Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Local independent pharmacies are joining forces in a grassroots alliance to go up against major companies pushing them out of business on the state level. Valley pharmacy owners are advocating for their role in the community and fighting the influence of PBMs (pharmacy benefits managers).

All Chambers County’s local pharmacies — Valley, Hood’s, Fairfax, Greene’s, Lowe’s — are involved in Senate bill 99, which aims to restrict PBMs and protect local pharmacies. Many of them, like most of the Valley area natives, can trace their roots back to the textiles in the area.

“Every textile town had their own pharmacy and had their own everything,” Moore said. “And so that’s how we all got our roots, and we’ve been able to maintain that because of our customer service and because of the services that we offer.”

Hood said that the Hood’s has operated under the same values that her grandfather established it under in 1950 after returning from WWII.

“We like to use that same grit and resourcefulness that he had, and I feel like that’s something that we continue to try to use to serve our community,” Hood said.

These independent, locally owned and operated pharmacies are often the only ones for miles. Since the alliance began, Hood has researched the distances of the closest chain pharmacies from the Valley and LaFayette areas.

“They see a map, they see words on a page,” Hood said. “We see people.”

Chambers County is in the top five for onset adult diabetes, according to Moore. Valley Pharmacy offers diabetes education classes every week. Because some insurances wouldn’t pay for it, they offer it for free.

Independent pharmacies are also often the biggest immunizers of vaccines from flu to pneumonia to shingles in rural parts of the country like Chambers County. Independent pharmacies can provide blood pressure checks, wellness screenings, lipid panel checks and blood sugar checks for local residents as well as for state worker health screenings.

“In a lot of places, you don’t have access to a doctor, and that’s what’s starting to happen here,” Moore said. “… Even though we have doctors in Chambers County, they’ve all worked for East Alabama Medical Center. Now nobody practices privately anymore here.”

Valley Pharmacy delivers around 125 prescriptions a month, Moore said. Independent community pharmacies also provide personalized services like blister packaging for older residents free of charge.

“None of the chains do that,” Moore said. “They sell beer and fill prescriptions or whatever it is that they do.”

Hood said the goal of their visit to the State House last week during the legislative session was to help lawmakers understand individual stories behind the movement and help their customers’ voices be heard at the state level.

The response from state lawmakers, Hood said, has been largely positive.

“All we’re advocating for is fairness for ourselves and access for these [customers] and that’s the thing,” Hood said. “We’ve been experiencing it for years. We’ve been preparing for months. At the end of the day, all we need is fairness and access.”

Hood said the alliance hopes to help “change the narrative” that the PBM companies have created. The pharmacist will begin playing informational videos in Hood’s. The video explains PBMs in terms of your daily coffee.

“You’re accustomed to your cup of coffee, you know you need it every day to get yourself going,” Hood explained. “But what if there was a way that you could pay and be guaranteed your coffee every day, but you charge this rate? Well, then a coffee middleman goes between you and Starbucks and says, ‘Why don’t I handle this? You focus on making your coffee. You focus on drinking your coffee. We’ll handle the transactions.’”

However, when the “middleman” company goes unchecked, Hood said, that’s when problems arise.

“Not only do they control the transactions, but they’re controlling the narrative, because they have a lot of money backing them,” Hood said. “It’s enough power, it’s enough money and at a higher up level, and it’s confusing to where people don’t understand.”

Hood emphasized that anyone in the community with questions about the PBM bill can reach out to her or Moore for more insight on its impact.

“I am in full support of our pharmacies. I think that they are being treated very unfairly,” said Debbie Wood, Alabama House Representative. “They are being forced to take losses, and we have many independent pharmacies [that] are actually closing their doors because of the reimbursement, because of the PBMs.”

The bill is currently in the Senate and will be sponsored by State Senator Larry Stuts. Those in support of the bill, Wood said, should call or email their local state senator which they can find on https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/.

Moore said many of the PBMs encourage mail order prescriptions, which reduces the sales tax to the state.

“There’s just so much that they do in the community,” Wood said. “Plus, they have payroll, they have people that they employ. They offer the products. There’s tax revenue that goes to our city. It goes to our state. They support local high schools, schools [and] our teams. Our local pharmacies are just so important.”

For more information on the Senate Bill 99, readers can visit the Alabama Legislature website or the previous article on the bill published at valleytimes-news.com.