Pharmacists warn of more local drugstore closures if legislature doesn't increase reimbursement rates for care
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Local pharmacists are imploring the legislature for a lifeline to keep more drugstores from closure, a trend that's defined the last few years and has left more than two dozen cities without a pharmacy in their community.
Thirteen pharmacies — independent and retail chains — closed in Minnesota last year, according to data provided by the Minnesota Pharmacy Association. The state lost more than one-third of the locally owned and operated stores in the five-year period from 2018 to 2023.
John Hoeschen, pharmacist and owner of St. Paul Corner Drug, described community pharmacies as facing a "terminal illness" that endangers their existence if lawmakers don't act. His store has been operating for more than a century, but its future is uncertain.
"We're going to do everything possible and we're working our tails off to make sure that we are still here, but there are no guarantees in the system because the rules of the game that's being played against us are changing almost by a minute," Hoeschen told WCCO in an interview.
He and a dozen other pharmacists and patients held a news conference at the state capitol Tuesday calling on lawmakers to pass a package of bills they say will help the businesses stay afloat. Two bills together would boost reimbursement rates for pharmacy care and increase dispensing fees — from $10.55 to $11.77 per claim — for patients on Medicaid.
Pharmacists said current rates do not match the actual cost of the work.
"We need relief beginning with stopping the forced underwater reimbursements and passing these bills to protect pharmacy services," said Deborah Keaveny, pharmacist and owner of Keaveny Drug in Winsted. "Our patients and their access to affordable quality health care depends on it."
In the first quarter of this year, four additional pharmacies have closed and advocates believe more will follow suit soon if the legislation does not pass. Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, who is sponsoring the proposals, said there have been more closures in Minnesota in the last five years than any other state in the country.
"So the time for action is a long time ago," she said.
Another push is to codify in state law a federal pandemic-era law allowing pharmacists to vaccinate children as young as age three for all immunizations. Before that, pharmacists could only inoculate children six and older for the flu and for all other vaccines after age 13, said Jason Miller with the Minnesota Pharmacists Association.
The federal statute authorizing them to do provide the vaccinations — the so-called PREP Act — is set to expire at the end of the year.
"Without that passing we would be taking a significant step backwards in terms of access to care for residents of Minnesota," said Miller, who is also the pharmacy clinical program manager at Coborn's.
