Photo courtesy of Amazon
October 9, 2025
Will Patients Want Prescriptions from Amazon Kiosks?
Offering a way to save a trip to the pharmacy, Amazon is introducing kiosks that enable patients to get their prescriptions in doctor’s offices “within minutes of their appointment.”
Starting in December, Amazon Pharmacy Kiosks will be available to patients at One Medical locations across the greater Los Angeles area, with expansion to additional One Medical offices and other locations soon after.
Amazon acquired One Medical, in February 2023 for $3.9 billion, in a major expansion into primary care and healthcare. Through an annual membership and pay-per-visit model, One Medical offers virtual consultations for specific health issues as well as in-clinic care at more than 200 offices.
The kiosks will contain a range of commonly prescribed medications, including antibiotics, inhalers, and blood pressure medications. The inventory is tailored to the prescribing patterns of each location.
In introducing Amazon Pharmacy Kiosks, Amazon cited data showing nearly one-third of prescriptions are never filled. Amazon also cited findings showing that one-in-four neighborhoods in the U.S. are considered pharmacy deserts while noting that the “journey from doctor’s office to pharmacy counter has long been a friction point” even when venturing to nearby pharmacies. Amazon referenced a J.D. Power report showing that only 51% of customers report their prescriptions were quickly filled at retail pharmacies.
“We know that when patients have to make an extra trip to the pharmacy after seeing their doctor, many prescriptions never get filled,” said Hannah McClellan, VP of operations, Amazon Pharmacy. “By bringing the pharmacy directly to the point of care, we’re removing a critical barrier and helping patients start their treatment when it matters most—right away.”
Amazon also pointed to a study showing that half of medications for chronic conditions aren’t taken as prescribed, implying that securing prescriptions closer to the clinical visit could help.
After a provider writes a prescription, patients can choose to have it sent to Amazon Pharmacy for in-office kiosk pickup. Patients then use their phone to check out in the Amazon app, an Amazon pharmacist then virtually reviews the medication, with medications ready for pickup “in minutes.”
Patients are able to see upfront costs, including available discounts and estimated insurance copays, and connect to a pharmacist via video or phone consultation, if needed.
The launch comes as pharmacy chains Rite Aid, Walgreens, and CVS have closed stores in recent years.
Amazon Kiosks May Not Replace Pharmacists, But Could Improve Patient Outcomes
McClellan told CNBC the kiosks aren’t meant to replace pharmacists “but to bring their expertise closer to the point of care.”
“This model keeps pharmacists at the center of the care experience while expanding how and where they can support patients,” she added.
The kiosks presumably could also be installed in hospitals, urgent care centers, and other healthcare facilities. McClellan told CNBC, “Over time, we see real potential for this technology to extend to other environments — anywhere quick access to medication can make a difference.”
Discussion Questions
What do you think of the potential of prescription-dispensing kiosks in doctor’s offices and other clinical settings?
Do the likely benefits outweigh any concerns?
Poll
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Frank Margolis
Executive Director, Growth Marketing & Business Development, Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions
Mark Ryski
Founder, CEO & Author, HeadCount Corporation
Patricia Vekich Waldron
Contributing Editor, RetailWire; Founder and CEO, Vision First
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Yes, many people will be happy to use these. Why? Because it’s efficient and fast and, in some cases, allows customers to get their medication immediately after an appointment without making a separate trip to the pharmacy. Of course, others will prefer to speak to a pharmacist or have a more personal experience – and there are alternatives for them. And this is really only applicable to common medications, so it’s not going to revolutionize the entire pharmacy market – but it is opening up more options, which is a good thing.
Expanding access to health services including prescriptions is a good thing. For some patients, this will certainly positively impact fill rates and convenience. That said, I suspect that older patients will not feel as comfortable filling their prescriptions via kiosk and will continue to do what they usually do. The challenge I see to this is getting physical locations to install the kiosks and then to keep them stocked.
Cheaper, faster, and potentially more convenient than heading all the way to a pharmacy = I’m already sold on the idea, and I’m sure many more patients will be too.
With that being said, this solution is more geared for regular, recurring medications (ie: statins), not new prescriptions that require pharmacist explanation or are scheduled.
These kiosks minimize friction by adding ease and speed to the patient care process. Patients skip the hassle of having to visit another physical location or wait a long time to receive a prescription.
Pharmacists also seem to win. These kiosks free them up from counting pills so they can spend more time delivering individualized care and consultations.
Uhmmmm.
This is one of those things I’ll object to instinctively (and think of the exact reason(s) later)
OK It didn’t take me long; here are my starters
Come on, you can hardly accuse Amazon of having a monopoly when there are 240 One Medical locations across the US – compared to 9,000 plus CVS and 8,000 plus Walgreens stores. And yes, One Medical does belong to Amazon and the pharmacy kiosk is Amazon owned. But how is that different to the CVS Health Hubs which direct prescriptions to CVS pharmacies (the same for Village Medical when it was previously under Walgreens’ ownership)? Perhaps those chains should be forced to install Amazon prescription kiosks (not that I am advocating that as it falls into the dreaded category of government overreach!).
You raise a number of good points – I expected nothing less, and I wasn’t disappointed! – but I was looking at this with a little more forward thinking (which I believe was the point of the thread): would I want to see this everywhere? And the answer is no.
It’s
alwaysoften a struggle with these questions, answering what I think is best for a company vs. what I think might be best in a public welfare sense; and of course that’s magnified – exponentially – with the size of the company(ies) involved. My PW167 coursework won out here.I think prescription-dispensing kiosks in doctors’ offices and clinical settings hold meaningful potential—especially when deployed thoughtfully. Amazon’s new kiosks, first rolling out at One Medical locations, aim to make it possible for patients to leave their appointment with medications in hand, without needing a separate trip to a pharmacy. That kind of “point-of-care dispensing” reduces friction, addresses pharmacy deserts, and may help ensure more prescriptions are actually filled—three big weak points in our current medication continuum.
That said, this model isn’t without risks—and whether the upside justifies them depends heavily on execution. Key concerns include quality control, privacy, stock management (will the kiosks keep up with demand and avoid stockouts?), and ensuring patients receive adequate pharmacist consultation—some prescriptions require nuance, education, or side-effect discussions. Amazon plans to layer virtual pharmacist review on top of the kiosk model, which mitigates that risk to some degree. If those safeguards hold, then yes—the benefits likely outweigh the cons in many settings.
In short: I see this as a logical evolution of healthcare delivery, not a wholesale replacement for pharmacies. Where clinical practices or outpatient centers lack nearby dispensaries or where extra trips create real barriers, these kiosks could meaningfully improve adherence and outcomes. The success will depend on thoughtful implementation, regulatory alignment, and ensuring patient care isn’t compromised in the name of convenience.
Amazon isn’t being innovative here; they’re simply applying basic retail principles (reduce friction, meet customers where they are, provide transparency) to a sector that’s been coasting on captive demand for decades.
The kiosks elegantly address the significant prescription abandonment rate between diagnosis and treatment. What’s brilliant is how Amazon has methodically crafted the entire value chain: the clinic (One Medical), prescription fulfillment, kiosk hardware, likely the patient data platform, and payment processing. But what happens to independent pharmacists in underserved communities when Amazon can afford to run these kiosks as loss leaders while building its massive data infrastructure to feed its AI recommendation engines?
This is retail brilliance applied to healthcare service dysfunction, and while it will help many people, someone always pays the social cost of disruption. This is also the opening move in Amazon’s larger healthcare land grab. Are we comfortable with Amazon controlling the pharmacy (and health data) of the future —or are we just applauding efficiency while ceding power?
Not having to drive to a pharmacy to pick up a perscription? Brilliant. Sign me up.
First, I’m blown away with the stat that almost 1/3 of prescriptions aren’t filled. BOOM! Compliance is an issue. How do you help reduce that number? Make it easier for people to get their prescriptions. That’s why Amazon’s prescription-dispensing kiosks, located in convenient spots, will be effective.
I can see these kiosks removing friction by letting patients pick up prescriptions right after a doctor’s visit, but also adding new points of friction like app checkout and virtual pharmacist reviews. Still, it’s a smart way to bring care closer to the point of need and could improve prescription pickup rates if done well.
Given the ability to keep kiosks supplied, I think this could be a good solution for Urgent Care Clinic patients, where a limited number of medications are prescribed (like antibiotics, etc). For more complicated or rare medications, it probably doesn’t make sense.
In China, you go to the doctor. The doctor writes you the script. You go to a window at the facility. They hand you the meds. Could not be easier.
Perhaps, the real question is what is wrong with this model. Why do we have a healthcare system that won’t allow doctor’s to fill prescriptions in office, and force patients to go to another location/pharmacy to get prescriptions filled and refilled? The absurdity of our prescription process, including requiring pharmacists to interface with patients who have just seen a doctor???