You can run a fast, efficient visit and still lose control of the outcome. It doesn’t happen in the exam room. It happens after the patient leaves. 

The prescription gets delayed. Or changed. Or never picked up at all. The patient calls back. Your staff jumps in to troubleshoot. And time that should be spent on the next visit gets pulled back into the last one. 

What looks like a small gap is actually a structural break in the care journey. 

As Kevin Clarke, SVP of Strategic Business Development at Experity, put it during a 2026 UCC session, “Pharmacy problems don’t get solved at the pharmacy. They get solved back at the clinic.” 

That single reality reshapes how we should think about urgent care. Because even when care is delivered correctly, the outcome is still determined by what happens next. 

And right now, that part of the journey is far less controlled than it needs to be. 

The Prescription Gap Is Bigger Than It Looks 

Urgent care is built for immediacy. Patients walk in because they want to feel better now. The experience is designed to move quickly, clearly, and efficiently. 

Then the visit ends, and everything slows down. 

Now the patient has to drive to a pharmacy, wait in line, confirm the medication is in stock, understand the cost, and figure out what to do if something goes wrong. Each step adds friction at the exact moment when follow-through should be easiest. 

That friction matters more than it seems. 

Clarke shared a statistic that puts it into perspective. “Three out of every ten prescriptions are never picked up.” 

Even if urgent care outperforms that average, the implication is hard to ignore. A meaningful percentage of patients are leaving with a treatment plan that never actually starts. 

This is not just an inconvenience. It directly impacts outcomes. Delayed treatment can prolong symptoms, create unnecessary follow-ups, or lead to additional visits that could have been avoided. 

The care was delivered. But the result never materialized. 

The Impact Doesn’t Stop With the Patient 

That gap does not stay contained. It comes back to your clinic. 

When prescriptions are unavailable, too expensive, or confusing, patients reach out. Providers rewrite scripts. Staff track down alternatives. Workflows get interrupted by problems tied to visits that should already be complete. 

In some cases, patients return because they were never able to start treatment in the first place. 

Clarke captured the strain clearly. “We’re spending time on patients we treated hours ago instead of the ones standing in front of us.” 

This is not edge-case noise. It is a consistent source of operational drag. 

Over time, it compounds. Staff shift from proactive care to reactive problem-solving. Providers deal with avoidable rework. The pace of the clinic slows in ways that are difficult to quantify but easy to feel. 

And all of it traces back to a moment that happens after discharge. 

Patients Expect More Than a Prescription 

Outside of healthcare, the experience is different. Patients are used to knowing what something will cost, whether it is available, and when they will receive it. 

They expect clarity. Not guesswork. Healthcare is increasingly measured against those same expectations. 

During the same UCC session, Tara DellaVecchia, Senior Manager of Provider Channel, Business Development at Amazon Pharmacy, described a model built around three priorities: cost, convenience, and choice. Each one removes a layer of friction. 

Cost transparency helps patients avoid surprises 
Convenience eliminates extra steps and delays 
Choice allows patients to select what works best for them 

That last point is especially important. Patients are not looking for a single default path. They want options that match their situation in the moment. 

Some want delivery so they can go straight home. Others want immediate pickup so they can start treatment right away. Some prefer to stick with a pharmacy they already know. 

What matters is not the channel. It is the confidence to make a decision before leaving the clinic. 

Why Visibility at the Point of Care Changes Everything 

Closing this gap is not about adding another pharmacy option. It is about bringing clarity into the prescribing moment. 

For example, through the Experity and Amazon Pharmacy partnership, key information is surfaced directly within the EMR during prescribing. Providers can see delivery availability, pricing and savings options, and medication stock status in real time. 

That changes the conversation entirely. 

Instead of sending a prescription into the unknown, providers can guide patients with clear expectations. Questions get answered before they turn into problems. Decisions happen with real information, not assumptions. 

As Clarke noted, “Sometimes it’s not about steering to one option. It’s about preventing a bad experience before it happens.” 

That distinction is what makes this powerful. The goal is not to push patients in a specific direction. It is to remove uncertainty from the process altogether. 

Sometimes Amazon Pharmacy will be the right choice. Sometimes it will not. But in both cases, the outcome improves because the decision is informed. 

This is how the gap starts to close. 

Closing the Loop on Care 

Urgent care has already transformed the front half of the patient journey. Access is faster. Visits are more efficient. The in-clinic experience is more streamlined than ever. 

The next evolution is extending that same level of clarity beyond discharge. 

When prescription fulfillment becomes part of a connected workflow, everything downstream improves. 

• Patients follow through because the path is clear 
• Treatment starts sooner because barriers are reduced 
• Outcomes improve because care continues without interruption 

At the same time, clinics feel the impact operationally. 

• Fewer follow-up calls 
• Less rework for providers 
• More predictable workflows 

This is what the clinic of tomorrow actually looks like. Not a complete reinvention, but a series of deliberate improvements that remove friction at the moments that matter most. 

Closing the loop on care is not about adding complexity. It is about finishing what the visit started. 

Not stopping at diagnosis. Not ending at discharge. Making it easier for treatment to continue. 

What to Do Next 

For most clinics, this is not a question of whether the gap exists. It is a question of how visible it is. Start by looking at what happens after the visit. 

Are patients leaving confident about their prescription? 
How often is your team pulled into pharmacy-related issues? 
What would change if patients had clearer options before they walked out the door? 

If those questions surface friction, there is an opportunity to improve both the patient experience and how your clinic operates day to day. 

The clinics that stand out will not be the ones that only optimize the visit. They will be the ones that take responsibility for what happens after it — and make sure care does not stop when the patient walks out the door. 

Closing the loop on care is not a single change. It is one of the building blocks of a more connected, more efficient clinic. Explore the blueprint for the Clinic of Tomorrow to see how the right building blocks come together to improve the patient experience and reduce operational friction. Because when prescription access is part of that foundation, everything downstream gets easier. 

See How Amazon Pharmacy Can Work in Your Clinic of Tomorrow