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Jennifer Riley
Malvern, Pa.
Mill Hall Pharmacy closed in July after decades of serving local families. It delivered medications and gave patients a familiar pharmacist to call with questions. For local families, losing that kind of care is more than an inconvenience.
Clinton County had just seven licensed pharmacies as of May 2025, according to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. That count predates Mill Hall's closure. Each loss raises the risk of a "pharmacy desert," an area where residents no longer have reasonable access to a local pharmacy.
Keeping the remaining pharmacies open means confronting a problem with pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. Health plans hire PBMs to manage prescription benefits. They decide which pharmacies patients can use and how much those pharmacies are paid. Just three PBMs handle 79% of prescription drug claims nationwide, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That leaves a local pharmacy with little bargaining power.
In testimony to Pennsylvania lawmakers, one pharmacy owner said some reimbursements failed to cover even the cost of the medication, before accounting for staff and other expenses. Yet refusing a PBM contract could mean losing the patients covered by that plan. A pharmacy cannot keep its doors open by repeatedly filling prescriptions at a loss.
Lawmakers should demand transparency and fair payment practices before more patients lose their local pharmacy. Mill Hall shows what is at stake for Clinton County. We should not wait for another closure to act.
Jennifer Riley is the statewide Executive Director of Patients Come First Pennsylvania and spearheads its mission of ensuring Pennsylvania's patients receive timely access to innovative health care.