Rural pharmacies fill a healthcare gap in the US. Owners say it’s getting harder to stay open

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Rural pharmacies, independent or chain, can be a touchstone for their communities. The staff knows everyone’s names and drugs, answers questions about residents’ mail-order prescriptions, or can spot the signs of serious illness. But rural pharmacies’ business models face unrelenting pressures to the point that sometimes they have to close. Several largely rural states have some of the lowest number of pharmacies per ZIP code, according to an AP analysis of data from 49 states and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs. When a pharmacy does close in a rural area, communities feel the absence. In Herscher, Illinois, news came out of nowhere that the CVS Pharmacy would shut down in early March. Mayor Shannon Sweeney met with CVS representatives and asked them to delay the closure for his village of 1,500 that's 80 miles south of Chicago, but he said the company told him the front of the store was not making enough money. Pharmacy access is an important consideration, CVS spokesman Matt Blanchette told The Associated Press, but the company also weighs local market dynamics, population shifts, and the number of stores in the area selling similar products. He confirmed the meeting with Sweeney but did not directly answer a question about what financial issues led to the store closure. Tammy McLearen came to the CVS twice a month to pick up medications for her blood pressure and cholesterol on her way to and from work near Kankakee. She moved her prescriptions to the CVS near work because she doesn’t want to get them through the mail; her village isn’t a top priority for snow removal in the winter—and her late husband’s heart medications would often get lost in the mail. “We’re losing convenience, a staple,” she said of the pharmacy, which was part of a small statewide chain before CVS bought it in 2017. “I hope another pharmacy goes in here.” Sweeney said that’s his goal—preferably an independent one. But in the months since the closure, two promising leads have dried up, leaving them “dead in the water,” he said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.