May 20, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

With the recent announcement of Rite Aid’s bankruptcy that will close thousands of stores across the county – including nearly 350 in Pennsylvania – local pharmacies are bracing to take on new customers and their prescriptions, with some calling it “rock bottom” to their already precarious financial woes.

In the coming weeks, more than a dozen Rite Aid stores are expected to close in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, which will likely shift the burden to small, independent-owned pharmacies, especially in rural areas where there are fewer options available.

“You’re going to have someone have to make a decision whether they can accept this customer based on a financial decision,” said John DeJames, who is president of the Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association that represents more than 2,000 members across the state. “It’s going to be hard for pharmacists (because) they’re really going to have to look at their whole medication profile to make a decision. Because we can’t keep doing it.”

While most industries would relish the opportunity to pick up a competitor’s customer base, the sometimes “upside down” margins of prescription medication sales for many pharmacies can crush their businesses. A law passed in Pennsylvania last year designed to stop predatory practices by insurance middlemen known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBMs, that can skim reimbursements or push customers away from smaller pharmacies has mostly been watered down, much to the chagrin of small pharmacy owners.

The addition of new customers, especially seniors and those on Medicaid, can be costly for local pharmacies. Erich Cushey, who owns Curtis Pharmacy with locations in Claysville, Washington, Carmichaels and Connellsville, said a decade ago he “would’ve been dancing in the streets” with the chance to get new customers, but the rise of PBMs has taken a bite out of his bottom line.

“It’s really hard to quantify this for everyday folks. That opaqueness is really by design between the PMBs and the insurance companies,” Cushey said. “What happens with community pharmacies like us or Rite Aid on a grand scale, when we dispense those medications, we’re not getting reimbursed enough to cover the costs.”

Gerard O’Hare, who’s a pharmacist at Jeffreys Drug Store in Canonsburg, said the sheer number of Rite Aid stores that will be closing across the country is especially problematic. There are two in the borough, with the East Pike Street location closing soon and merging customers into the West Pike Street location, which will close later this year.

“There is a multitude of problems. Can we handle the volume of these stores closing? If we can handle the volume, do we even want it? They’re going bankrupt because of these (reimbursements). You lose money on several prescriptions because of the PBM. If you take on the extra business then you might be the next one out of business. It’s going to be a problem,” O’Hare said.

“We’ll do our best to take care of people the best we can,” O’Hare added.

And taking care of people living in rural areas might be a big problem as the number of pharmacies in Pennsylvania has dwindled by 200 since last January, with that number pushing well above 500 when Rite Aid sells or shutters its stores through the bankruptcy proceedings.

In Waynesburg, there will now be four pharmacies in town with Rite Aid’s exit, although other rural areas will likely suffer even more as people must drive farther for their medication. Scott Adamson, who owns McCracken Pharmacy in Waynesburg, said building trust with new customers with the loss of their longtime pharmacist is paramount.

“We want to accept everybody and make it as a smooth transition as possible. In that regard, it’s a personal relationship with the pharmacy,” Adamson said. “There have been a lot of patients who have contacted us and have done a number of prescriptions over a short period.”

Adamson expressed sadness for the people at the Rite Aid near Waynesburg who will be losing their jobs and praised them for their hard work despite them being competition just down the road. As for the profit margin, Adamson is taking it one day at a time.

“It’s the nature of the business. You’re going to lose on some claims, there’s no doubt about it. When you’re taking on new patients, there are those concerns, but it’s just the climate we are in,” Adamson said. “You have additional workload and you want to do it in as friendly and safe a manner as you can, because certainly people are upset about this.”

All 1,600 Rite Aid locations across the country are expected to be closed or sold by September, which puts a compressed timeline for customers to find a new pharmacy and change their prescriptions over. Many are worried about what the future of health care will look like for rural Pennsylvanians with so few options now available.

“We’re going to do our best to help our patients, but this is about rock bottom,” Cushey said. “Come (this summer), you’re going to see people with pharmacy access issues.”

Rite Aid locations in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties

Belle Vernon

Bentleyville

Burgettstown

California

Canonsburg (2 locations)

Charleroi

Connellsville

Grindstone

McMurray

Monongahela

Uniontown

Washington (2 locations)

Waynesburg