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Multicenter Study
. 2020 Jan 1;180(1):157-160.
doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.4588.

Assessment of Pharmacy Closures in the United States From 2009 Through 2015

Jenny S Guadamuz  1 , G Caleb Alexander  2   3 , Shannon N Zenk  4 , Dima M Qato  1   5
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Assessment of Pharmacy Closures in the United States From 2009 Through 2015

Jenny S Guadamuz et al. JAMA Intern Med. .

Abstract

This quality improvement study examines trends in pharmacy closures in the United States between 2009 and 2015, as well as pharmacy, community, and market factors that might be associated with such closures.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Ms Guadamuz reports receiving grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar program and grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32-HL125294). Dr Alexander reports being the former chair of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Advisory Committee; serving as a paid advisor to IQVIA; holding equity in Monument Analytics, a health care consultancy whose clients include the life sciences industry and plaintiffs in opioid litigation; and being a member of OptumRx’s National P&T Committee. This arrangement has been reviewed and approved by Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. Dr Qato reports being a paid consultant for Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, has received funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cardinal Health, is supported in part by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of the Clinical Scholars Leadership program, and is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine. No other disclosures are reported.

Figures

Figure.
Figure.. Trends in Pharmacies in Operation, Closures, and Openings in the United States From 2009 Through 2015
Trends in the number of pharmacies in operation and pharmacy openings and closures are statistically significant at P < .01 using Poisson regression. A total of 77 510 pharmacies were in operation between 2009 and 2015, of which 9568 pharmacies closed and 14 614 were newly opened. Aggregate closure rates were estimated among all pharmacies that were in operation at some point during 2009 through 2015, excluding pharmacies newly opened in 2015 (n = 74 883 pharmacies). Closure rates are defined as the number of pharmacies that closed divided by the number of pharmacies in operation during 2009 through 2015. Annualized mean closure rates were 2.5% (95% CI, 2.1%-3.0%).
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References

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