pharmacies

Pharmacy technicians at the University of Kansas Health System narrowly lost their May union election. But nearly 40% of the ballots arrived in the mail late, potentially changing the results. So far, the Kansas state board hasn't counted them, but organizers are demanding a redo.

The lawsuit alleges CVS secretly kept prescription drug discount savings instead of passing them on to the University of Kansas Hospital Authority. The suit says CVS then terminated its contract when the hospital asked for an audit.

Independent rural pharmacists are starting other businesses or selling baby shower gifts to keep their stores operating. Pharmacy deserts affect 4 million Texans.

Senate Bill 360 was the original bill introduced to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.

Legislators share frustration with inaction on two bills tied to pricing of medicine

The Senate Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance passed the bill last week, but it still needs approval from the full Senate and House.

As health insurance costs soar, lowering prescription prices could help. But that will require reforms in Jefferson City and Topeka.

Pharmacists in Kansas say pharmacy benefit managers, a group that helps determine what medications insurance covers and how much they cost, are choking them out of business.

Interests on both sides of the program — hospitals and drugmakers — say they are at the mercy of a program designed with the best of intentions, now run amok, hijacked by for-profit companies and wealthy hospitals trying to profit from its largesse.

Corner pharmacies, once widespread in large cities and rural hamlets alike, are disappearing from many areas of the country, leaving an estimated 41 million Americans in what are known as drugstore deserts.