No pharmacies in town: Rite-Aid closures impact Delphos, other local areas

DELPHOS — Delphos residents will soon need to travel to Van Wert or Lima to fill their prescriptions when Rite Aid — the city’s only pharmacy — closes this year.

The city will become Allen County’s latest pharmacy desert, joining Columbus Grove, Cridersville and the Harrod-Lafayette areas where there are no pharmacies in town.

“A lot of people don’t want to drive outside of town,” said Alice Curth, director of the Delphos Senior Citizens Center, which provides prescription pickup and transportation for seniors who are at least 60 years old and who can’t drive to their pharmacies or doctor’s appointments.

Choosing a new pharmacy

Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last October amid financial losses from opioid lawsuits, poor sales and low reimbursement rates for prescription medications.

The retail pharmacy chain plans to close under-performing stores in Lima, Delphos, Ottawa, Ada, Kenton, Russells Point and elsewhere.

Additional closures are likely as the bankruptcy case progresses.

Pharmacies like Ohio Northern University’s HealthWise Pharmacy and Mercy Health-St. Rita’s Medical Center are already seeing an increase in prescription transfers since Rite Aid announced its plans to close under-performing stores.

“I’d say there’s been a sense of frustration because they’re not able to use their current established pharmacy,” said Kyle Miller, director of outpatient pharmacy at St. Rita’s, which is open to the public.

“Overall, it’s been seamless,” Miller said, “but it has forced patients to choose a new pharmacy.”

Patients often ask why their prescriptions didn’t transfer to their preferred pharmacy, said HealthWise Director Michael Rush.

“The simple answer to that is patient safety,” Rush said. “You want to make sure the patient continues to have access to their medications.”

‘Not a great business model’

The latest round of Rite Aid closures will create a pharmacy desert in Delphos, which joins communities like Columbus Grove, Cridersville, Dunkirk and the Harrod-Lafayette areas where there are already no pharmacies in town.

Curth said she is unsure how the closure will affect demand for prescription pickups for the Delphos Senior Citizens Center, which regularly travels to Lima, Van Wert and Spencerville.

The agency may dedicate a driver to make pharmacy runs if demand merits it, Curth said.

“We’ve seen it coming, so we’re just making people aware of what we offer, so hopefully we can try to help them out,” she said.

Retail pharmacies chains like Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS became dominant because of their ability to purchase large quantities of medication at a lower cost than independent pharmacies, Rush said.

Many of those pharmacy chains now struggle as the cost of medications is higher than insurance companies are willing to pay, Rush said.

“It’s not a great business model to be able to sell products for less than what you buy them for,” he said.

A new model for pharmacy

ONU founded the HealthWise pharmacy in 2018 to train pharmacy students. The pharmacy will soon be the only one in Ada.

The pharmacy looks different than popular retail stores: there are few items for sale out front. In the back are two patient rooms where pharmacy students perform blood pressure checks and other basic services, modeled to imitate primary care offices.

Rush sees it as the future of pharmacy, particularly in communities where there are few primary care physicians.

“The pharmacist is your most accessible health care provider,” Rush said. “Most people will see their pharmacist monthly, while they may see their physician once or twice a year. There is an opportunity for pharmacists to take a larger role in patient care.”