The digital prescription platform eNavvi and Amazon Pharmacy have a new plan to supply health-care providers with medication information.
The ecommerce giant will collaborate with eNavvi for sharing data related to pricing, stock and delivery within physicians’ workflows, the companies announced. By doing so, they hope to transform any given patient visit into a single point-of-sale (POS) moment. By doing so, they will also utilize Amazon’s same-day delivery network, now live in nearly 3,000 U.S. cities, for fulfillment.
Amazon ranks No. 1 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 Database. The database is how Digital Commerce 360 tracks the largest North American online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.
However, Amazon is No. 158 in that database’s AI Commerce Rankings.
Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. That database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).
Amazon Pharmacy’s plan for eNavvi’s technology
Leaders from both Amazon Pharmacy and eNavvi described the new collaboration as transformative.
“This collaboration fundamentally changes what physicians can see and do at the moment of prescribing,” said Simon Chang, chief executive officer at eNavvi. “Transparent pricing, real-time availability and direct routing to Amazon Pharmacy means better decisions and fewer barriers between patients and the medications they need.”
Moreover, Amazon touted the partnership as a new way to meet customers where they are.
“Amazon Pharmacy is committed to providing a transparent pharmacy experience that removes the friction preventing patients from reliably accessing the medications they are prescribed,” said Tanvi Patel, vice president and general manager at Amazon Pharmacy. “By integrating directly into the prescribing workflow with eNavvi, we are helping clinicians and patients make informed decisions about their health. We know that when patients can conveniently access their medications, they take them and live healthier lives.”
Importantly, Amazon Prime will also factor into the arrangement. Patients who are Prime members will have access to additional savings of up to 80% off generics. Also, patients can participate in RxPass, Amazon Pharmacy’s $5 monthly subscription program.
Why Amazon Pharmacy’s approach echoes other trends in ecommerce
The shift in the new arrangement mirrors a pattern already reshaping ecommerce well beyond health care, according to Vivien Garnès. Garnès is the co-CEO and co-founder of Upfluence, an influencer marketing platform built for ecommerce brands.
“We’ve actually been seeing this shift play out in influencer marketing,” Garnès stated. “The purchase decision used to happen after the discovery moment. A follower would see a product they like on a feed. They’d have to open a separate screen, go to the product website, find it, add it to cart, and purchase. Too many touchpoints where a sale could be lost.”
Now, Garnès sees touchpoints converging, he said.
“ENavvi embedding Amazon Pharmacy into the prescribing screen is the same logic Instagram and TikTok are applying to shoppable content,” Garnès said. “Whenever and wherever a decision gets made, that’s where checkout needs to live.”
He pointed to how a shopper can buy a product directly through TikTok Shop the moment they see it.
“The winners in any industry right now are the ones erasing the friction between deciding and buying,” he assessed.
What the new service will mean for health care
Alys Reynders, chief marketing officer at Quickbase, a no-code workflow and operations platform, said the collaboration addresses a longstanding weak point in health care technology.
“Given that the health care sector has long struggled with inefficiencies when it comes to digital transformation and the secure flow of patient data, the collaboration between eNavvi and Amazon Pharmacy for real-time prescription orders and medication pricing has the potential to transform patient access to important treatments,” Reynders said.
She said she expects that the new move will have an impact.
“Critically, the innovation will provide clinicians with direct access to real-time medication costs and availability at the point of care, which can play a key role in eliminating ‘pharmacy deserts’ and hidden fees that could severely impact the ability for patients to access the treatments they need,” Reynders stated.
She added that the model could help solve a growing access problem as more of the economy moves online.
“As the world continues to shift into a fully interconnected and online-first ecosystem, the prospect of ‘pharmacy deserts’ emerging, where more patients struggle to overcome physical bottlenecks in accessing essential medicines, can be mitigated using Amazon’s highly-efficient nationwide delivery network,” Reynders said.
Reynders described the moment as just the beginning of a wider movement.
“Creating a secure corridor for prescription data to drive the rapid access [to] treatments for patients throughout the United States, the partnership between eNavvi and Amazon Pharmacy provides a glimpse into how medicine in the age of digital transformation can thrive,” Reynders said.
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