In a wide-ranging Washington Post article about the nationwide chain pharmacy closure crisis, NCPA’s Ronna Hauser offered the last word on the systemic effects for independents, the front-line providers for many Americans and vital anchors for America’s communities. “Cash flow is going to be a real concern,” Hauser told the Post, forecasting the economic woes attached to the first two quarters of 2024. “We are concerned that there could be closures due to this cash flow crunch […] and we’re very concerned about access points for patients.” The piece, written by business reporters Aaron Gregg and Jaclyn Peiser, revealed the troubling scope of pharmacy’s shift today. On one hand, mail order drugs through Amazon and dispensing at Walmart have created the illusion of convenience for patients, while also eroding the foundations of pharmacies as community institutions, and the role of pharmacists as trusted, personal advisers. On the other hand, Rite Aid’s corporate implosion, the pitiable working conditions at CVS and Walgreens, and the public health backlash for disenfranchised communities across the country have created uncertainty for consumers. “The pharmacy giants have sought to shore up their positions through consolidation and by syncing up with insurance companies in ways that steer patients back to them,” report Gregg and Peiser. They go on to quote Mariana Socal, a Johns Hopkins public health expert as saying, “The landscape of vertical integration of businesses across different services has put pharmacies who cannot participate at a huge disadvantage.”
If you feel your independent pharmacy has been “left out in the cold,” as Gregg and Peiser say, fight back through NCPA, which has set up TRUST LLC, to potentially arbitrate or litigate on behalf of individual pharmacies. TRUST LLC allows pharmacy owners like you to assign their legal claims related to DIR fees and hire the best attorneys in the country to represent them. You can read about it (and participate) at www.fightPBMs.com.
