The lines around healthcare are being redrawn, and Walgreens just laid out its healthcare plan to go beyond the pharmacy counter

Reuters/Mohammad Khursheed

• Walgreens is going deeper into healthcare by offering virtual doctor's appointments through its app and website, the retail pharmacy said on Thursday.
• Through Walgreens and health systems that it partners with, users can pay for virtual doctor's appointments covering urgent care to dermatology to second opinions.
• After rival CVS Health started changing the way we look at healthcare with the acquisition of Aetna and tech giant Amazon stepped into the prescription drug business, all eyes have been on Walgreens to see how it moves beyond its retail pharmacy business.

Walgreens just embedded itself more deeply into how Americans interact with healthcare.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company, one of the largest pharmacies in the US, has largely been quiet as rivals have taken a foothold across the healthcare supply chain. But now it's making a move of its own by offering virtual on-demand doctor's visits through its website and app.

While Walgreens and other pharmacy chains like CVS and Walmart have onsite clinics where customers can go for on-demand healthcare, this is the first time a major pharmacy has integrated telemedicine into its business. Through Walgreens and health systems that it partners with, users can pay for virtual doctor's appointments covering urgent care to dermatology to second opinions.

Late last year, Walgreens conducted customer research and realized that its pharmacy customers were interested in using the pharmacy for more than just picking up a prescription.

"We saw that they were ready to interact in a deeper way on healthcare," Giovanni Monti, vice president and director of healthcare innovation at Walgreens, told Business Insider.

So Walgreens developed a telemedicine platform, partnering with health systems like NewYork-Presbyterian and existing telemedicine services like DermatologyOnCall.

"What we've really done is we've developed this digital marketplace where our customers can find the healthcare services that either we offer or our partners offer," Monti said.

Here's how it works: Through the Walgreens app, or via the website, you can search for particular conditions you're concerned about it, whether it's a sore throat or a skin issue. Walgreens will then point out some options as well as how much they cost without insurance. For example, an urgent care visit with NewYork-Presbyterian costs $99.

Walgreens

Walgreens quietly rolled out the "Find Care Now" feature a few weeks ago, and so far it's been getting a positive reaction, especially from the health systems that are participating, Monti said.

The evolving role of pharmacies

The lines around what defined a healthcare company started blurring late last year. CVS Health announced its plans to acquire health insurer Aetna, while Cigna picked up the US's largest standalone pharmacy benefit manager, Express Scripts. In June, tech giant Amazon bought pharmacy startup PillPack, cementing its intentions to get into the prescription drug business.

Apart from some takeover talks with the drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen that reportedly fizzled out, Walgreens had been on the sidelines as these new combinations have started to form.

The mergers are part of a shift in the way consumers interact with their healthcare. Both CVS CEO Larry Merlo and Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said the plan is to make pharmacies the "new front doors of healthcare" - as opposed to a traditional doctor's office or a hospital.

"It was clear that CVS Health was moving to become more of a healthcare company and getting closer to the payers. Mark had a similar strategy in getting closer to the customer," Merlo told CNBC in December.

Walgreens has noticed that shift as well. Monti said that while consumers have turned to their phones to book restaurant reservations or make travel plans, healthcare isn't there yet. Ideally, the work Walgreens is doing connecting pharmacy customers to virtual doctor's visits jives with where consumer behaviors are heading.

"One side is the evolving consumer behavior that we've seen in so many other sectors. On the other side, there was this richer offer that Walgreens and Walgreens partners are bringing to the table," Monti said.