The National Community Pharmacists Association is working with the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy and Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics to tackle barriers to pharmacy access, including closures.

The Pharmacy Access Initiative will generate real-time information for national, state, and local policy officials, health care academics, industry leaders, and others to identify communities lacking in pharmacy access. Better data on the proliferation of so-called pharmacy deserts could help policymakers and industry leaders and, ultimately, underserved communities.

The goal of this new USC-NCPA Pharmacy Access Initiative is to serve as a resource for federal and state policy and public health officials by conducting research and generating real-time evidence on the scope and impact of the problem of pharmacy access and identifying sustainable policy solutions to address it.

Questions? Contact [email protected] 

 More Information and Initial Findings

Press Release: New mapping tool will identify pharmacy deserts

Press Release: High-tech map promotes access to medicine and pharmacy services

Press Release: NCPA Collaborates with USC on Groundbreaking Pharmacy Mapping Project

Pharmacy Shortage Areas One-Pager

USC School of Pharmacy Website

Published Research on Pharmacy Shortage Areas

'Pharmacy Deserts' Are Prevalent In Chicago's Predominantly Minority Communities, Raising Medication Access Concerns 

Update: Independently Owned Pharmacy Closures in Rural America, 2003-2018

Access to pharmacies and pharmacy services in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston, 2015-2020

Association Between Pharmacy Closures and Adherence to Cardiovascular Medications Among Older US Adults

The availability of pharmacies in the United States: 2007–2015

Geographical accessibility of medicines: a systematic literature review of pharmacy mapping

Medication deserts: survey of neighborhood disparities in availability of prescription medications

Pharmacy density in rural and urban communities in the state of Oregon and the association with hospital readmission rates

Pharmacy deserts and patients with breast cancer receipt of influenza vaccines

Relationship between Medication Adherence and Distance to Dispensing Pharmacies and Prescribers Among an Urban Medicaid Population with Diabetes Mellitus

The USC-NCPA Pharmacy Access Initiative is funded in part by a grant from the NCPA Foundation.