PAYNESVILLE, Minn. — If you've had to pick up a prescription lately at your local pharmacy, you may have noticed a backlog, in part, due to busier locations and short staffing.
It has led to some pharmacy workers walking off the job at some of the country's largest pharmacy chains, including CVS, protesting what some describe as "brutal" conditions.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, that despite employment growth, there are 13,600 projected job openings for pharmacists each year - that's even the case in rural Minnesota.
The nearest pharmacy is now nearly 20 miles away from NuCara Pharmacy in Paynesville where pharmacist Lee Landsteiner has worked for decades.
"We've had pharmacies close in Belgrade, pharmacies close in New London and Spicer," said Landsteiner. "It's happening because people are frustrated with the position they're in."
Landsteiner said more walkouts would be devastating and threaten patient safety.
"If they can't get to their prescriptions and get to it quickly, they're now going without their medicine - some of it's critical," said Landsteiner.
Some pharmacies are also not as profitable and are getting reimbursed less as companies behind the scenes dictate how much retailers, from large ones like CVS to NuCara, have to pay for the prescriptions they buy. But it doesn't necessarily change what the customer owes.
"We're filling three or four times as many prescriptions as we used to, yet we're making less," said Landsteiner. "How does that work? It's because we're making less per prescription."
To continue making money, Landsteiner said companies are forced to cut staff or close up shop. But he considers himself lucky, unlike some of those larger chains. He says family-owned companies don't always feel the same pressure to put profits before patients.
"We're not a publicly traded company," said Landsteiner. "We don't have to produce results to make our stockholders happy and for better or worse, it's business."
In a statement to KARE 11, a CVS spokesperson wrote that it hasn't had any pharmacist walkouts at its stores in November. It says it's continuing to have a two-way dialogue with its pharmacists to address their concerns. Adding, "In response to recent feedback from our pharmacy teams, we’re making targeted investments to address their key concerns, including enabling teams to schedule additional support as needed, enhancing pharmacist and technician recruitment and hiring, and strengthening pharmacy technician training. Our goal is to develop a sustainable and scalable action plan to support both our pharmacists and our customers so we can continue delivering the high-quality care our patients depend on."