Walgreens’ Strategic Store Closures: A Double-Edged Sword for Healthcare Access

As Walgreens consolidates its operations to strengthen its core pharmacy business, the rise of pharmacy deserts poses significant challenges for vulnerable communities and healthcare costs.

During a third-quarter earnings call in June, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth noted that 75% of the company’s roughly 8,600 stores are responsible for nearly all of its retail profits—and that, for the other 25% (over 2,000 stores), “changes are imminent.” Although the company recently shuttered about 300 stores, this announcement suggests that Walgreens’ belt-tightening is far from finished. According to Wentworth, these planned closures will help Walgreens “[focus] on improving our core business: retail pharmacy, which is central to the future of healthcare.”

A U.S. Pharmacist study notes that one in eight pharmacies in the United States closed between 2009 and 2015. These closures gave rise to what are now commonly known as “pharmacy deserts”: areas in which pharmacies are scarce or nonexistent, thereby forcing residents to travel farther to get their medication.

Cardinal Health found that nearly 15% (2,177) of the approximately 15,000 towns in the U.S. with populations under 5,000 did not have access to a pharmacy within 10 miles. Pharmacy deserts are also more common in areas where significant barriers to care already exist, such as lower rates of vehicle ownership, higher rates of poverty, and fewer healthcare professionals.

Patients without reliable and convenient access to a pharmacy have a harder time with medication adherence; these challenges also increase exponentially with every additional medication in a patient’s regimen. As a consequence, those most harmed by pharmacy deserts are also the most vulnerable individuals: people managing multiple comorbid conditions. Without convenient access to the medication—and education—that pharmacies provide, patients are less likely to achieve positive health outcomes on their own and more likely to rely on emergency or urgent care facilities for their needs. This, in turn, leads to higher care costs across the board.

Consolidating operations may well bolster Walgreens’ pharmacy business. But it’s difficult to see how this will benefit everyone on the other side of the counter.

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