Washington, DC (July 30, 2026) – Pharmacy closures are an unfortunate fact in small towns across America. When they close, the question is whether patients will be left without guidance.
One day, your neighborhood pharmacy is open and serving the community, and the next, there could be a closed sign on the front door. That’s exactly what happened in Vermont last month when Smilin’ Steve’s Pharmacy abruptly closed three of its five locations in a single afternoon, with signs posted on the doors of stores in Woodstock, Springfield, and Ludlow. With the closure, Woodstock joined the growing list of Upper Valley towns without a pharmacy. For patients who had just called in a prescription the day before, the doors were simply locked. One resident went without his medication for several days because the closure was so sudden and happened without notice.
This isn’t an isolated incident. It’s sadly becoming a familiar one across the country. Walgreens announced it would close 1,200 stores over three years, including 500 closures in fiscal year 2025 alone. Rite Aid completed the closure of all its remaining locations following bankruptcy. A 2024 study published in JAMA Network Open found that nearly half of the counties in the United States have at least one “pharmacy desert” where there is no retail pharmacy within 10 miles.
When a pharmacy closes abruptly, patients are left to fend for themselves. They scramble to transfer prescriptions, navigate new insurance networks, and in some cases, simply go without. When local pharmacies close, patients often face longer travel times and increased wait periods at training locations. This can lead to medication non-adherence, where patients skip doses because the barrier to refilling prescriptions becomes too high.
That’s exactly why printed medication information matters so much. When a pharmacy closes without notice, the printed instructions already in a patient’s hands – clear dosing schedules, side effect warnings, drug interaction alerts – can be a lifeline until they find a new provider.
That’s what the bipartisan Patients’ Right to Know Their Medication Act (H.R. 5122) is designed to protect. By requiring manufacturers to include standardized, FDA-approved printed medication information with every prescription, the bill ensures patients always have clear instructions in hand, no matter what happens to their local pharmacy.
Pharmacy closures are an unfortunate fact in small towns across America. When they close, the question is whether patients will be left without guidance. Printed medication information is one commonsense answer. That’s why we support the Patients’ Right to Know Their Medication Act.
For more information about PPLA, click here.