PHARMACIST STEVE

It seems like over the last few months several supporters and or support groups for the chronic pain community have been going through a metamorphosis.  There also seem to be a lot fewer chronic painers that are even “active” within the community.  There seems to be less unity and interest in going in one direction toward a solution. Everyone has their own ideas and heads off in their own directions.

I started this blog about 12-13 yrs ago. The other day, I was searching for a blog post that I had recently made, in searching for the blog posts Word Press came up with numerous posts and I realized that the subject I was looking for, the search brought up not only a recent post but multiple blog posts where I had written a post on the same subject every 1-2 yrs going back to the beginning of my blog.

All of a sudden, I got the impression that I had been traveling in a virtual circle. Either my advice was useless/ineffective and/or the pt lacked the Chutzpah to try and advocate for themselves.

The community may have passed the point of no return. The effects of the agreement with the 41 state AGs, the three largest drug wholesalers, and the three largest chain pharmacies have yet to reach full traction.  President Biden’s for lower Rx prices, the segment of the industry he overlooks is the Insurance/PBM industry which is probably the biggest reason for high Rx prices. Of course, since the Insurance/PBM industry has one of the largest pots of money to lobby Congress.  But the PBM industry seems to be prepared for “taking a financial hit”.  It seems that they have changed their reimbursement rates to especially independent pharmacies. I shared this post a few days ago Cash crunch pushes independents to the brink, data shows PBMs the cause

In a recent survey of independents, 30% expect to close their doors this year, that could be as many as 5,000 independent pharmacies no longer around.  Rite Aid is in bankruptcy and closed some 600 stores and what is going to happen to the remaining 1500 is up in the air. Both Walgreens and CVS are planning on closing 200-300 stores each for the next few years. These chains are closing stores – NOT BECAUSE they are NOT PROFITABLE, but because they are not making ENOUGH PROFIT. Many of these stores are in rural areas and as they run the independents out of business and decide to close their stores because they are not making as much profit as they would like, many pts will find themselves in a “pharmacy desert”. The closest pharmacy could be 25-30 miles away.

Please follow this FB page https://www.facebook.com/groups/2117694318443765/user/100042730215813 Loretta Boesing is fighting against mail-order pharmacies and their lack of concern about mailing meds without much concern for keeping the meds within the recommended storage temperature per the FDA, USP and NF. This is the path that the Insurance/PBM industry is leading us down. As “pharmacy deserts” evolve pts in those areas will start getting mass communications from their PBM encouraging them to get their Rxs filled “conveniently ” via THEIR MAIL ORDER PHARMACY.

I am no longer going to share hyperlinks to other FB pages that are not mine.  Anyone who wishes to share my blog posts on other FB pages there are links at the bottom of this post. I am a little tired of others telling me that some of post are POLITICAL and then listen to them tell people to contact their representative in Congress. Then listen to them bitch because they didn’t get a response or the response they got had nothing to do with what they can contacted their member of Congress about.

Filed under: General Problems