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We haven’t even crossed the midway point of 2024, but 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 reform. The good news is there’s…

In September 2016, Eric Pusey’s Olyphant pharmacy received notification that he owed CVS Caremark $143,594.75. The problem was with a series of prescriptions that Pusey had filled and charged to Caremark, a pharmacy benefit manager or PBM, a representative had written. The prescribing doctor had written instructions that the drug should be taken every six…

Sullivan County is perhaps the greenest desert you will ever see. It is a picturesque and rural corner of Pennsylvania tucked midway between the Williamsport and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro areas in the state’s Endless Mountain region. It’s also one of Pennsylvania’s growing “pharmacy deserts,” defined as places where the nearest drugstore is at least five…

Pharmacy benefit managers often conduct ‘fraud, waste and abuse investigations’ that find clerical errors In September 2016, Eric Pusey’s Olyphant pharmacy received notification that he owed CVS Caremark $143,594.75. The problem was with a series of prescriptions that Pusey had filled and charged to Caremark, a pharmacy benefit manager or PBM, a representative had written….

Pharmacist Joel Thornbury said his role is far more than filling prescriptions at the NOVA Pharmacy he owns in Pikeville — he’s a readily accessible source of health services and advice in his community. “When you call me, you get me,” said Thornbury, a third-generation pharmacist in practice for more than 30 years. “I see…

For 13 years, Nick Patel has operated Allentown Pharmacy in the heart of the Old Fairgrounds neighborhood. But like many independent pharmacies, he’s losing money all the time on the sale of prescription drugs. The reason for these losses, he says, is the unfair business practices of pharmacy benefit managers, companies that act as middlemen…

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 manage, or PBM, reform. The good news is there’s…

To hear directly from community pharmacists impacted by predatory practices of pharmacy benefit managers, state Reps. Jessica Benham, D-Allegheny, and Eric Nelson, R-Westmoreland, held a roundtable discussion this morning on bipartisan legislation to address the issue. “As I continue to travel around the Commonwealth, I hear similar stories everywhere I go of the ways in which…

Opening stores used to mean everything to pharmacy chains. CVS Health once boasted of opening or buying more than 2,900 locations in a five-year period. Now it’s shuttering hundreds, while Walgreens, Rite Aid and independent drugstores also pull back. An industry that saw waves of store growth before the COVID-19 pandemic faces headwinds like falling…

Independent pharmacists such as Robert Maher feel trapped, state lawmakers learned Thursday. A pharmacist knows the people in the community well, from grandparents to parents to kids, Maher said. They also know the pharmacy in today’s prescription payment system can’t take care of those people without going out of business. “It’s sad when you see…