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Memorial Hospital's Automated Pharmacy Kiosk First Debuted in 2016

Memorial Hospital Jacksonville

Editor’s Note: Shortly after this story’s publication we discovered during a search of the WJCT News archive that the virtual pharmacy featured in this story is not new. We first reported on it on Dec. 2, 2016.  Memorial Hospital contacted WJCT Tuesday, writing in its news release, “Memorial Hospital Jacksonville is proud to announce a first of its kind virtual pharmacy MedAvail kiosk in Northeast Florida.”

We reached out to a spokeswoman at Memorial Hospital, who said the information contained in the WJCT story and the Memorial Hospital news release is accurate.  However, WJCT News feels the earlier version of the story was misleading because the kiosk is not new. We have adjusted the headline in this story and some text to better reflect that fact.

Memorial Hospital Jacksonville unveiled what may be the wave of the future in 2016: a pharmacy kiosk that allows patients to pick up prescriptions on their way out the door without interacting with a human.

The average time the kiosk takes to dispense medication is eight minutes, according to the hospital.

If a question or problem crops up, customers can contact a real pharmacist through a one-on-one consultation using the kiosk’s videoconference capability.

“Memorial Hospital is very forward thinking and our MedAvail kiosk enhances patient experience by providing them with on-the-go prescriptions filled before they leave the hospital,” said Mary Reval, DNP, RN, Chief Nursing Officer at Memorial Hospital Jacksonville in an email to WJCT News. 

The Memorial MedAvail kiosk is the only the second of its kind in Florida and one of 21 throughout the United States and Canada, according to the hospital.

The MedAvail kiosk is located in Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room lobby and is also open to members of the public with valid prescriptions from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

No controlled substances or opioids will be offered at the kiosk.

Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.

Bill joined WJCT News in September of 2017 from The Florida Times-Union, where he served in a variety of multimedia journalism positions.