In October, Rite Aid announced it might shut all remaining shops, following a multi-year pattern of main pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS eliminating hundreds of places.
When the one close by pharmacy shutters, the place can sufferers go as an alternative? For a rising variety of communities, the reply is: nowhere shut.
Practically 16 million individuals in america stay in a pharmacy desert, touring a big distance to achieve the closest pharmacy. This restricted entry to medicine, vaccinations, and well being consultations—which already impacts 46% of counties nationwide—will solely enhance as closures proceed.
After 20 years main a neighborhood pharmacy, I’ve seen firsthand how sufferers flip to us as a major healthcare touchpoint. Now, as extra nationwide chains shut their doorways, an individual’s native pharmacy stands out as the solely touchpoint—and a important lifeline.
Unbiased pharmacies don’t must reinvent their mannequin to deal with the affect of pharmacy deserts. Their relationship-driven strategy, supported by modern expertise, provides a scalable answer for care supply and a key entry level for healthcare companions navigating the lack of big-box pharmacies.
The True Price of Pharmacy Closures
It’s simple to view pharmacy closures as a minor disruption, however the results ripple far past delayed prescription refills. In lots of circumstances, the lack of a pharmacy means the lack of a trusted healthcare supplier.
The truth is, 58% of Individuals say they’re more likely to go to an area pharmacy to deal with a non-emergency difficulty, with 81% saying they belief a pharmacist to diagnose minor diseases and prescribe medicine.
Pharmacists additionally stay key drivers of affected person medicine adherence, with pharmacist-led interventions proven to significantly improve medication adherence in persistent illness. Missing this assist, sufferers can face a greater risk of disease progression and better healthcare prices stemming from medicine nonadherence.
When pharmacies disappear, so does a significant supply of non-emergency and preventive care. Nonetheless, massive chain pharmacies aren’t the one suppliers geared up to supply these providers.
Unbiased pharmacies already serve greater than 15 million sufferers throughout the U.S., and two-thirds serve areas with populations underneath 50,000. Their position will solely intensify as nationwide chains recede, notably in communities at greater danger of experiencing healthcare gaps. The truth is, sufferers aged 65 or older, these from low-income households, and people dwelling in rural communities usually tend to rely on independent pharmacies for accessing pharmacy providers.
As a result of unbiased pharmacies ship care tailor-made to their inhabitants’s wants, they’re uniquely positioned to fill the void left by their big-box counterparts. Nonetheless, scaling providers sustainably to fulfill this demand would require additional funding within the superior expertise that many unbiased pharmacies have already adopted.
Why Unbiased Pharmacies Are Poised to Increase Their Position in Neighborhood Care
As pharmacy deserts widen, unbiased pharmacies have gotten a vital care entry level. By combining their community-centered strategy with strategic digital instruments, they tackle entry gaps within the following methods:
- Assembly sufferers the place they’re
Unbiased pharmacies adapt to the distinctive challenges of their communities. Not like massive chains that adhere to straightforward choices, unbiased pharmacies typically tailor their providers to match native demand.
One instance is medicine adherence packaging. Quite than ship medicine in an unsorted vial, many unbiased pharmacies arrange particular person pre-packaged drugs which can be clearly labeled with the date and time of the dose.
This providing is effective for individuals managing persistent circumstances, who could wrestle to maintain monitor of a number of prescriptions. Likewise, many unbiased pharmacies provide this service to long-term care amenities, the place workers handle advanced medicine regimens throughout a number of sufferers.
Moreover, they could present supply providers, serving to enhance entry for populations with mobility challenges or individuals in assisted dwelling amenities. For some unbiased pharmacies, that supply zone could lengthen over 100 miles, enabling them to additionally lengthen customized care to sufferers nicely past their native footprint.
- Leveraging trusted relationships and delivering focused assist
Pharmacists are sometimes probably the most accessible healthcare suppliers in a neighborhood. Not like different care settings that require advance appointments, at a pharmacy, sufferers can stroll in and obtain steering on the spot.
Unbiased pharmacies typically surpass chain and mail-order pharmacies of their capability to attach with sufferers and tackle questions on medicine unwanted effects, adherence challenges, or cost-related limitations to care. However to have interaction in these conversations, pharmacists want assist juggling competing calls for behind the counter.
Right here, expertise can streamline affected person identification, providing focused medical alerts that spotlight care wants. For instance, if a affected person is flagged as overdue for a vaccine, a pharmacist can provoke a well timed dialog about eligibility and schedule an appointment.
Supported by these real-time alert programs, unbiased pharmacists are empowered to intervene earlier and interact sufferers to entry key providers.
- Reinforcing care by means of multi-touch communication
Unbiased pharmacies can lengthen their attain past pharmacy partitions by means of constant, multi-channel communication with sufferers.
For instance, a pharmacist would possibly ship a textual content or e mail replace with medicine administration recommendation or data on out there well being screenings, akin to COVID, flu, and blood stress testing. For sufferers dwelling removed from their pharmacy, these updates might help them plan visits deliberately and arrive ready with questions on medicine timing or out there preventive providers.
Whereas unbiased pharmacies excel at offering customized care, multi-channel communication extends that care between visits. Well timed and related outreach helps sufferers keep knowledgeable and reinforces the pharmacy as a proactive associate of their well being journey.
Reinforcing the Way forward for Native Care
The decline of huge chain pharmacies leaves many communities vulnerable to dropping important healthcare providers. But, it’s necessary to do not forget that unbiased pharmacies provide greater than a stopgap answer to this difficulty.
Throughout my years working as a neighborhood pharmacist, I’ve seen how a well-timed dialog on the counter or focused adherence interventions can alter an individual’s care journey. In the end, the energy of in the present day’s unbiased pharmacies lies in a mix of human contact and tech‑enabled perception.
By combining customized service with instruments that highlight actual‑time care wants, unbiased pharmacies are supporting sufferers to not solely keep on monitor with remedy however take an lively position in managing their well being.
About Kristen Hartsell
Kristen Hartzell, PharmD, is Vice President of Scientific Providers at RedSail Technologies, the place she leads initiatives that join pharmacy care, expertise, and affected person outcomes throughout a nationwide community of unbiased pharmacies. A training neighborhood pharmacist and co-owner of Hartzell’s Pharmacy in Catasauqua, PA, she bridges real-world expertise with strategic innovation to assist pharmacies thrive amidst change.
