At Pharmacy Marketplace, we’re committed to helping independent pharmacies thrive. But the truth...
Get Out of the Pharmacy Spiral
"The Impossible Choice: How the Pharmacy Spiral is Killing Independent Pharmacies (And What You Can Do About It)"
Every independent pharmacy owner knows the spiral. You've lived it hundreds of times.
A prescription comes across your counter. You run it through your system. And there it is reimbursed below your cost.
Now you're stuck with an impossible choice:
Turn the customer away and risk losing not just that prescription, but every script for that patient and their entire family.
Eat the loss and watch your gross profit erode, one claim at a time, until your margins are gone.
Search the secondary market for a cheaper alternative, sacrificing time, energy, and the valuable rebate dollars tied to your primary wholesaler agreement.
Each path feels like a gut punch. Each decision drains a little more life from you and your pharmacy.
And then it happens again. And again. And again. Does this sound familiar to you?
The Doom Cycle Threatening Independent Pharmacy
This isn't just your problem. It's happening right now in all 19,000 independent pharmacies across the country.
The spiral doesn't just hurt pharmacy owners, it threatens every stakeholder in the drug supply chain. Manufacturers lose reliable distribution partners. Wholesalers see contracted volume disappear. Pharmacies bleed margin and close doors. Patients lose access to their trusted community pharmacist.
The result? Volatility. Pharmacy deserts. Communities left without care.
What If This Didn't Have to Be the Case?
Here's the truth most pharmacy owners don't realize yet: You don't have to accept this spiral anymore.
State legislation and technology solutions have fundamentally changed the game. There's finally a way to navigate the complex waters of PBM reimbursement and come out ahead.
Path 1: Stop Eating Losses on Commercial Claims
The Old Reality: Commercial fills reimbursed below cost were just part of doing business. You filed appeals that went nowhere. You gave up. You accepted the loss.
The New Reality: Losses on commercial fills are now recoupable if you follow the right process to appeal underwater claims. States like Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma have enacted laws requiring PBMs to reimburse at or above acquisition cost.
The problem? Most pharmacies still aren't participating because the manual process is overwhelming.
Pharmacy Marketplace makes appeals manageable through simple, automated workflow. The software reads all eligible claims automatically, organizes appeals by state requirements, streamlines documentation and submission, automates timeline tracking so nothing falls through, and tracks your success rate and recovery.
Riggs Drugs in LaFollette, TN submitted 250 appeals in 3 weeks with nearly 100% success rate after giving up on appeals 5 years ago.
"I don't stress about claims showing a loss anymore, because I know I'll be able to submit an appeal through the Marketplace website and they'll help me get my money back."
Path 2: Source Smarter Without Sacrificing Rebates
The Old Reality: When you needed a better price or faced a shortage, you had a no win situation: call 5 different wholesalers manually, purchase inefficiently and risk breaking compliance with your primary, or give up and take the loss.
The New Reality: Drug sourcing is seamless through intelligent software that manages both your primary wholesaler agreement and secondary wholesale options.
Pharmacy Marketplace shows you what to buy (AI-driven recommendations based on your actual dispensing patterns), when to buy it (real-time pricing across multiple NABP-accredited suppliers), and how to stay protected (guardrails that manage the KPIs your suppliers grade you on).
You get the best price available while maintaining compliance with your primary wholesaler contract. No more guessing. No more manual price comparisons. No more accidentally breaking compliance and losing rebates.
Path 3: Prove Market Access Or Lack Thereof
The Old Reality: PBMs rejected your appeals claiming you had "market access" to cheaper alternatives. You had no way to prove otherwise.
The New Reality: With Pharmacy Marketplace's credible supplier network, you can definitively prove what was or wasn't available to you at the time of dispensing.
When a PBM claims you had access to a product at their MAC rate, you can refute with invoice-level documentation showing acquisition cost, real-time availability from NABP-accredited suppliers, and proof that the PBM's claimed "alternative" wasn't available.
This validation is what makes appeals successful and what state insurance commissions need to enforce fair reimbursement laws.
Having a few credible secondary suppliers isn't just about saving money. It's about having the ammunition to fight back when PBMs lie about market access.
One Seamless Platform. Complete Protection.
Pharmacy Marketplace digests your personal store data and gives you the best course of action from a gross profit perspective automatically.
For Purchasing: Real-time pricing across primary and secondary wholesalers. AI-driven recommendations from Athena analyzing 200,000+ items. Compliance tracking with your primary contract. Rebate projections before you place orders.
For PBM Appeals: Auto-identification of underpaid claims. State-specific workflow and forms. Timeline tracking and deadline management. Direct submission to PBMs and insurance commissions.
For Margin Protection: Invoice-level validation. Market pricing verification. Success rate tracking. Revenue recovery reporting.
All in one platform. Built by pharmacy owners, for pharmacy owners.
You're Not Helpless to the Pharmacy Spiral Anymore
The tools exist. The laws exist. The opportunity exists.
What's missing? Pharmacies who decide they're done accepting underpayments as inevitable. Pharmacies who are ready to fight back with data, automation, and state law on their side. Pharmacies who refuse to let PBMs dictate whether they survive or close.
Take Back Your Pharmacy's Future Today
Stop turning patients away. Stop eating losses. Stop sacrificing rebates to find decent pricing.
There's a better way.
Pharmacy Marketplace gives you revenue recovery through automated appeals, smarter purchasing that protects compliance, real-time data to prove market access, and peace of mind that you're maximizing every opportunity.
The spiral ends when you decide it ends.
Ready to Break Free?
📅 Schedule a Demo See how Pharmacy Marketplace helps you recover revenue, optimize purchasing, and protect margins all in one platform.
📞 Questions? Call us: 800.958.5540 Email: info@pharmacymarketplace.com
Join the Pharmacies Already Winning
"Finally, a platform that brings real dollars in real time. The dollars that we shouldn't have to work for at all. No more turning patients away. No more incomplete patient profiles. Continuity of care matters!! Pharmacy Marketplace delivers!" — PHD Pharmacy, Cleveland, TN
"I never could've imagined submitting MAC appeals would be this easy or successful until I started using them." — Riggs Drugs, LaFollette, TN
