Covid-19 changed home pharmacies delivery services dramatically. The biggest difference was the number of people choosing to have free pharmacy delivery to their homes. The delivery of distance based medical care, both telemedicine and telepharmacy, jumped a decade in evolution in a matter of a few months. In fact, online traffic to all care related businesses skyrocketed.

The cross over to home delivery of prescriptions is affecting all ages. Younger Canadians have busy work schedules and many are working from home.  The number of seniors (age 65 and older) in Canada has reached nearly 7 million according to Stats Canada Seniors and Aging Statistics and many are switching to home delivery as part of their aging in place strategy. Also, active seniors have busy schedules and are appreciative of the convenience of pharmacy delivery.

The feedback on prescription delivery at home is in and these are the top six benefits:

1. No Pharmacy Line Ups

There is no need to go to the pharmacy and line up.  It’s not just the line up at the pharmacy — it’s  also the inconvenience of getting to the pharmacy as well. By requesting free delivery you can use your time doing something you enjoy instead of worrying about going out in bad weather, being stuck in traffic, or looking for parking. At Sprint Scripts you can even ask for morning or afternoon delivery so you can plan your day around the delivery.

2.  Safety

Online pharmacies not only use traditional packaging when necessary, but also have multiple robotic solutions at their disposal. These machines with their imbedded barcodes and/or other identifiers have reduced pharmacy errors to an infinitesimal amount.  More clearly, pharmacy errors with these smart dispensing machines are virtually impossible.

3.  More Choices in How your Medications are dispensed

Many of the online pharmacies offering free home delivery are also on the leading edge of pharmacy innovation. At Sprint Scripts, we have embraced the best of pharmacy dispensing technology. We have even taken part in pilot projects to provide pre launch feedback to these pharmacy dispensing innovators.  This early use gave us a knowledge edge in utilizing the dispensing machines. We pride ourselves on being an early adopter of Smart Dispensing, Strip Dispensing and Smart Blisters.  These products are easy to use, reduce medication forgetfulness and have high positive feedback.

4.  Safe Money 

Although the base cost of the medications in Canada is virtually the same no matter where you purchase your medication, you save money on gas or taxi with free delivery.  Also, remember the old saying your “time is money”

Many big box stores with pharmacies purposely give you 15-20 minutes to shop while you fulfill you prescription – hoping you will load up you shopping basket with impulse purchases. When you are ordering your medications to your home, you generally only buy your prescriptions, or maybe vitamins that you have run out of.  If you do choose to order vitamins and supplements or home healthcare products through our partners, you will find the online prices are cheaper, and many of these items are delivered for free as well.

Not only do you save money but so does the Canadian medical system. Non adherence to medications instructions costs untold millions to our tax dollars.

5.   Improved Medication Adherence

If you have multiple medications being taken many times a day, adhering to the schedule can be a challenge. Each bottle has its own set of instructions, take this pill only in the morning, take another pill three times a day, now take this one with food and take this one on an empty stomach. Imagine having a pharmacy team simplify all of this for you.  Generally, there are more choices at online pharmacies than a brick and mortar pharmacy to address adherence issues.  The American Journal of Managed Care published a study of nearly 14,000 diabetes patients in 2010 that concluded that those who received their medication by mail were more likely to have good adherence.  These results have also been repeated in cholesterol management studies. Many of these studies were done before the pharmacy delivery innovations of recent years that have further improved outcomes.

6.  Better Access to Pharmacists

Online pharmacies offering free delivery also complement that with better access to pharmacies. Newer robotic technologies not only reduce pharmacy errors but also free up a pharmacists time to concentrate on patient care. Instead of counting pills the pharmacist is able to spend that time on the patients health profile and ways to enhance care.

Have a quick question about your medication and don’t want to drive to your pharmacy or end up on hold.  Imagine having the choice to contact a pharmacist with a question by Live Chat, by telephone, by e-mail or by text.

With all the six free home delivery benefits listed above, it’s no wonder pharmacy delivery at home is one of the fastest growing sectors in healthcare.  If you’d like to take advantage of all the services SprintScripts has to offer, please Contact Us. We’re happy to have you as part of the SprintScripts family of patients.