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I was unaware the loss of our drugstores was a nationwide trend until reading an article by Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. She reported that mom-and-pop drugstores in rural areas were particularly hard hit, leaving about 630 rural communities with no pharmacy by 2018. Kerrigan reported that the big chains closed nearly 2,000 pharmacies between 2017 and 2020 with more planned. CNN Business reported CVS will be closing another 900 stores in 2024. Walgreens and Rite Aid are also in the process of closing hundreds...Competition and the upsurge in shoplifting in soft-on-crime big cities are not the main causes. Kerrigan placed most of the blame on third-party Pharmacy Benefit Managers...READ MORE

In the first year of the pandemic, 19 rural hospitals closed their doors. Yet in the years since, only six have. What these historic lows might suggest is deceptive, experts caution...In the decade leading up to 2020, the average margins of rural hospitals were on a downward trajectory, with more than 130 closing in that time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, existing challenges with limited staff and capacity got worse. But thanks to pandemic relief funds, rural hospitals received billions of dollars to offset mounting costs...With dwindling funds, rural hospitals are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels of profitability...READ MORE