Jacksonville, N.C. (WITN) – A family-owned pharmacy that has served the Jacksonville community for 47 years is closing its doors, with the owner’s daughter citing financial pressures from declining reimbursements.
Doctors Park Pharmacy has been operating in Jacksonville since 1979, initially at a different location before eventually moving to its current location in 2008.
Kimberly Sullivan, the pharmacist manager and daughter of owner Joseph Jarmon, said the decision has been in the making for months.
“We’ve known about this for a couple of months, but we also were hoping someone would help us, and then we just kind of didn’t want to face the situation,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said a lack of customers is not what caused the closure. Instead, she blames declining reimbursements and what she calls greed from pharmacy benefit managers, which, according to the American Medical Association, manage prescription drug plan benefits for insurers.
“They are the processors of insurance who have really pilfered the system, in my opinion. They are making billions of dollars and profits at the expense of the customers who need better customer care and service,” she said.
Sullivan said she started seeing profits decrease in 2015, and the decline has been steady since then. The pharmacy is now operating in the red.
Janell Ham, who has worked at the pharmacy for 19 years, said the news was difficult to accept.
“Sad. Cause this is a family place. We love our people and our customers. Really sad,” Ham said.
Sullivan said the pharmacy should have closed last year for financial reasons but wanted to give it another year to serve the community.
She said the personalized care and treatment they provide to patients isn’t offered at many places anymore.
Their last day of operations will be February 27th.
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