The revamped model of the mapping instrument permits customers to zoom right into a neighborhood and look via a number of years to see pharmacies opening and shutting and the way this adjustments pharmacy entry. Credit score: College of Southern California
The revamped model of the mapping instrument permits customers to zoom right into a neighborhood and look via a number of years to see pharmacies opening and shutting and the way this adjustments pharmacy entry.
The revamped platform helps policymakers, journalists and authorities officers determine neighborhoods which might be dropping their native pharmacies.
USC researchers are launching a serious reboot of their pharmacy desert mapping instrument—at a time of accelerating pharmacy closures nationwide—in hopes of defending the general public’s entry to important medicines like insulin, antibiotics, contraceptives and flu photographs.
“Pharmacies are a vital part of the health care landscape, but we’re seeing more closures every day. Ensuring that pharmacies remain accessible—particularly in neighborhoods that need them most—is crucial for promoting health equity,” USC’s Dima Mazen Qato stated.
“When pharmacies close, people lose access to essential medications, which can worsen chronic conditions and increase health disparities, especially in historically marginalized areas that already face systemic barriers.”
Pharmacy deserts are areas the place pharmacies are sparse, making it tough for residents to entry drugs. The result’s individuals need to take days off work to choose up drugs, skip doses or cease taking the drug solely.
At present, 1 in 8 neighborhoods in the USA lack handy entry to pharmacy providers. A examine led by Qato discovered an unprecedented decline within the variety of pharmacies started in 2018, primarily pushed by trade consolidation. Massive chains comparable to CVS, Ceremony Assist and Walgreens have closed tons of of shops, and impartial pharmacies are also shutting down at a excessive fee. The pattern is compounded by the merging of huge pharmacy chains with dominant pharmacy profit managers (PBMs), which negotiate prescription drug advantages and steer sufferers to most popular pharmacies.
“We need leaders at every level to use this data to protect these lifeline pharmacies before more neighborhoods are in crisis,” stated Douglas Hoey, CEO of the Nationwide Group Pharmacists Affiliation, which represents some 19,000 impartial pharmacies. “When you lose your local pharmacy, you lose more than a place to fill prescriptions—you lose a trusted health advisor, a medication safety expert and often the most accessible health care provider in the community.”
Bringing visibility to pharmacy entry
The pharmacy desert instrument, first launched in 2022, is a collaborative effort throughout the USC Alfred E. Mann Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the USC Dornsife School of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the trade group. Qato, the Hygeia Centennial Chair and affiliate professor at USC Mann and a senior scholar on the USC Schaeffer Heart for Well being Coverage & Economics, labored with Affiliate Professor Robert Vos and doctoral candidate Jeffrey Rozelle from Spatial Sciences Institute at USC Dornsife to construct the instrument.
It has been accessed by county and state well being departments to plan for the influence of pharmacy closures and justify the event of recent publicly funded fashions for pharmacies, Qato stated. It has additionally been utilized by the Federal Commerce Fee and legal professional normal workplaces throughout the nation to higher perceive adjustments in pharmacy entry on the state and native ranges.
USC Mann used it to assist determine a location for a USC-run group pharmacy in South Los Angeles, on monitor to open subsequent yr. That location, close to the intersection of Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, turned a scarcity space in 2024 after a Ceremony Assist pharmacy closed. The inhabitants there’s majority Black, with almost 20% of residents age 65 or older.
The revamped model of the mapping instrument permits customers to create an account, zoom right into a neighborhood and look via a number of years to see pharmacies opening and shutting and the way this adjustments pharmacy entry. Simple-to-view symbols flag whether or not every pharmacy would create or worsen a pharmacy scarcity space if it closed.
“We thought carefully about who would use the tool—federal, state and local policymakers—to inform policies around pharmacies and created features they need,” Vos stated. “Users can use the time bar for states, counties and congressional districts.”
“The tool is actively maintained, and there are a number of features and metrics we aim to release to the public as they become ready,” Rozelle stated.
The instrument defines pharmacy scarcity areas based mostly on journey distance to the closest pharmacy utilizing scientifically derived distance thresholds:
Greater than 10 miles in rural areas.
Greater than 2 miles in suburban areas.
Greater than 1 mile in city areas.
Greater than half a mile in low-income neighborhoods with low charges of auto possession.
“Ultimately, our goal is to make pharmacy access visible and actionable, so that policymakers, health departments and advocates can identify where interventions are most needed and work to ensure that every community has access to the essential medicines people rely on,” Qato stated.
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Nationwide pharmacy desert map will get reboot amid wave of drugstore closures (2025, November 5)
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