Independent Pharmacies Must Expand Services to Stay Afloat | AAP 2025
At AAP 2025, Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA, CEO of NCPA, discussed what pharmacies can do to increase revenue and avoid shutting their doors.
Community pharmacy closures are accelerating across the United States. According to an analysis from the American Economic Liberties Project, over 300 pharmacies have shut their doors since late December 2024.1 The authors of that analysis laid the blame largely on pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) and a lack of reform from Congress. Independent pharmacies, which provide critical access to health care in many communities, are now being forced to adapt quickly to survive.
Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), said expanding into niche services is a strategy many pharmacies are finding success with. For example, long-term care at home is a growing area, as it offers better contract rates and new opportunities for patient care. Introducing clinical services—such as compounding, immunizations, and mobile vaccine outreach—are also giving a financial lifeline to some pharmacies.
Drug Topics® sat down with Hoey at the American Associated Pharmacies (AAP) Annual Conference, held April 10 to 12 in Austin, Texas, to discuss what pharmacies can do to increase revenue and avoid shutting their doors, as well as the importance of independent pharmacies in the health care landscape.
“Appreciate the work of our independent pharmacists,” Hoey said. “In health care, there's a lot of people who'd like to make it an assembly line, where one size fits all and every patient is the same. If patients were robots, that would work great. But they're not. People have individual needs. NCPA members are the safety net for all those people who fall off the assembly line. I think just reminding payers, members of Congress, and media that without independents, it's beyond a health care gap ... You need us here. Pharmacy deserts will expand …Don't wait until it's too late. Pay pharmacies fairly for the services that we provide to you.”
