WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Getting prescriptions from CVS Pharmacy is about to get easier and more convenient. The retail chain recently announced that it plans to begin next-day delivery of prescriptions to patients nationwide starting early next year.

Along with bringing medications directly to patients’ doorsteps, CVS Pharmacy announced it will begin offering same-day delivery of prescriptions within hours in selected U.S. cities.

“Our goal is to meet the needs of all of our customers wherever, however and whenever they want,” said CVS Pharmacy president Helena ­Foulkes. “Providing same and next-day options for delivery of medications is just another way we can help our patients get and stay healthy.”

According to the company, plans call for CVS Pharmacy to launch free, same-day delivery service within hours from all locations in Manhattan on December 4. The company also said prescriptions and a curated selection of over-the-counter products will be delivered directly from CVS Pharmacy in tamper-proof packaging right to customers’ homes.

“People living and working in Manhattan have busy lives, and there are days when they don’t even have time to run down the street to their pharmacy to pick up a prescription,” commented Foulkes. “Same-day prescription delivery gives customers the easy option of having the pharmacy they trust deliver right to their front door at no cost.”

Additionally, CVS said same-day delivery will expand to Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., in early 2018.

Along with the expedited prescription delivery service, CVS Pharmacy is said it is expanding its partnership with same-day grocery delivery service ­Instacart.

CVS said that through Instacart it will offer personal shopping at 2,600 CVS Pharmacy stores for delivery of front-end products, including healthy food choices, beauty products and O-T-C medicines. CVS is also planning to expand the service to reach half of American households by the end of 2018.

CVS Curbside allows customers to shop online or via the CVS app and pickup their items at a CVS Pharmacy store in an hour, without having to leave their car. CVS Curbside made its debut in the spring of 2016 and was rolled out nationwide that fall.

The company’s more convenient, store-to-door service comes on the heels of reports that Amazon — which already entered the supermarket industry with its purchase of Whole Foods Market — plans to launch a prescription delivery service as well.