According to September 21 news from Pharmacy Today, predicting the future of medication home delivery is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain: the landscape is changing. In back-to-back announcements, CVS launched a nationwide prescription home delivery service with the U. S. Postal Service (USPS) and Amazon acquired the online pharmacy startup PillPack.
The new C VS partnership with USPS allows eligible prescription orders to be delivered for some- or next-day delivery with the option to add health and household products carried by CVS Pharmacy. Amazon has provided this type of service digitally to customers for some time and will now enter the pharmacy business with the acquisition of PillPack.
“In adding multi-medication packaging services, local pharmacies that offer home delivery can have a competitive edge over Amazon PillPack by preserving the local pharmacist-patient connection,” said Rebecca Chater, RPh., MPH, FAPhA, director of clinical health care strategy at Omnicell.
Rather than worry about their place amidst this potential change, Chater believes pharmacists should take this opportunity to add the tools they need to facilitate their ability to improve patient outcomes.
“The local pharmacist connection builds trust, gives peace of mind, and provides patients the level of care needed to resolve complex medication issues,” said Chater.
“Medication delivery has value as a convenience but is not a panacea — especially for the nearly 40 million Americans who receive five or more medications a day,” Chater added. Complex medication regimens present challenges, including non-adherence, that require a multifaceted approach to resolution by the pharmacist.
