More and more people are complaining that their access to convenient pharmacy outlets has steadily declined for most of this century. The current lexicon is the growth of a “pharmacy desert,” affecting nearly 40% of non-urban communities in America.
The old image of an independent, friendly local drug store that sold ice cream sodas alongside cough syrup and antibiotics has been pushed out of reach of many by massive mega-chains that are taking the place of the familiar privately-owned druggist.
Corporate giants like these new owners constantly compute their outlets’ profitability. They maximize their returns by closing the low-performance businesses without full consideration of the impact that the closure of a branch can have on an isolated population.
Pharmacy service forms part of a broader framework of lack of access to general healthcare facilities – a “healthcare desert.” As well as pharmacies, other essential healthcare services have steadily withdrawn outside of highly populated urban areas. A healthcare desert is now defined as an area where people lack adequate access to six essential healthcare services:
- Pharmacies
- Primary care providers
- Hospitals
- Hospital beds
- Trauma centers
- Low-cost health centers.
