Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to use automation to combat its ongoing nationwide staff shortage, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 2.
Walgreens will set up a network of centralized, automated drug-filling centers with robotic arms that can sort and bottle multicolored pills. Automation will cut pharmacist workloads by 25 percent and save the company more than $1 billion a year, Walgreens told the WSJ.
Certain prescriptions such as inhalers and controlled substances will still be filled by pharmacists in stores.
The new drug-filling centers will allow pharmacists more time for providing medical services like vaccinations, patient outreach and prescribing some medications — the last of which proves to be a growing revenue stream for drugstores.