Citing complexities with prescription pharmacy and the changing healthcare industry, Busch’s Fresh Food Market is closing its pharmacies, according to reports.
The retailer’s eight pharmacies are scheduled to close this week so that it can better focus on its food business. According to reports is working with local Rite-Aid and CVS pharmacies to transfer its customers’ prescriptions.
John Norton, spokesman for the National Community Pharmacists Association, noted that shrinking reimbursement rates from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and Medicaid and Medicare programs are likely involved. Medicaid cutbacks usually target providers rather than beneficiaries, and PBMs take business from community pharmacies by requiring patients to use their own mail-order prescription services. (Supermarket News: www.supermarketnews.com)
