Better access. Quality processes. Smarter clinical decisions. Optum is reimagining the pharmacy experience with a focus on innovation and patient care. At the core of this is a commitment to developing and deploying digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), that make it easier for people to access pharmacy care and enable our pharmacists and customer support advocates to focus on what matters most: caring for patients.
Empowering pharmacists, enhancing patient experience
As new medications, therapies and diseases have emerged, pharmacists’ responsibilities have grown. Today, they serve as patient advocates and help with education, initiate therapies, and in some states, have prescribing rights. This means that if AI can handle administrative work, pharmacists can have more time to focus on clinical decisions. This evolution allows them to build stronger relationships with patients, provide personalized counseling and collaborate with providers to make smarter care decisions.
AI pill validation: AI-based image processing tools enhance the pill validation process and verify that each prescription contains the correct medication before it is sealed and shipped. This patented technology performs more than 5 million checks per month and works in addition to and in tandem with our pharmacists’ verification — enhancing patient safety and allowing pharmacists to focus on clinical care.
“This is one of the most impactful innovations on our pharmacy lines. After our automatic tablet dispensers produce prescriptions, the technology verifies each medication, so pharmacists don’t have to manually review 50,000 scripts a day. This automation not only ensures accuracy but also allows us to serve patients faster and more efficiently.”
Connecting the health care ecosystem
Optum’s digital tools also improve collaboration across the health care system by integrating workflows between pharmacists, prescribers and providers to ensure patients receive timely, coordinated care.
Adverse effects texting program: Optum Specialty Pharmacy pharmacists partnered with oncology providers to identify and address adverse events that resulted in one-third of reported events being acted on. By monitoring drug reactions through text and phone assessments and proactively delivering the information directly back into the provider’s workflow, we were able to create a more seamless experience and more connectivity among the care team — allowing for early intervention, improved health outcomes and reduced costs.
Making pharmacy simpler and smarter
Optum responsibly uses AI to transform operations, reduce errors and improve the speed and accuracy of pharmacy services. For example, a demand planning tool helps supply chain teams automate routine tasks, make faster decisions, and — most importantly — ensure patients receive their medication on time. In just one month, this tool helps decrease long-term out of stocks by nearly 100%. 1
Why is this important? This is important because every out-of-stock medication is a missed opportunity to support someone's health. By proactively identifying gaps between supply and demand, these tools help ensure we have the right medications on hand so patients don’t have to wait to start treatment.
As pharmacy continues to evolve, Optum remains focused on empowering pharmacists, improving patient outcomes, and driving innovation through responsible AI, and in compliance with the applicable law. All digital tools are designed to support — not replace — human decision-making. This approach ensures that technology enhances care while maintaining trust and compliance with evolving regulations. To learn more about our use of digital tools, visit our Responsible AI page.
1 Optum internal data
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