DES MOINES, Iowa — So far this year, 20 Iowa pharmacies, both in rural and urban areas, have closed, including in Fontanelle, Dallas Center, Cedar Rapids, Ames and Waterloo.
The Iowa Pharmacy Association says it's because the three main pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs — who serve as middlemen in the pharmacy supply chain — control the total drug costs for insurers and determine how much pharmacies are paid.
PBMs set up formularies, or lists of covered drugs, and negotiate rebates off the drug prices.
"Iowans may need to drive, 10, 20, even more miles to the next nearest town to not only access their healthcare, but their pharmacy care," said Iowa Pharmacy Association CEO Kate Gainer.
Drake University pharmacy professor Dr. Michael Andreski told Local 5 News pharmacies are also closing because some people are turning to chains like CVS.
"The number of prescriptions has actually not decreased significantly, it's just the reimbursement for those prescriptions," he said.
Other cities that have endured pharmacy closures this year in Iowa include: Des Moines, Wyoming, Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Elk Horn, Davenport, Clear Lake, Leon, Fairfield and Onawa.
"This is an alarming rate of pharmacy closures and in the state of Iowa, it's a rate that's faster than what we've seen in years past," Gainer said.
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission sued three companies: Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx, and alleged the rebating practices from them have led to artificially inflated list prices.
Over the past 10 years, the Iowa Pharmacy Association reports 143 Iowa pharmacies have closed. And historically, Gainer said there are more pharmacy closures in the fourth quarter of the year than any other quarter.