Mid-Michigan independent pharmacists are warning that pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are contributing to a rise in pharmacy closures.
CLIO, Mich. (WJRT) – Local pharmacists are raising concerns over growing independent pharmacy closures in Mid-Michigan.
John Gross said he’s tired of seeing local pharmacies close.
“Pharmacies closing has created these ‘pharmacy deserts,’ where customers and patients don’t have a place to go to get their prescriptions,” Gross said.
He is the owner of J. Gross Pharmacy Group, which operates six different independent pharmacies across Mid-Michigan.
Gross said pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are causing trouble for local pharmacists.
“They’re the companies that control what drugs are going to be dispensed at a pharmacy that patients can get,” Gross said. “How much they have to pay, how much we get paid.”
With PBMs acting as third-party administrators between pharmacies, insurance companies and drug manufacturers, Gross said they can adjust regulations to their favor.
“They actually own pharmacies,” Gross said. “So, they can have patients go to their own stores, in which case, they’re paying themselves more.”
Gross and other members of the Mid-Michigan Region Independent Pharmacy Closure Crisis Roundtable raised their concerns with Michigan State House Representative Matthew Bierlein.
“We see what’s happening,” Bierlein said. “We know that there’s still a problem that’s existing in our local pharmacies.”
He said federal action passed in 2026 is not doing enough when local institutions are bearing the brunt of the load.
Even just a few months ago, ABC12 covered how Saginaw’s Falor Drugs decided to close its doors after 120 years.
“They’re not sure that they’re going to be able to continue filling the scripts of Michigan retirees because they lose money every time they do it,” Bierlein said. “That’s a big issue that we need to address.”
Gross says he is worried about the pattern of closures because he has seen firsthand the effect a local touch can have.
In 2024, roughly a third of all Michigan pharmacy closures were independent pharmacies.
“Patients come in and have a local pharmacist where they can get their services on a tailored level,” Gross said. “And if we’re closed where are they going to go and what are they going to do, to get that service?”
