The Growth of Pharmacy Deserts & How Rx Partnership Can Help
Access to Pharmacy Services in Virginia –
When the Virginia Joint Commission on Health Care provided their report to the Governor and General Assembly earlier this month titled “Access to Pharmacy Services in Virginia” the presentation sounded the alarm about the growing problem of “pharmacy deserts” but they didn’t just describe the problem—they pointed to a number of possible solutions, including Rx Partnership as one example of a smart, creative way to respond.
Community Pharmacies Are Disappearing
The Joint Commission’s pharmacy access study shows a clear trend: Virginia is losing community pharmacies, and the impact is most significant in rural areas. According to Board of Pharmacy data, half of Virginia localities experienced a net loss of community pharmacies and that’s left 22 localities with only one pharmacy—or none at all. These “limited-access” areas are growing, and the Commission Report warns that reduced pharmacy access is linked to missed refills, lower medication adherence, lower vaccination rates and worse health outcomes. The full report is available HERE.
Key Findings of the Report
- Pharmacy Numbers Declining: Since 2019, the total number of community pharmacies operating in Virginia has declined, resulting in a nearly 10 percent reduction by 2024. As of 2024, eight localities have zero pharmacies within their borders – six of those haven’t had a pharmacy in 10 or more years – leading patients to travel up to 21 miles to get to a pharmacy.
- High Operating Expenses + Low Reimbursements = Pharmacies Lose: The main cause of pharmacy closures is the imbalance between operating expenses (such as the rising cost of medications and labor) and their revenue. Reimbursement rates for dispensing medications, often set by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) for insured and Medicaid patients, are frequently not enough to cover the cost of the drug and the professional dispensing fee. The pharmacy has to make up the difference.
- Worsening Health Outcomes: Limited access to community pharmacies negatively impacts public health, leading to decreases in medication adherence and lower vaccination rates. The Virginia State Board of Health recognized pharmacy deserts as a threat to public health in October 2025.
Pharmacy Deserts Mean Increased Costs and Decreased Outcomes
In Brunswick County, the last remaining retail pharmacy closed after a Rite Aid shut down. Overnight, residents were left in a true pharmacy desert—no local pharmacy at all. One couple told WTVR they now travel significantly farther for prescriptions, a burden that compounds when you’re older, managing chronic illness, or living on limited income.
In another WTVR report, independent pharmacists describe how PBM practices—retroactive fees, unpredictable reimbursement, and payments below acquisition cost—are pushing stores toward closure. Their warning is simple: if nothing changes, more communities will lose their pharmacies next. Read more at CBS 6 News Richmond WTVR+1.
How Rx Partnership Can Help Fill the Gap
When medication access was brought up during the Joint Commission’s discussion, Rx Partnership was heralded as an example of how to reach unserved populations through an alternative approach to retail pharmacy services.
“The Northern Neck Middlesex Free Health Clinic pharmacy ships prescription medications dispensed from the Clinic’s Kilmarnock pharmacy to patients at six other clinics that participate in Rx Partnership’s Access to Medication Program (AMP). The AMP provides critically needed generic and brand name medications to vulnerable, low-income, and uninsured residents at healthcare facilities that do not have an on-site pharmacy.
Providing additional funds would allow charitable pharmacies like the Northern Neck Middlesex Free Health Clinic pharmacy to support more patients at more clinics in pharmacy deserts. Allowing free and charitable clinics and community health centers flexibility to determine how to spend any funds appropriated would allow funding recipients to tailor approaches to best meet community needs.”
Rx Partnership exists for moments like this. Through a statewide network of free clinics and charitable pharmacy partners, we deliver medications directly to where care happens. When patients can’t reach a pharmacy, we can help—supplying critical medications to clinics and even creating a Prescription Mail Delivery Program so clinics can send medications directly to patient’s homes. Rx Partnership’s culture of innovation and partner support means there may be creative options to help serve pharmacy-desert communities in the future.
In the discussion following the report, Delegate Rodney Willett noted that “All we’ve got is the safety net in some areas.” Rx Partnership is a critical part of the health safety net and is ready to work closely with free clinics, community health centers and other facilities focused on the underserved that are ready to step forward and create a strategy for addressing pharmacy deserts.
Financially supporting the expansion of pharmacy services by existing clinics was one of the four policy recommendations the Joint Commission agreed had merit and adopted at their session. While the uncertainty around cost and funding availability remains a concern, there was significant support for pilots that could help address the issues outlined in the report in order to “discover what works.”
Your Support Is the Reason This Works
Pharmacy deserts are expanding, but so is our ability to respond—because of you. Your donations to Rx Partnership:
- keep clinics stocked with life-saving drugs,
- ship medications into hard-to-reach areas,
- and scale a model that state leaders now recognize as a part of the path forward.
You’re not just helping to fill prescriptions. You’re helping to ensure that, in Virginia, no one’s health depends on how close they live to a pharmacy.
If you are interested in the issue of pharmacy deserts and the Joint Commission on Health Care’s Report, you might want to:
- Read the summary information about the VCU study that found an unequal distribution of pharmacies in Virginia is leaving vulnerable populations at risk.
- Watch an additional WTVR story that aired after the JCHC Report. While some footage is replayed from the previous clip, this one features Delegate Hodges, a pharmacist, talking about the vital role pharmacists play and how PBMs are putting community pharmacies at risk.
Rx Partnership appreciates everyone who took the time to submit public comment on the JCHC Report. With your support, RxP is developing collaborative, innovative options to address the challenges of medication access.