Eskenazi Health announces the opening of the Eskenazi Health Pharmacy Central Fulfillment Center, aimed to meet the rising demand for pharmacy services. The new 32,000-square-foot facility will transform how prescriptions are filled at Eskenazi Health. 

Eskenazi Health Pharmacy has seen increases in the number of prescriptions filled, including more than 1.3 million prescriptions in 2024. Outpatient prescriptions have traditionally been filled at the eight retail pharmacies located within Eskenazi Health Center and Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center sites or on the Eskenazi Health downtown campus. The new Central Fulfillment Center, located on the northwest side of Indianapolis, will utilize state-of-the-art automation to improve efficiency and dramatically expand prescription filling capacity. 

The new facility includes a large production center with a machine-automated process to fill patient prescription orders. Specialized equipment will also automate compliance blister packaging to help patients who are on complex medication regimens. Prescriptions will either be couriered to an Eskenazi Health retail pharmacy for dispensing or delivered directly to the patient’s home, an expansion of the current prescription delivery program.

Later this year, a centralized call center will also open in the new facility to route incoming calls to trained pharmacy staff located within the new facility. 

“We have a vision for a fundamentally different model of health system retail pharmacy. This facility will allow us to take the commodity work out of our retail pharmacies to free up our staff to do different work,” said Christopher Wickesberg, PharmD, MBA, director of Eskenazi Health Pharmacy. “This is a once in a generation infrastructure investment that will allow Eskenazi Health to continue to meet the medication needs and improve the health of the Indianapolis community for many years to come.” 

In addition, this investment will allow Eskenazi Health Pharmacy to expand its outreach and allow more time for things like administering vaccines, providing medication therapy management and transitions of care services, and allow Pharmacy to better integrate into the care provided at the health centers.

Within five years, it is estimated that nearly 60% of all prescriptions will be filled at the new fulfillment center. Some prescriptions, such as antibiotics and other medications that are prescribed and needed same day, will continue to be filled directly at Eskenazi Health retail pharmacy locations within the health centers and on the downtown campus.

Staff training has been underway, and the first prescription was filled in last week. Additional services will continue to be added, including pharmacy delivery to patient homes and Eskenazi Health Pharmacy locations. The new fulfillment center facility will not be open to the public.