A significant percentage of Ohioans rely on prescription medication to maintain their health. As our population grows, so, too, does the number of people in need of the services of a local pharmacy. Yet, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, pharmacies in the Buckeye State are closing at an alarming rate.

The number of openings of retail outpatient pharmacies peaked in 2015. Then, the trend reversed. In 2016, there were a record number of closings. Closures continued — in 2023 there were 55 closures, and over the following year there were 191.

Using the Ohio Board of Pharmacy’s data, the Capital Journal reported the number of pharmacies in the state at 2,219 in 2015. By 2024, that number had fallen to 1,869. At the same time, Ohio’s population grew by about 2.5%.

In an effort to get a handle on the problem, the Board of Pharmacy developed a new dashboard with plenty of data. On it, residents can dive into a map of pharmacy closures overlaid with mapping data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index. It comes as no surprise that nearly 60% of pharmacy closures occurred in neighborhoods with high and medium-high vulnerability.

The index is developed using 16 pieces of data such as income, employment status, educational attainment, minority status, whether one has health insurance, the availability of transportation and whether members of the household are children or seniors to come up with a score between zero and 1. Lower scores mean lower vulnerability.

In our region, Mahoning County and Trumbull County have medium-to-high social vulnerability index scores. Columbiana County has a low-to-medium score. Just to our north, Ashtabula County has a high score. All four counties have seen their share of pharmacy closures, most notable among those were a number of Rite Aid stores.

So what do we do about it?

Among the challenges are pharmacy middlemen, a federal program meant to benefit hospitals and health centers that treat the poor, staffing problems, and even economic pessimism, drug-pricing expert Antonio Ciaccia told the Capital Journal.

That’s a lot to tackle.

“Having a pharmacy nearby is critical to the health and safety of Ohioans, especially those who depend on prescription medications every day,” Board of Pharmacy Executive Director Steven W. Schierholt told the Capital Journal. “As the pharmacy market evolves in Ohio, it is imperative that we have a tool to help policymakers and local community leaders alike stay up to speed and even get ahead of emerging trends.”

With such a tool to help policymakers wrap their brains around the problem, surely we are a step closer to making sure Ohioans have the pharmacy care they need, close at hand. Now, let’s hope they use it.