{"id":495732,"date":"2026-02-28T14:14:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495732\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T14:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T14:14:29","slug":"cvs-says-proposed-tennessee-bill-would-close-100-locations-devastate-pharmacy-access-across-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495732\/","title":{"rendered":"CVS says proposed Tennessee bill would close 100+ locations, \u2018devastate\u2019 pharmacy access across state"},"content":{"rendered":"

What This Story Is AboutCVS is asking lawmakers to reject Senate Bill 2040, which it says would have devastating impacts on pharmacy healthcare access for Tennesseans. Why It MattersCVS says a proposed law would close more than a hundred pharmacies, cost thousands of jobs and affect more than 500 patients. What Happens NextMore than 40 CVS employees are in Nashville speaking to lawmakers to urge them to reject the bill. For ContextThe Tennessee Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday recommended SB 2040 for passage in an 8-1 vote.<\/p>\n

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – One of the biggest pharmaceutical providers in the nation is challenging a bill in the Tennessee legislature, saying it would cause \u201chealth care chaos\u201d for the Volunteer State. <\/p>\n

CVS Pharmacy is urging state lawmakers to drop Senate Bill 2040<\/a>, dubbed the FAIR Rx Act, saying the law, in actuality, would do the exact opposite of what its title connotes. <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the title, nothing in this bill will make prices more fair or lower for patients,\u201d a press release said. \u201cInstead, its passage would result in the closure of 134 CVS Pharmacy locations across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

CVS said Senate Bill 2040 would cause \u201chealth care chaos\u201d in Tennessee by forcing the pharmaceutical company to close more than 100 locations.CVS teams visit lawmakers in Nashville<\/p>\n

More than 40 pharmacists, distribution center colleagues and MinuteClinic nurse practitioners visited lawmakers this week at the Capitol in Nashville to ask them to reject the bill. <\/p>\n

\u201cSenate Bill 2040 would devastate pharmacy care access and affordability in Tennessee. It endangers Tennesseans by eliminating access to 134 vital community pharmacies and the essential health and wellness products they provide,\u201d a statement from CVS said in part. \u201cPeople with chronic, complex conditions will have fewer home delivery options and less access to high-touch, expert specialty pharmacies.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of limiting access to pharmacy care, the pharmaceutical giant said the law would cost more than 2,000 of its jobs, including hundreds of pharmacists. <\/p>\n

CVS said the bill\u2019s passage would also force the company to close 25 of its MinuteClinics, which would cause more than 500 patients to lose their primary care provider and mean \u201cpatients will have to find convenient access to acute care \u2013 for things like ear infections, strep throat, and flu \u2013 elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

The healthcare organization said the bill would also cause them to close \u201ctwo CVS Specialty pharmacies and two Omnicare pharmacies serving 87 long-term care facilities in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill will cost thousands of jobs for people who live and work in Tennessee,\u201d the CVS statement said. \u201cSupporting SB 2040 is supporting health care chaos for working families, seniors, and people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WSMV<\/a>Bill progresses in Tennessee Senate<\/p>\n

But the pushback from CVS hasn\u2019t slowed the bill\u2019s progress. <\/p>\n

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday recommended SB 2040 for passage in an 8-1 vote. <\/p>\n

Lawmakers argue the bill bolsters important regulations in the pharmaceutical space. It would prohibit pharmacy benefits managers from acquiring, controlling or holding a pharmacy license or license holder, \u201cincluding through any contract or arrangement that transfers operational control or economic benefit to the pharmacy benefits manager.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill prohibits evasion of the prohibition through corporate structuring, intermediary ownership, management contracts, leases, or other indirect means, and requires the board of pharmacy (\u201cboard\u201d) to construe and enforce the prohibition to prevent circumvention, including by disregarding corporate form to determine true beneficial ownership or control,” the bill text says. <\/p>\n

But CVS insists that it is misleading, and says the bill would not be an effective way to prevent any evasion or circumvention of important regulations. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to working with policymakers to improve the health care system, protect access to pharmacies, and lower health care costs for the patients we see every day,\u201d CVS said in a statement after Wednesday\u2019s vote. \u201cToday\u2019s hearing discussed issues some have with pharmacy benefit managers, but the legislation at hand contains no language addressing: spread pricing, reimbursement, or formularies.\u201d<\/p>\n

SB 2040 has been referred to the Tennessee Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee. Its companion House Bill 1959 was placed on the Insurance Subcommittee\u2019s calendar for March 4, per the Tennessee General Assembly website. <\/p>\n

WSMV4 has reached out to SB 2040\u2019s sponsors for comment.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 WSMV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What This Story Is AboutCVS is asking lawmakers to reject Senate Bill 2040, which it says would have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[44525,226756,97,252,253,3729,3,4927,111,12173,226758,226757],"class_list":["post-495732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-cvs","tag-fair-rx-act","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-local","tag-news","tag-pharmacy","tag-politics","tag-prescription","tag-sb-2040","tag-senate-bill-2040"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}