Nearly 200 Community Pharmacies Have Closed, Creating Pharmacy Deserts in Parts of PA
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Led by the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association, 350 pharmacists and student pharmacists, clad in their white coats on the steps of the Main Capitol Rotunda, today called for continued progress on desperately needed pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reforms in Pennsylvania. PBMs are pocketing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars while underpaying community pharmacies, forcing many to close. Since January 2024, nearly 200 community pharmacies have suffered this fate, creating pharmacy deserts in some parts of Pennsylvania. Signed into law last year, Act 77 was an important first step in PBM reform, but more must be done to protect community pharmacists and their patients.
“While Act 77 takes some important steps forward for pharmacists, their teams and the patients they serve, we have to do more,” said PPA CEO Victoria Elliott, RPh, MBA, CAE. “PBMs continue to steer patients to pharmacies they own, undercutting other community pharmacies often preferred by or more convenient for patients. Additional steps need to be taken to ensure pharmacists are fairly compensated for vital services they provide to all patients, and that PBMs don’t force even more of them to close.”
Among the 323.5 million individuals in the contiguous United States, 57.1 million (17.7%) live in pharmacy deserts, and 28.9 million (8.92%) live in areas that rely on one of 5,610 keystone pharmacies. A “keystone pharmacy” is located in a census tract with such a highly vulnerable population that closure of that pharmacy would directly create a pharmacy desert.
Pennsylvania has over 327,000 constituents living in a pharmacy desert and 213 keystone pharmacies.
Pharmacy deserts are U.S. census tracts that meet two indicators:
- Low income: Tract has either (1) 20% or more of its population living below the Federal Poverty Level or (2) a median household income that was less than 80% of the median income of the nearest metropolitan area.
- Low access: Tract has at least 33% of its population living 1 mile or more from the pharmacy for urban tracts, more than 5 miles for suburban tracts, more than 10 miles for rural tracts, and more than 0.5 miles for tracts with fewer than 100 individuals owning a car.
In the absence of meaningful PBM reforms by our legislators and administration, the commonwealth will continue to see pharmacies close, creating deserts where significant populations will struggle to access medicines, immunizations and, in some cases, the critical care they need.
“We’re fighting for the countless families our pharmacists serve in every city, town and suburb,” said PPA President John DeJames, RPh. “This is also about protecting the future for pharmacists in Pennsylvania. If PBMs continue to force closures, we jeopardize losing our talented future pharmacists to other states that have cracked down on PBM practices.”
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