by-mail firm PillPack in 2018. The corporate introduced its $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical in July 2022 and closed the deal in February 2023. In February 2024, Amazon minimize tons of of jobs from each well being care items.
