11/17/2020 Amazon is entering the pharmacy business with a new offering called Amazon Pharmacy, allowing customers in the United States to order prescription medications for home delivery, including free delivery for Amazon Prime members.

Amazon has been quietly building out its pharmacy offering for several years after ramping up internal discussions in 2017 and acquiring PillPack in 2018. The pharmacy space is notoriously complex and competitive in the U.S., and Amazon Pharmacy is built in part on PillPack’s infrastructure, including its pharmacy software, fulfillment centers and relationships with health plans.

Amazon Pharmacy, announced Tuesday, is the company’s biggest push yet into $300 billion market, and threatens the dominance of traditional pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, as well as other large retailers that offer pharmacy services, including Walmart.

How it works

Customers over the age of 18 will have access to the pharmacy service this week in 45 states, not including Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana and Minnesota. Amazon expects to serve those states over time.

Amazon Pharmacy will accept most forms of insurance, but could offer savings for people without insurance as well. Customers can also use flexible spending accounts or health savings accounts to buy prescriptions on the service.

Before customers order medication for the first time, the site might ask them questions such as whether they’re pregnant, their date of birth and their gender as it was assigned at birth. That information is required by law to provide pharmacy care, and it helps pharmacists to do things like confirm prescriptions.

Doctors can send prescriptions directly to Amazon Pharmacy, or patients can request a transfer from an existing retailer, like CVS or Walgreens. Amazon says it has tools to verify that a physician legitimately ordered each prescription, and to tamp down on potential fraud.

source: CNBC