We haven’t even crossed the midway point of 2024, and more than 140 pharmacies have closed in Pennsylvania since we began the year, and countless local jobs have been lost. Sadly, there aren’t any signs this trend will slow down anytime soon until Pennsylvania enacts comprehensive pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform. The good news is there’s plenty of bipartisan support in Harrisburg to get this done.
PBMs were supposed to be the middlemen who drove down costs from drug companies to provide savings for pharmacies. Because of their bulk negotiating power, PBMs negotiated millions in savings, but they gutted reimbursements and kept the money that should’ve been passed on to pharmacists in the form of higher drug reimbursements. It may shock you to learn that just three PBMs control over 80% of all prescriptions, while offering non-negotiable, take-it-or-leave-it contracts. This forces pharmacists to accept contract rates at a loss just to be able to serve their patients.
That should worry every Pennsylvanian who relies on their community pharmacy for prescriptions and health care needs. It doesn’t matter if they’re independent or chain pharmacies or whether they’re located in a rural, small-town, suburban or inner-city setting. Pharmacies are closing rapidly because of PBMs, and the numbers remaining are shocking in 21st-century Pennsylvania.
