{"id":585680,"date":"2026-04-15T12:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585680\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:36:08","slug":"pharmacies-across-the-united-states-are-closing-at-an-accelerating-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585680\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharmacies across the United States are closing at an accelerating rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

(InvestigateTV<\/a>) \u2014 Pharmacies across the United States are closing at an accelerating rate<\/a>, and independent operators say a powerful set of industry middlemen is largely to blame.<\/p>\n

Between 2010 and 2021, about one in three pharmacies closed, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Southern California. Independent pharmacies were more than twice as likely to face closure as chain pharmacies.<\/p>\n

As pharmacies continue to shutter, the healthcare company GoodRx reports that millions of Americans now live in areas<\/a> where filling a prescription requires a lengthy drive and possibly longer wait times. <\/p>\n

What are pharmacy benefit managers?<\/p>\n

Researchers say one of the key factors putting independent pharmacies at risk<\/a> is pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.<\/p>\n

Established in the late 1950s, PBMs act as the middleman in the prescription drug supply chain, negotiating prices with drug manufacturers and pharmacies. They also decide which medications are covered by a health plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever drug companies pay the PBM the most rebate money, they get to be on that list,\u201d said Minh Nguyen, an independent pharmacist. \u201cSo if your doctor prescribes you a certain drug and if it\u2019s not on that preferred list, it\u2019ll probably be impossible for you to get the drug you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics of PBMs say they limit patient access to care and are responsible for driving up drug costs, as medications on their preferred list are often more expensive brand-name drugs.<\/p>\n

A pharmacist\u2019s daily fight<\/p>\n

Dave Randolph opened Dave\u2019s Pharmacy more than a decade ago with two locations and no chain pharmacies for miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always have had a heart for local community care where you dealt with a patient face to face,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cYou see them when they\u2019re babies and then you see them when they graduate. I love that aspect and it\u2019s worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Randolph says the fight is getting harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day we fill prescriptions at a loss to take care of people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I appeal to the PBMs, \u2018Hey, you didn\u2019t pay me on this drug.\u2019 And in 11 years, one of the PBMs, I\u2019ve had no reversals to say, \u2018We\u2019ll give you more money.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Randolph says PBMs serve a purpose, but that the industry is rife with conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have become so vertically integrated that they are either owned by an insurance company or own the insurance company,\u201d he said. \u201cThey steer patients to their own pharmacies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randolph says six to 10 pharmacies are closing every day in the U.S., including chains like CVS, which also owns one of the largest PBMs.<\/p>\n

CVS Health defends PBMs<\/p>\n

Prem Shah, executive vice president of CVS Health, rejects criticism over PBM transparency, pharmacy favoritism, and drug selection based on high rebates.<\/p>\n

\u201cPharmacy benefit managers are a critical component of the health care system,\u201d Shah said. \u201cThey make drugs more affordable in the United States. They also are the only ones in the supply chain that stand up to Big Pharma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah says CVS Health passes through more than 99% of rebates to its clients, who use those savings to reduce co-pays for patients. He also says the reimbursement model varies by drug type.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may have lower reimbursement for brand products that may put them slightly under water, and they make more money on generic products,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWe pay independent pharmacies more than we pay ourselves for dispensing brand and generic drugs in this space.\u201d<\/p>\n

States and Congress push back<\/p>\n

All 50 states have laws that regulate PBMs, but in recent years, some have taken further steps.<\/p>\n

As of 2026, Arkansas has banned PBMs from owning retail pharmacies in the state. Louisiana enacted a law prohibiting \u201cpatient steering,\u201d a practice in which PBMs funnel customers to specific pharmacies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this as a lifeline to the independent pharmacies, because it can\u2019t continue the way it is,\u201d one independent pharmacist said.<\/p>\n

On the federal level, an April 2025 executive order from the Trump administration called for a reevaluation of PBMs\u2019 role in the healthcare system. In December 2025, House lawmakers reintroduced the \u201cPharmacists Fight Back Act,\u201d which aims to address pharmacy reimbursement and provide significant penalties for PBM violations.<\/p>\n

For Randolph, the fight is personal \u2014 and ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause somebody has to,\u201d he said when asked why he keeps going. \u201cIt\u2019s worth fighting for. Our patients still choose to come to us. And I\u2019m going to fight for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(InvestigateTV) \u2014 Pharmacies across the United States are closing at an accelerating rate, and independent operators say a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,2651,133961,15234,133959,133960,133958,6270,78808,3,133962,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-585680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-impact","tag-inform","tag-inspire","tag-investigate-tv","tag-investigate-tv-plus","tag-investigatetv","tag-investigation","tag-investigators","tag-news","tag-solutions-based-journalism","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585680","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=585680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}