West Central Tribune - 11/29/2006
RENVILLE — A Renville pharmacist who fought for federal legislative reforms to protect independent, rural pharmacists has reached an agreement to sell her business.
“I just can’t do it anymore,’’ said Leah Seehusen, owner of Leah’s Pharmacy in downtown Renville. She said the frustrations of dealing with private insurance and Medicare reimbursement systems that work against independent, rural pharmacists proved “overwhelming.”
Thrifty White Drug, a Maple Grove-based drugstore chain, will purchase Seehusen’s pharmacy and store on Dec. 20, according to an agreement she reached with the company.
In what may be a sign of things to come, Thrifty White Drug has obtained state permission to open a telepharmacy operation in the store to replace Seehusen, a registered pharmacist.
Two technicians will continue to staff the in-store pharmacy. Prescriptions will be reviewed by a pharmacist at a remote site. A satellite link will be used, Seehusen said.
A similar model has been working in North Dakota at a number of rural pharmacies since 2003. Minnesota has also allowed Thrifty White to implement the system at some of its Minnesota stores.
Seehusen said the acquisition by Thrifty White Drug and the introduction of telepharmacy will mean that Renville area residents can continue to obtain pharmacy services in their hometown. It also means that the store will remain a part of the community’s business sector. All of its employees have been offered opportunities to continue in their jobs, she added.
Seehusen has owned and operated the store for more than 13 years. A graduate of the Olivia High School, Seehusen said she had wanted to own a business in a rural community even before she wanted to be a pharmacist.
Her dream soured in recent years. Seehusen said that the new Medicare Part D program and private insurance providers have continued to squeeze rural pharmacists. Rural pharmacists realize as little as $1 to $2 reimbursement for many of the prescriptions they fill, she said.
Rural pharmacists are not able to make up for the small margins with a greater volume of sales, she said.
At the same time, the job of a rural pharmacist has become much more demanding. Provider contracts and regulatory changes have imposed multiple layers of paperwork and added responsibilities, Seehusen said.
She brought her case to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn. She said the senator was sympathetic to the plight of rural pharmacists, but things have not improved. The new Medicaid Part D program is worse for pharmacists, she said. She charges that more of the revenue is being siphoned to third-party pharmacy benefit managers, and not the pharmacists who actually serve consumers.
Seehusen said she does not expect change until consumers become mad enough to demand change.
With the sale of her store, Seehusen will become an employee of Thrifty White Drug and serve as a relief pharmacist for its stores in the area.
Her longer-term plans call for exploring her options and possibly moving her family to a new location. A wife and mother of two children, ages 10 and 6, Seehusen said the demands of running a rural pharmacy interfered greatly with family life. “There’s more to life than working this hard,’’ she said.
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