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Rural pharmacies 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.
Rural pharmacies can be a touchstone for their communities.
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An AP analysis of data from 49 states and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs shows that several largely rural states have some of the lowest number of pharmacies per ZIP code.
Basin Pharmacy fills more than prescriptions in rural northern Wyoming. It's also the key health care access point for the town of about 1,300 people and the surrounding area.
Independent pharmacists such as Robert Maher feel trapped, state lawmakers learned Thursday. A pharmacist knows the people in the community well, from grandparents to parents to kids, Maher said. They also know the pharmacy in today’s prescription payment system can’t take care of those people without going out of business.