In recent years, federal and state policy makers have expressed concern about retail pharmacy closures throughout the US. However, there is a dearth of timely information on the extent of such closures. CHAMP faculty member Jenny Guadamuz and coauthors linked data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs on all US retail pharmacies to county-level data from the National Center for Health Statistics and ZIP Code Tabulation Area data from the American Community Survey to determine the number and percentage of pharmacy closures during the period 2010–21; identify pharmacy, neighborhood, and market characteristics associated with pharmacy closure; and estimate the risk for closure for independent pharmacies relative to chain pharmacies. They found the risk for closure for pharmacies in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods was higher than in White neighborhoods. Independent pharmacies were at greater risk for closure than chain pharmacies across all neighborhood and market characteristics
Dr. Guadamuz's article has been mentioned by over 150 news outlets since its publishing. See it in the press here.