Pa. prescription reform will help keep local pharmacy open

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (WKBN) – Customers of the local chain of Hometown Pharmacy on E. South Street in New Castle say they prefer shopping there for their prescription needs.

“Your big brick-and-mortar stores never can offer this. You’re nothing more than a number,” said Jack Melvin, of New Castle.

But for years, customers and workers alike say they’ve been squeezed by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that act as middlemen between doctors and neighborhood pharmacies

“Your big brick-and-mortar stores can never offer this

“These are one-sided, unilaterally imposing regulations on both our community pharmacies and the patients who want to visit us,” said Ron McDermott, with Hometown Pharmacy.

According to the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association, 140 pharmacies across the Common wealth have closed just since January because they could no longer afford to stay open.

But last week, after years of trying to come up with new legislation in Harrisburg, Act 77 was signed by Governor Josh Shapiro. He was at the New Castle Hometown Pharmacy to talk about it.

“We are proving that we can bring Republicans and Democrats together to get meaningful things done, to pass meaningful reforms like this PBM reform,” Shapiro said.

The new law prohibits benefit managers from steering customers to certain pharmacies and away from others. It requires all pharmacies to be equally reimbursed for the prescriptions they sell and controls the fees PBMs can add to the cost of medications, driving up prices.

“The PBMs hate these reforms, which means we are doing something right,” Shapiro said.

The Governor and others say pharmacies and their customers should begin seeing a noticeable difference soon.

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