Pharmacy News

A Dying Breed
Golden�s Foss General Store not the only pharmacy to feel pinch of industry changes
by Briana Hovendick
July 12, 2007

When Foss General Store announced its intention to close after 94 years in business, the area�s local independent pharmacists could identify with the company�s reason for closing.

They too must cope with the drastic changes in pharmacy practice, which have caused hardships and financial loss.  Foss Company President Bob Lowry attributed his store�s closing to those hardships in a press statement a few weeks ago.

Area pharmacy owners say they�re feeling the squeeze of increased insurance company demands, lower reimbursements rates and the rise of mail-order pharmacies.  In spite of the service they perform, some wonder whether these changes signal the end of the independent pharmacy.

�This is a dying industry,� said Mary Abharian, a pharmacist at the People�s Pharmacy (sic) in Lakewood.

As health-care costs rise, insurers and pharmacy benefit managers raise co-pays and lower the reimbursements paid to independent pharmacies for prescriptions, said Grant Kinn, executive director of Wheat Ridge-based RxPlus Pharmacies, a cooperative of more than 200 independent pharmacies throughout the West.

The People�s Pharmacy spends an average of $28 to $30 for each prescription it fills, although insurance and Medicare reimbursement rates sometimes do not cover the full cost, Abharian said.  Rather than lose a loyal customer, many pharmacies fill the prescription and eat the difference, she said.

Medicare Part D, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2006, moved many cash-paying pharmacy customers into government plans, Kinn said.  Pharmacies don�t receive reimbursement for those prescriptions until up to 45 days later, and some independent pharmacies take out bank loans in the meantime to pay their bills, he said.

�Hundreds of pharmacies have closed since the implementation of Medicare D and its inadequate and slow payments,� Kinn said.

Many insurers make it financially difficult for patients to use independent pharmacies and require them instead to use mail-order pharmacies run by insurance companies, he said.

The rise of mail-order pharmacies is bad for consumers, said Dennis Mantas, owner of Wheat Ridge Pharmacy.  Pharmacists know patients and take the time to answer their questions about the medicines they take and possible drug interactions, he said.

�You�re the only health professional they don�t have to make an appointment to see,� he said.

Mantas, who has been in business for 32 years, does what he needs to do to keep his business afloat.  He worries about rural communities where independent pharmacies are the only place to get prescriptions, he said.

Kinn�s organization works with the National Community Pharmacists Association to lobby on behalf of independent pharmacies, he said.  The group also contracts with members to give them a competitive edge in drug purchasing, and works with pharmacy schools to help students understand pharmacology is about more than counting pills, Kinn said.

�A lot of (independent pharmacies) have been the center of a community,� he said.

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