Important Changes for Community Pharmacist Practice: Focus on Central Fill Centers

I wrote, in a previous commentary, about the future of community pharmacy through Walgreens and Village Medical providing primary care practices in more than 200 Walgreens pharmacy locations around the nation: 

“These practices are currently available in Arizona, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Georgia, Nevada, and Rhode Island. These co-located Village Medical practices provide primary care access to Walgreens pharmacy patients through in-person, virtual, or at-home visits. Village Medical provides expert primary care services, including treating chronic conditions, common illnesses, and injuries. Village Medical physicians and Walgreens pharmacists work together to provide care for complex medication-related problems, which provides greater patient communication and quality measures at lower total cost.”¹

One of the more important questions facing community pharmacies about the clinical expansion is: how do you relieve the prescription-filling pressure to then allow pharmacists to participate in these clinical activities?  

Walgreens is in the midst of addressing this by building multiple micro-fulfillment centers around the United States in relatively close proximity to the Walgreens-Village Medical primary care clinics.² Walgreens estimates that as much as half of their total prescription volume could be filled at these automated hubs. The automated, robotic, centralized hub systems utilize multiple robots which can each fill up to 300 prescriptions per hour with dedicated pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on-site. The system has multiple process security and safety checks, with a pharmacist as a final verification check. At present, only chronic medications are processed, primarily for hypertension and diabetes.  

Importantly, this allows pharmacists to focus on building relationships with patients and on time-sensitive medications and controlled substances. 

The future appears to be bright for community pharmacy clinical expansion. The profession should encourage all parties to reduce legal and regulatory barriers, provide ideas, and participate fully in this futuristic model.

Reference:

1.    Munger MA. Important Changes for Community Pharmacist Practice. Pharmacy Learning Network. August 10, 2023. Accessed August 17, 2023. https://www.hmpgloballearningnetwork.com/site/pln/commentary/important-changes-community-pharmacist-practice
2.   Repko M. Walgreens turns to robots to fill prescriptions, as pharmacists take on more responsibility. CNBC. March 30, 2022. Accessed July 28, 2023. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/30/walgreens-turns-to-robots-to-fill-prescriptions-as-pharmacists-take-on-more-responsibilities.html