Intermountain closes 25 of its 26 retail pharmacies, refers patients to CVS

Intermountain Healthcare plans to close 25 of its 26 retail pharmacies in Utah by August, citing declining business and a new deal with CVS Health.

The health system will only keep its pharmacy at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City open as a home delivery, retail, and specialty pharmacy for the area’s residents.

Inventory and patient files from the 25 shuttered facilities will be transferred to CVS Health as part of an agreement. CVS Health promised consumers uninterrupted access to their medications and normal pharmacy services.

“Every effort will be made to ensure patients and employees are well cared for during this transition,” said Nannette Berensen, vice president and chief operating officer at Intermountain Shared Clinical Services.

The closing of these pharmacies come as a result of “changing consumer preferences” and declining business from the community, she said in a statement last week.

Approximately 250 employees will be laid off, according to a local news report. The pharmacies lost $6 million from January to May, and $11 million in 2020.

Primary Children’s pharmacy will remain open because many of the medications prepared at the hospital are not readily available at other retail pharmacies in the community.

Intermountain said it doesn’t plan on closing pharmacies serving patients in its 35 hospitals.