NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—On July 13, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain opened a pharmacy on the ground floor of Saint Peter’s University Hospital in an effort to “improve the care of patients when they are discharged.”

The new drugstore provides medications for patients upon their discharge and during the course of their hospitalization, thanks to a program that allows for bedside medication delivery.

The 400-square-foot space was previously an admitting area, according to a press release from the hospital.  It is open to the general public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“The Walgreens pharmacists will work closely with hospital medical staff and be an extension of its healthcare team,” reads the release.

This new pharmacy is also essential to patients who are provided regular hospice care, as part of another newly-implemented partnership the hospital entered into earlier this year.

Chief of the Information and Strategy Office Frank DiSanzo said, “Saint Peter’s is now at the corner of happy and healthy since our Walgreens retail pharmacy has opened,” borrowing the pharmacy’s slogan.

He hopes that the initiative will be more streamlined and convenient for the patients.  This plan will also enable a closer working relationship between doctors and pharmacists to decrease discrepancies regarding patient medications.

The new pharmacy is the third Walgreens in New Brunswick, and the seccond one to open inside a major Hub City hospital.

Just a few blocks away, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) is home to its own Walgreens pharmacy that opened in 2009.

In 2015, the RWJUH Walgreens also initiated a bedside delivery program.