Nearly three out of 10 U.S. drugstores that were open during the previous decade had closed by 2021, new research shows. Black and Latino neighborhoods were most vulnerable to the retail pharmacy closures, which can chip away at already-limited care options in those communities, researchers said in a study published Tuesday in Health Affairs. The trend has potentially gained momentum since the study’s timeframe, as many drugstores continue to struggle.
In the last three years, major chains Walgreens and CVS have closed hundreds of additional stores, and Rite Aid has shrunk as it went through a bankruptcy reorganization. Drugstores have been dealing with shrinking reimbursement for prescriptions, rising costs, and changing customer shopping habits. The chains have been closing money-losing stores and transferring prescription files to more profitable locations.
Researchers using data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs found that the number of U.S. pharmacies had actually increased from 2010 to 2017 because of store openings, but the pace of closings picked up starting in 2018. They also highlighted that independent pharmacies were more likely than chain stores to be located in Black, Latino, and low-income neighborhoods and, therefore, more likely to close.
Drugstore closures affecting healthcare access
Pharmacies in neighborhoods with higher rates of patients on government-funded Medicaid and Medicare were also at greater risk for closing, said Dima Qato, a University of Southern California pharmacy professor who was the study’s lead author. Those programs tend to reimburse less than private health insurance. Researchers noted that the exclusion of some pharmacies, particularly independent drugstores, from pharmacy benefit manager networks can also hurt these stores.
This can result in fewer prescriptions and less customer traffic. Retail drugstores serve as important sources for vaccinations, contraception, overdose prevention, and opioid use disorder treatments, aside from dispensing prescriptions, Qato said. She noted that Black and Latino communities often have fewer pharmacies to begin with, so store closings hit residents of those communities particularly hard.
“There aren’t many other options for them,” she said. The closures underscore a significant shift in the retail pharmacy landscape, with implications for access to healthcare services in vulnerable communities.
