Jesse Jones: 83 pharmacies closed across Washington State in 18 months

Washington State residents are losing access to pharmacies at an alarming rate. According to the Washington State Pharmacy Association, a record 83 pharmacies have shuttered in our state over the last year and a half.

In a recent investigation done by the Associated Press, Washington State came in 6th in the nation for poor access to pharmacies. Closures have affected the entire state, from rural communities to the most populated areas.

“We’ve seen a mass exodus of pharmacies from Seattle as well. And, there’s no more 24-hour pharmacies left in all of Seattle,” said Jenny Arnold, CEO of the Washington State Pharmacy Association.

Retail theft and opioid settlement dollars have been blamed, in part. But Jenny Arnold says in Washington, it’s ‘Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ or PBMs - that are behind the dwindling access. PBMs are the middlemen of the pharmacy industry.

A report written in the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association says, “PBMs use their market leverage to increase their profits—not reduce costs for consumers. Incredibly, PBMs own their own pharmacies. This ownership creates huge conflicts of interest, hurts competition, and distorts pricing.”

“Washington has been slower than other states in the country to adopt PBM regulations and aggressively pursue them and implement them,” said Jenny Arnold of the WSPA.

However, recently passed State Senate Bill 5213 will strengthen PBM regulations in our state. Many patients will no longer be required to use mail-order pharmacies to fill specialty prescriptions.

“Those medications are expensive. They have fragile storage and handling. And to think that being left on your doorstep on a blistering hot eastern Washington day, or freezing cold, wet Western Washington day, it’s just not appropriate for most medications,” said Arnold.

On Capitol Hill Sen. Maria Cantwell introduced a bipartisan bill to fight unfair drug prices and bring transparency in how Pharmacy Benefit Managers operate. “Pharmacists are an integral part of the health care delivery system, and there’s no substitute for a neighborhood pharmacist,” said Sen. Cantwell in a statement. “I’m very concerned about the number of independent and community pharmacy closures in the State of Washington and how insurance company middlemen and their unfair business practices have contributed to those closures.”

For now, the WSPA says pharmacies in Washington are crumbling under pressure imposed by the Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and we may see more closures.

“If a pharmacy decides not to take that contract, they can lose a third of their business overnight. But it’s stuck between a rock and a hard place because they lose money on the contract, and yet they lose a third of their patients. It’s really a lose/lose situation for pharmacies,” said Arnold.

The Washington State Pharmacy Association urges patients to reach out to their U.S. Representative and voice the need for change.

Senator Maria Cantwell sent us a statement on this subject.

She tells Jesse that she has introduced a bipartisan bill to increase drug price transparency and hold PBM’s accountable for price manipulation.

“I’m very concerned about the number of independent and community pharmacy closures in the State of Washington, and how insurance company middlemen and their unfair business practices have contributed to those closures.”

Cantwell has introduced a bipartisan bill to increase drug price transparency and hold PBM’s accountable for price manipulation.

©2024 Cox Media Group