Customers in New York City and greater Los Angeles who need medication to manage flu, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other common conditions can now get their medications delivered to their door within hours.
Amazon Pharmacy has launched Same-Day Delivery of prescription medication in New York City and the greater L.A. area, with plans to expand the service to more than a dozen U.S. cities by the end of the year. Customers in Austin, Indianapolis, Miami, Phoenix, and Seattle can already access Same-Day Delivery, while customers in College Station, Texas, can get their medications delivered in under an hour via drone.
“By bringing Amazon Pharmacy’s deliveries into our existing world-class logistics network, Amazon is building the fastest and most convenient service for the home delivery of prescription medications,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores. “These faster delivery speeds will be a game changer when you or your family need your medications quickly.”
Customizing last-mile delivery methods for the community
Amazon Pharmacy is using new small-format facilities, stocked with the most common prescription medications for acute conditions, to get medications closer to where customers live. For example, Amazon Pharmacy’s new small-format facility in Brooklyn carries a subset of the more than 12,000 medications available from Amazon.com, with a focus on supporting urgent-care needs. The pharmacist and fulfillment team at the site can process a prescription within a matter of minutes rather than hours or days.
Each city will experience Same-Day Delivery of prescription medications a little differently. In traffic-jammed Manhattan, for example, delivery workers riding eco-friendly e-bikes may drop off medications at a customer’s door. In College Station, home to Texas A&M University, drones may be used to fly medications to a customer in less than an hour. In greater Los Angeles and other suburban areas, Rivian all-electric vans or other commercial vehicles may make their way to customers’ doors. At Amazon Pharmacy, we’re selecting the best delivery method for each location to get prescriptions to customers when they need them most.
Delivery of prescription medication has existed since the 1940s, yet it accounts for just 10% of U.S. pharmacy orders. Amazon Pharmacy is modernizing the home-delivery experience by reducing delivery speeds to hours in some cases, which outperforms the industry standard of up to two weeks; providing real-time delivery updates; and allowing customers to manage acute conditions like the flu from home. Research suggests that patients are more likely to take their medicine when it’s delivered to their door, which correlates with better health outcomes.
Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist who serves as chief medical officer for Amazon Pharmacy, believes eliminating extended wait times for medicines should be a top priority in health care because people often need treatment almost as soon as they are diagnosed.
“The current pharmacy experience is broken, with patients facing long pharmacy lines and unexpected prices at the counter,” said Dr. Gupta. “Amazon Pharmacy is tapping its world-class logistics network, along with a variety of cutting-edge technologies, to change that.”
AI: Speeding up prescription medication management, allowing clinicians to focus on care
The advanced technology powering Amazon Pharmacy’s Same-Day Delivery service is using generative artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help pharmacists fill prescriptions more quickly and accurately. For example, when handwritten or online prescriptions come in, Amazon’s AI models undertake a series of fact-checking tasks that help ensure pharmacists receive clear and accurate information.
AI can streamline prep work that historically would take hours down to mere minutes or even seconds, and reduce administrative errors, noted Kelvin Downes, director of fulfillment for Amazon Pharmacy.
“AI doesn’t replace the role of the pharmacist; it allows them to operate at the top of their license,” Downes said. “Rather than doing duplicative work, pharmacists can use the skills they went to school for to deliver better patient experiences.”
According to Downes, no prescription leaves a fulfillment center without a pharmacist having verified that it includes the right medicine, strength, dosage, quantity, and address label.
Robots, drones, and AI are driving the pharmacy of the future
To support prescription medication drone delivery, Amazon Pharmacy and Prime Air co-created a new fulfillment process to ensure hyperfast delivery. The pharmacy and fulfillment center are connected, allowing the pharmacy team to clinically evaluate a new prescription, dispense the medication, and hand over a single package for a drone to swiftly deliver. One particular order, for instance, was processed and delivered in just 53 minutes via drone.
“We built out a new fulfillment system by integrating a fully licensed pharmacy into existing logistics operations and smaller sites,” Downes said. “Prescription medication processing time is shrinking with AI on the back end and automation and new micromobility technologies on the front end,” said Downes.
That’s true for larger sites, where robotic arms assist in filling, labeling, and sending prescriptions for pharmacist inspection in as few as 30 seconds (manually it would take handlers at least three minutes), and it’s the case with the new small-format pharmacies that are enabling Same-Day Delivery in a growing number of cities.
Faster delivery means customers spend less time managing care
As Amazon Pharmacy continues to integrate AI and new technologies to speed care, one goal remains front and center: helping customers save time and money so they can focus on their lives.
“I lead a busy life between my business and family,” said Zack Streit, a partner in a bustling Los Angeles commercial real estate firm and a father of two. Streit had tried fee-based mail-order and home-delivery services from other pharmacies but found their wait times unreliable. When he learned Amazon Pharmacy offers Prime members free, two-day prescription delivery on their first order, followed by free monthly or quarterly delivery of recurring medications, he transferred his prescription to Amazon.
“I thought, ‘If I never have to set foot in another pharmacy again, that would be awesome,’” he explained. “I’ve been using Amazon Pharmacy for about four months now, and it’s been a very pleasant, efficient experience. I travel a lot, have a pretty demanding career, and want to maximize time with my family. Amazon Pharmacy helps by giving me one less thing to think about.”
Visit Amazon Pharmacy to learn more about how to save time and money while staying healthy. Go behind the scenes with Doug Herrington at Pharmacy operations sites in Phoenix & Brooklyn to see his full experience and how we’re delivering quickly for Pharmacy customers.
