Pharmacists at Walgreens are taking on more responsibilities as the company turns to robots to fill prescriptions.

• Across the U.S., Walgreens Boots Alliance is introducing robot-powered micro-fulfillment centers to handle prescription refills, as the roles of stores and pharmacists continue to evolve.
• The drugstore chain plans to open 22 facilities across the country.
• Rex Swords, Walgreens' group president of centralized services, operations and planning, stated that by 2025, up to half of the company's total prescription volume could be filled at automated hubs.

In Northlake, Texas, robotic arms are increasingly being integrated into the workforce.

In a facility in Dallas, thousands of prescriptions are filled for customers with conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Each robot in the facility can fill 300 prescriptions per hour, which is roughly the same number as a typical Walgreens pharmacy with a few staff members can accomplish in a day.

To remain competitive in the rapidly evolving pharmacy industry, Walgreens Boots Alliance is establishing centralized, automated hubs. The pandemic has accelerated the need for the drugstore chain to adapt as online pharmacies capture market share and more customers opt for doorstep delivery of items such as toilet paper and toothpaste. Additionally, the global health crisis has increased the demand for pharmacists, who have been hired by hospitals and drugstores to administer Covid vaccines and tests.

The restructuring of the retail industry has prompted Walgreens and its competitors, including , to reevaluate the function of their stores and pharmacists.

Roz Brewer, the new CEO of Walgreens, aims to transform the company's focus on health care as its primary driver of growth. To achieve this, Walgreens has acquired a majority stake in VillageMD, a primary care company, and iA, a pharmacy and health-care automation technology company. Additionally, the company is considering the sale of its U.K.-based Boots business.

Rex Swords, Walgreens' group president of centralized services, operations and planning, stated that by 2025, up to half of the prescription volume from stores could be filled at automated centers.

Brewer stated in an interview with CNBC's Bertha Coombs that rewriting the input sentence would allow pharmacists to spend more time on providing healthcare.

"So that the pharmacist can focus on their favorite task of building relationships with patients and interacting with them as they were trained, we are taking care of all the work," she stated.

Local stores will continue to receive time-sensitive medications and controlled substances filled by robots as the company expands its use of automation.

An analyst for Jefferies, Brian Tanquilut, stated that automation could aid Walgreens in distinguishing itself from online pharmacies such as PillPack and Capsule, as well as CVS, which owns Aetna and Caremark.

He stated that this action is in line with some of their health-care strategy.

In its busiest stores, CVS employs robotics to help with prescription filling, but the company refused to disclose the proportion of its total volume that is automated through a spokesperson.

Walgreens will share its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Thursday.

A glimpse of the future

The Northlake robot-powered center, 36 miles northwest of Dallas, showcases Walgreens' future with 220 workers, including licensed pharmacists.

Eventually, the number of daily prescriptions filled at the Dallas area facility will increase from the current 35,000 to as many as 100,000, said Swords.

In the next three years, Walgreens aims to expand to 22 facilities, serving over 8,500 of its nearly 9,000 stores. The company has already opened two new facilities in Phoenix and Memphis.

Instead of being filled by hand, pill bottles and caps move through a highly automated assembly line.

The team of workers carefully feeds robot pods with containers of pills, each medication having its own canister and pill counter. A yellow robotic arm grabs a labeled pill bottle and holds it up to the canister, which dispenses pills like a meticulously calibrated vending machine.

Before the pill bottle is removed from the pod, it is covered with a cap.

At the Dallas facility, approximately 900 different medications can be dispensed from the robot pods. To manage the high demand, some common medications are stored in multiple dispensers.

At one station, pill bottles are scanned and paired with a patient's other medications or 90-day medication supply. Printers prepare paperwork and bags based on the bar codes read.

The prescriptions, now packaged in a bag, are transported by Roomba-like rolling robots that sort and deliver them to plastic totes heading to the same pharmacy location.

Instead of going through the automated assembly line, about 30% of prescriptions at the facility are manually prepared by workers, who handle items such as asthma inhalers, eye drops, and temperature-controlled medications, according to Swords.

The process includes security and safety measures such as pharmacists verifying medications in canisters and pill bottles, electronic locks on robot pods that prevent dispensing if a canister is misplaced, and zip ties on totes transporting filled prescriptions to stores.

Swords stated that although the facilities do not currently offer direct mail prescription services, it is part of the program's plan.

More hands-on pharmacists

More than 500 drugstores across most of Texas, parts of Arkansas, and parts of Louisiana receive ready-to-pickup prescriptions and wholesale drugs from the same trucks, which have a delivery radius of approximately 400 miles.

Customers would barely notice the change to automation, as the only difference would be in the packaging.

By investing in micro-fulfillment centers, Walgreens can achieve cost savings and generate new revenue streams. According to Walgreens President John Standley, the company's micro-fulfillment centers will reduce its working capital by $1.1 billion by 2025.

With the increasing number of prescriptions being filled by robots, pharmacists can shift their focus to other tasks that Walgreens can charge insurers or customers for, such as diagnosing and treating medical conditions like strep or the flu and prescribing medication to those at risk of HIV.

Pharmacists in Ohio are providing counseling and managing care for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as part of a pilot program.

In the Dallas area, Walgreens' regional health care director, Rick Fernandez, emphasized the importance of pharmacists during the pandemic and how they can be utilized more effectively.

Being stuck filling scripts all day was quite dreary, he remarked. However, what we were receiving in return for our pharmacy services was more appreciated than we were given credit for.

Tanquilut from Jefferies stated that automation can decrease staffing requirements and transform pharmacists into more hands-on medical providers. However, it is unclear how this may unfold, whether it will result in a smaller pharmacy staff or a workforce of the same size or larger, with different roles. Additionally, state regulations are a factor, as Walgreens is advocating for pharmacists to be allowed to offer a broader range of healthcare services.

The challenge, he stated, is to persuade customers and insurers to compensate for advice rather than expecting it for free.

Are you being compensated for these services?" he inquired. "The expectation is that eventually, there will be financial remuneration for providing patient care, as long as the service is performed.

Don't miss out on Healthy Returns on Wednesday, March 30, where health care experts, including Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Roz Brewer, will discuss health tech investing, the drug market, health equity, wellness programs and more. Register now.