Walgreens is expanding a robotic network effort when it comes to fulfilling prescriptions in an effort to ease the labor load of its pharmacy staff.

The automated centers can reduce the pharmacist workload by at least 25% and deliver a cost savings of more than $1 billion each year, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The drugstore chain has opened eight centers in the past two years and plans to have up to 24 more up and running in three years.

Pharmacists will have more time to offer patient services and medical services.

"This frees up the capacity of our most skilled professionals," Rina Shah, group vice president of pharmacy operations and services at Walgreens, told the news outlet. "We looked at our system and said, 'Why are we filling prescriptions the way we did in 1995?'"

Copyright © 2022 Networld Media. All rights reserved., source Industry News