As pharmacies shutter, some Western states, Black and Latino communities are left behind

abcnews.go.com:

Urban and rural communities have come to depend on pharmacies as a trusted care option and a place for advice

Opening stores used to mean everything to pharmacy chains.

CVS Health once boasted of opening or buying more than 2,900 locations in a five-year period. Now it’s shuttering hundreds, while Walgreens, Rite Aid and independent drugstores also pull back.

An industry that saw waves of store growth before the COVID-19 pandemic faces headwinds like falling prescription reimbursement, persistent theft and changing shopping habits. But as drugstores right-size their physical footprint, experts say they can leave behind communities that have come to depend on them as trusted sources of care and advice — both of which can be hard to find in many urban and rural areas.

“That trust, you just can’t quantify it,” said Omolola Adepoju, a University of Houston health services researcher. “And I don’t think it gets spoken about enough when we talk about pharmacy closures.”

There's a pattern to who has access to pharmacies, with gaps forming in urban and rural neighborhoods.

Residents of neighborhoods that are largely Black and Latino have fewer pharmacies per capita than people who live in mostly white neighborhoods, according to an Associated Press analysis of licensing data from 44 states, data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs and the American Community Survey. It's consistent with prior research that documents where urban “pharmacy deserts” are more likely to be concentrated.

The AP also analyzed data from 49 states and found those with the fewest retail pharmacies per capita include Alaska, Oregon and New Mexico. About two-thirds of retail pharmacies in those states were owned by chains, while