HOPKINS, Minn. — Organizers are calling it "Pharmageddon." This week, pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens locations across the country planned to walk off the job in protest over their working conditions.
It's unclear how many people participated in the walkouts which were scheduled Monday through Wednesday. Organizers told NBC News that about 900 people in as many as 10 states could take part.
Walgreens told KARE 11 that three out of its 9,000 stores were impacted, adding that none of their pharmacies were closed Wednesday due to walkouts. Meanwhile, CVS said they're "not seeing any unusual activity regarding unplanned pharmacy closures or pharmacist walkouts."
One of the organizers of the pharmacy walkout, called "The Accidental Pharmacist" on Facebook, pushed back on the statements from CVS and Walgreens online.
"Most of my career at this point is working to address the exact issues that are leading to the walkouts," said Luke Slindee of Hopkins.
Slindee worked behind the counter dispensing medication for about 20 years, although he's not currently dispensing. Over the years he's worked for both independent pharmacies, as well as Walgreens.
Slindee is a second-generation pharmacist; for many years his father owned and operated a pharmacy in Harmony, Minn.
When asked, "What's it's like for you to watch your dad when he was a pharmacist growing up, to see what it's like now?" Slindee responded, "It's brutal. Absolutely brutal."
He added, "It's something that's very near and dear to me given that my hometown of Harmony, Minn. had a pharmacy in it for over 100 years but as of 2022, the last pharmacy closed."
During recent walkouts, pharmacists have voiced their frustrations on a number of issues including the need for more staff to help with increased workloads.
"Everyone is stressed out all the time. You always feel like you're behind. It just creates a really dangerous environment because when the staff are stressed, they're going to be much more likely to make a mistake and of course, that is bad for everyone," Slindee said.
But Slindee said these issues are a result of larger problems.
"The ultimate cause of the walkouts, in my opinion, is related to companies that are called pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs. There are really only three or four major PBMs in the marketplace and they have monopoly-style power over the pharmacies," Slindee explained.
According to Slindee, pharmacies cannot afford to not accept insurance coverage from these PBMs as they would lose a large chunk of their patient base.
"If all your patients that have that insurance can no longer go to your pharmacy, that creates an existential crisis for the pharmacies. So the PBMs use that power — that monopoly power — to constantly ratchet down the rates that pharmacies are paid to actually dispense the medication," Slindee said. "So as reimbursement goes down further and further, it just becomes unviable."
Slindee said that had led to smaller, independent pharmacies being forced to close and to larger chains cutting back on staff.
"We need antitrust enforcement from the federal and state governments to break up the PBM monopolies," Slindee said.
The American Pharmacists Association (APA), in a statement about the walkouts, said about PBMs, "You are breaking the backs of community pharmacies and are ultimately complicit in the workplace issues I am describing."
APA said it stands with every pharmacist who participated in the walkouts.
In a statement, Walgreens said, "We recognize the incredible work our pharmacists do every day, especially this time of year when there is increased demand for their services across communities. Our leaders are in our pharmacies regularly, listening to concerns and frustrations and responding to feedback. We have taken steps over the last two years to improve pharmacists' experience, advance the profession and enable them to provide the high value care they were trained to do. Nearly all of our 25,000 pharmacists continue to serve their customers and communities this week, and we thank them for it. There are no Walgreens pharmacies anywhere in the U.S. that are closed today due to walkouts."
CVS said it was engaging in a "two-way dialogue" with its pharmacists to address their concerns. "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."
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