KALAMAZOO, MICH — KALAMAZOO, Mich.— Independent pharmacies across Kalamazoo and Portage are disappearing, and local pharmacists say a reimbursement system they describe as unsustainable is driving many of them out of business.
According to pharmacy owners and industry advocates interviewed by FOX 17, nearly a dozen independent pharmacies have closed across the Kalamazoo and Portage area over the past several years. They say the problem often comes down to prescription reimbursement rates that fail to cover the actual cost of medications.
For former Texas Corners Pharmacy owner Erin Mani, the issue became impossible to overcome.
"For me personally it was just sadness." A year after closing her business, Mani says she still feels the loss of what she built for the community.
"I put so much into this. I had money, sweat, tears into this business and I really wanted to make a good go at it and provide for this community." Mani closed Texas Corners Pharmacy in the summer of 2025. She says reimbursement rates from Pharmacy Benefit Managers, commonly known as PBMs, made it increasingly difficult to stay in business.
PBMs act as middlemen in the prescription drug system and help determine how much pharmacies are paid when they fill prescriptions.
"They weren't reimbursing enough to cover the cost of drugs," Mani said.Industry leaders say the problem extends far beyond West Michigan.
"This is absolutely a crisis," said Eric Roath of the Michigan Pharmacists Association.Roath says many pharmacies are being forced to dispense medications at a loss.
"The PBMs have created a scheme where the products going out the door cost more to come into the pharmacy than they're being paid to go outside of it."He says the financial strain can be so severe that filling more prescriptions can actually make a pharmacy's situation worse.
"The pharmacy could open in the morning, dispense one thousand prescriptions, and it would have been financially better for the pharmacy to have never opened that day."Some pharmacy owners have already shut down. Others are trying to adapt.
Arun Tandon, owner of Advanced Health Pharmacy in Portage, says he has watched numerous independent pharmacies disappear during his 16 years in the industry.
"I've seen 13 pharmacies close in the last four years."Tandon says pharmacies often lose money on prescription fills, forcing owners to search for other sources of revenue.
"The more prescriptions you fill, the more you lose." In his case, he says those additional revenue streams include retail merchandise.
"I have to sell T-shirts."Tandon told FOX 17 the pharmacy has had to diversify beyond traditional prescription services just to offset financial losses.
Pharmacists say the closures are about more than business finances. They argue that when independent pharmacies disappear, patients lose trusted healthcare relationships and personalized services that can be difficult to replace.
Without changes to the reimbursement system, they warn more locally owned pharmacies could be forced to close.
"We're talking about access to care," Tandon said.
Pharmacists say if closures continue, patients could face fewer choices, fewer services and fewer places to turn for medication-related care in their communities.
