Federal legislation hamstrings pharmacy, owner says

Medicap Pharmacy owner Jo Prang says federal health care legislation has forced her to sell off the retail prescription portion of her Rapid City business, a move that breaks her heart but one she hopes will help her business survive.

The bell tolls for the end of independent pharmacies, she said, blaming the federal rules for favoring large pharmacies over mom-and-pop enterprises. Its set up for big box and mail order.

Still, selling part of her business was an agonizing decision. Its a financial decision I had to make, Prang said. I didnt want to do this.

But as of Feb. 20,prescription files for Medicap customers were transferred to the Walgreens stores on East St. Patrick Street and Mount Rushmore Road. Walgreens sent letters to customers informing them of the change.

Prang blames several factors for forcing her to sell, including: Medicare Part D; the health-care reform act known as Obamacare; and pharmacy benefit managers that handle drug benefit packages for employer-sponsored health plans and insurers.

None of those issues existed in 1995 when Prang opened her first Medicap Pharmacy on Jackson Boulevard. She later expanded to additional locations on East St. Patrick Street and in Rapid Valley and Black Hawk.

But things began to change in 2006 when Medicare Part D went into effect and changed how Medicare patients obtain prescription drugs.

That was the big kicker, said Prang, who vividly recalls hearing the news that Congress had passed the plan. I just went Its the end of the independent pharmacy. You lost all your cash-paying customers.

About 1,500 pharmacies in the country closed almost immediately, Prang said. Within months, her Medicap locations in Rapid Valley and Black Hawk closed, too.

Since then Prang and other independent pharmacies have struggled to stay afloat. She frequently orders $60,000 to $70,000 worth of drugs per week, she said, but it often takes months to get reimbursements from insurance companies and the government.

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Federal legislation hamstrings pharmacy, owner says