HARRISBURG — Mill Hall Pharmacy in Clinton County has announced it will permanently close on July 28, becoming the latest casualty in Pennsylvania’s rapidly growing pharmacy desert crisis. It’s another reminder that the General Assembly cannot leave Harrisburg for its summer recess without taking action to protect community pharmacies.

Pennsylvanians for Protecting Pharmacy Access is urging lawmakers to pass House Bill 2270 before completing work on the 2026-27 state budget and leaving for the summer. The bipartisan legislation would reform how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — the companies that act as middlemen between insurers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers — operate in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program by establishing a single PBM, increasing transparency, eliminating spread pricing and creating a more consistent reimbursement system for community pharmacies.

Mill Hall announced on social media that after serving the community since 2005, it will permanently close its doors later this month. Active prescriptions will be transferred to a CVS Pharmacy in Lock Haven.

Its closure is the latest example of a crisis that has forced more than 1,100 Pennsylvania community pharmacies to close since 2020, leaving patients with fewer options for prescriptions, vaccinations, medication counseling and other essential healthcare services.

“The headlines keep writing themselves,” said Victoria Elliott, CEO of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association. “Another community pharmacy. Another town losing a trusted healthcare provider. Another community forced to travel farther for medications and basic healthcare services. The General Assembly has an opportunity to stop this crisis before it gets even worse, but time is running out.”

At the center of the crisis are PBMs, which determine how much pharmacies are paid for prescription medications. Community pharmacists say those reimbursements are often below what it costs to purchase and dispense the drugs. At the same time, many PBMs own or are affiliated with their own pharmacy chains and mail-order pharmacies, allowing them to steer patients away from local, community pharmacies and toward businesses they own or control. The result is a system that increasingly favors large corporate pharmacies while making it harder for community pharmacies to remain financially viable.

“Community pharmacies aren’t closing because patients no longer need them,” Elliott said. “They’re closing because the reimbursement system is broken. PBMs continue to squeeze community pharmacies while benefiting pharmacies they own or control. Every time another hometown pharmacy closes, patients lose access to care, and another Pennsylvania community becomes a little less healthy.”

A pharmacy desert exists when residents no longer have reasonable access to a local pharmacy. According to the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, pharmacy deserts now exist in rural, suburban and urban communities across the commonwealth, with more than 200 additional pharmacies operating in areas vulnerable to becoming pharmacy deserts if they close.

“Every week lawmakers wait, another pharmacy is at risk,” Elliott said. “House Bill 2270 won’t reopen the pharmacies we’ve already lost, but it can help save the ones still fighting to keep their doors open. If lawmakers leave Harrisburg without passing meaningful PBM reform, they shouldn’t be surprised when another community announces another closure.”

Pennsylvanians for Protecting Pharmacy Access, a coalition of pharmacists, patient advocates, healthcare providers and community leaders, has created an interactive map documenting Pennsylvania’s growing pharmacy desert and is encouraging residents to contact their legislators immediately.

For more information or to contact your state lawmakers, visit ProtectPharmacyAccess.org.