TUCSON, Ariz. - It’s called the SpotRX Pharmacy. Think of it like a vending machine for medication.
"As you walk out the door, you go right over the machine," says Robert Squire, Pharmacist, SpotRx. "Get your medication, get in your car, and go home. So now you don't have to, like, get in your car and go somewhere else and wait in line."
So here’s how it works: You walk up to the machine with your prescription. You chose whether you’re starting a new prescription or refilling an existing one. The machine then scans the info written out by your doctor, and viola! Robotic arms inside the steel container select and dispense the medication you’ve been prescribed.
"Somewhere between five and 10 minutes, you're out the door with one prescription," says Squire.
And when it comes to what’s inside, it’s all about researching what medications are popular in certain areas.
"So I try to look at what the demographics are and what the doctors are prescribing there. And then adjust what they call a "formulary" for it," says Squire.
It’s a machine that saves time and maybe most important, is a good way to keep people a little more socially distant during the COVID-19 pandemic.