Walgreens to accept Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits online
The offering also provides additional digital health and wellbeing offerings, such as 30-minute pickup and same-day prescription delivery.
Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Walgreens has said it's the first community pharmacy to accept a broad array of Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits online, through its website and the Walgreens app, allowing eligible members to shop from a catalog of about 1,700 Shop Eligible Products on Walgreens digital channels.
Consumers have been able to shop using their Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits in stores since 2019. The move expands that to online markets that cater to consumers regardless of payment method.
The new offering also provides additional digital health and wellbeing offerings, including 30-minute pickup and one-hour delivery of retail products, same-day prescription delivery, Walgreens Rx Savings Finder, Walgreens Virtual Healthcare and Seniors Day, held every first Tuesday of the month.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
Under the new offering, members can browse eligible products as per their plan on Walgreens.com and the Walgreens app via a dedicated OTC landing page. Members will see a list of eligible items associated with their plan along with common eligible OTC items across multiple plans.
They can also purchase OTC-eligible items by inputting their Medicare Advantage card numbers as their first form of payment. Eligible OTC products will be paid for using their available card funds. Members will need to use another form of payment for items outside of their OTC supplemental benefits.
Members can also participate in Walgreens Seniors Day, in which patients 55 and older and their caregivers can save 20% off eligible regular-priced merchandise on the first Tuesday of every month.
Pickup or delivery options include one-hour and 24-hour same-day delivery options. Walgreens said it continues to add new payer plans for OTC and associated eligible items.
THE LARGER TREND
In January, Walgreens Boots Alliance agreed to pay $360 million to Humana to settle a lawsuit alleging the retail pharmacy overcharged for prescription-drug reimbursements.
Humana brought the lawsuit against Walgreens in February 2022, claiming the retailer had inflated prescription drug prices for years. The insurer was awarded $642 million in private arbitration.
Weeks later, Walgreens said it was engaging in cost-cutting efforts and would be closing roughly 60 VillageMD clinics it deemed as underperforming. The company will also be exiting five markets on the heels of weaker-than-anticipated earnings in the fourth quarter.
Walgreens' VillageMD is also reportedly closing six Chicago clinic locations.
Walgreens posted soft revenue projections for this year based on fiscal underperformance in 2023. The company reported fourth-quarter operating losses of $450 million, compared to $822 million operating losses during the fourth quarter of 2022. Net loss in the fourth quarter was $180 million, compared to a net loss of $415 million in the year-ago quarter.
Another component of the company's $1 billion cost-reduction initiative was the layoff of 267 corporate employees, or 5% of its workforce. That move was announced in November.
ON THE RECORD
"As a health and wellbeing destination for everyone, Walgreens is always looking for ways to enhance the customer experience with solutions for every shopper," said Tracey D. Brown, EVP, president, Walgreens Retail and chief customer officer. "Accepting Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits online and on the Walgreens app improves shopping solutions for those who are homebound, have limited mobility or are simply short on time."
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.
