The specialty pharmacy industry is in a state of transformation, fueled by the rise of complex, innovative therapies and the critical need for more robust patient support.
For too long, specialty pharmacy has operated in silos, with complicated challenges hindering patient support—patients receiving fragmented care, long delays in benefit verification, and reactive rather than proactive support for medication or therapy management. But technology and data analytics have emerged as essential tools for managing this complexity, enabling pharmacies to deliver targeted interventions at unprecedented scale.
From reactive to proactive: Walgreens' whole-patient approach
Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy, an innovator in patient support, providing approaches that keep pace with the complexity of specialty care. By combining trusted patient–pharmacist relationships with advanced analytics and branching logic, care becomes more personalized and proactive. Supporting this approach are Walgreens’ Specialty 360 teams, pharmacists and clinicians trained in neurology, oncology, metabolic conditions among other therapeutic areas—who provide a foundation of expertise that works seamlessly with technology.
“Technology has taken us to the next level by building in logic and analytics into our care flow,” says Tracey James, VP of specialty division operations, Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy. “We're able to more accurately identify trends that span multiple populations and get even more precise around different side effects and adverse event triggers.”
In the case of oncology patients, for example, Walgreens leverages advanced analytics to anticipate adherence risks and personalize interventions. Algorithms identify when side effects or disease progression are most likely to create barriers, and pharmacists then step in with timely, personalized support. By meeting patients at these critical points, Walgreens achieves oncology adherence rates above 90%1.
Finding needles in haystacks
A unique differentiator for Walgreens is its whole-patient view—looking beyond the specialty prescription to connect insights across retail and specialty networks. During the launch of a new metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis drug last year, the manufacturer reported that Walgreens identified GI side effects earlier than the wider healthcare network in part due to analyzing calls for key words with automated tools2.
Walgreens quickly turned these insights into action. Pharmacists made proactive calls and connected those experiencing nutrition-related side effects with registered dietitians. One patient, after working with both the dietitian and pharmacist on dietary changes (such as adopting a Mediterranean diet), felt transformed by losing weight and improving their liver enzymes.
This ability to find “needles in haystacks” through automated analysis of thousands of daily patient interactions also allows Walgreens to be a proactive partner to pharmaceutical manufacturers, who can identify side effect patterns and develop targeted interventions that can be rolled out across entire networks.
Coordinated care across the entire journey
The specialty patient journey is inherently complex, often encompassing multiple conditions and involving multiple specialists, pharmacies and healthcare organizations. Walgreens' technology infrastructure provides critical support for ensuring continuity of care by addressing non-adherence issues such as missed doses and unfilled refills, while providing clinical support for patients managing complex regimens.
The platform's comprehensive medication profiles and sophisticated care coordination algorithms become especially valuable when patients are taking multiple prescription medications for multiple conditions (sometimes sourced from different pharmacies). Unlike disease-specific pharmacies who must ask patients about other medications or search separate systems, Walgreens can connect over-the-counter products, specialty care and services such as immunizations – something disease-specific pharmacies are unable to do. “We're able to anticipate barriers in the patient journey and solve for them before it's a problem, “says James.
This holistic offering also involves coordinating with prescribers, payers and other health partners. When Walgreens identifies patients who may be eligible for a payer's disease management program, it can connect them directly, which helps to manage overall population spending. The same applies to alerting providers about missing lab values, REMS components, or screening results that require attention.
Ensuring access without interruption
Affordability remains one of the biggest barriers to specialty adherence. Walgreens leverages advanced matching platforms to connect patients with copay cards, foundation grants, and other sources of funding in real time. These tools actively monitor the status of assistance programs—alerting pharmacists the moment funds become available. By integrating financial assistance into its digital workflows, Walgreens supports patients so they can remain on therapy without interruption.
Access also depends on reliable delivery. Because specialty medications are often shipped directly to patients, Walgreens uses advanced analytics that combine shipping data, weather patterns, and temperature controls to anticipate risks and reroute shipments. Upon forecast of a hurricane or flood, the system triggers early shipments or alternative routing so patients never miss a dose. Even the way medications are packaged is optimized by algorithms that calculate stability needs, ensuring therapies remain viable upon delivery. These proactive measures turn logistics into another lever to ensure patients stay on track with their therapies.
The future of integrated specialty care
Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy's approach demonstrates how specialty pharmacies can evolve from dispensing operations to true patient care partners. By combining sophisticated predictive capabilities with personalized intervention strategies and comprehensive patient visibility, the company is setting new standards for what's possible in specialty pharmacy care.
As the specialty pharmaceutical market continues to grow at unprecedented speed, the pharmacies that thrive will be those that embrace technology not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a powerful tool to amplify and focus that expertise where it can have the greatest impact on patient outcomes.
The future belongs to those who can see and support the whole patient, not just the prescription.
“At Walgreens, technology and the human touch go hand in hand. Our AI tools are always monitored by people, ensuring care stays personalized,” says James.
For more information about Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy services and partnerships, visit https://go.walgreenshealth.com/pharma
Citations:
- Walgreens achieves oncology adherence rates above 90%.
Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy data on file, 01/2024-12/2024. Walgreens internal reporting, 2025.