Historically, the number of new pharmacy openings often exceeded closures. The landscape shifted in 2018 as mergers between large pharmacy chains and pharmacy benefit managers drove strategies funneling patients into PBM-preferred pharmacy networks.
The study was authored by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the University of California Berkeley and the University of Southern California.
Key findings:
1. Pharmacies in Black, Latino, and low-income neighborhoods were at greater risk of closing, as were those in areas with higher concentrations of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
2. Independent pharmacies were twice as likely to close as chain locations.
3. Of the 88,930 retail pharmacies operating in the 2010s, 29.4% had closed by 2021.
4. In 41 states, the number of pharmacies declined between 2018 and 2021.
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