Walmart joins retail pharmacy push in same-day prescription delivery
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Walmart (WMT) announced Tuesday it will offer same-day prescription delivery services in six states, with a plan to roll out to all 49 states in which it operates a pharmacy in by January.
The first six states are Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. North Dakota is the only state where Walmart doesn't operate a pharmacy.
The move brings Walmart into the competitive field of online pharmacies and same-day retail deliveries, with players like Amazon (AMZN) Pharmacy, Walgreens (WBA), and CVS (CVS).
The new service is being integrated into the existing Walmart delivery service, where patients can add their prescription to their cart along with other items — a key differentiator, according to Walmart — and schedule a delivery time. It will apply any new or existing prescriptions and insurance coverage as if the patient were coming to the store to pick it up, Walmart said in its announcement.
But there are a few restrictions. Controlled substances, those that need refrigeration, and Medicare Part B items will not be eligible for delivery.
Competitors offer delivery in as little as two hours in some markets. Walgreens, for example, offers same-day delivery in a majority of its 8,700 stores and delivery within two hours in about 800 stores. It also has restrictions for controlled substances, temperature-controlled medicines, and other insurance-based or state regulation-based restrictions.
To that end, Walmart is working on ramping up its service to include on-demand delivery "within hours" and an express service delivering in as soon as 30 minutes.
The current iteration will be free to Walmart+ members, and the standard $9.95 delivery charge will apply to others. It is unclear if there will be additional fees for the faster delivery options.
"By combining Pharmacy Delivery into a single order, we're strengthening our commitment to providing everything they need, whenever and wherever (customers) need it," Tom Ward, executive vice president and chief eCommerce officer, said in a statement.
Walmart said it launched the new service after a recent survey showed that 55% of customers "expressed a desire to have their prescriptions delivered along with their groceries and other items they need in a single online order."
Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee on most social media platforms @AnjKhem.