Rockers Pharmacy in Paola has closed its doors. Owner Nate Rockers says the problem is a reimbursement system that he believes is making it impossible for independent, small town pharmacies to survive. The primary problem is with pharmacy benefit managers that determine how much pharmacies are reimbursed for medications they purchased from wholesalers to distribute to customers. He says three large pharmacy managers control over 80% of the benefits in the U. S. and there is no legislation preventing them from reimbursing their own pharmacies more than local drugstores for the same drug. He says insurance company reimbursement models have become so aggressively low that, in 2024, more than 70% of the prescriptions filled at Rockers Pharmacy were below the pharmacy’s cost to dispense.
Rockers says there is nothing “clean” about the industry and he has spoken out for years on the issue, but no legislation has been passed to regulate the pharmacy managers and level the playing field. He opened the business in 2009 in the old Miller Pharmacy Building and moved to new location on Baptist Drive in 2014.
