Dougherty Pharmacy

10/15/2025

Medicare Open Enrollment is here through December 7th! This is an important time of year to review your Medicare plan to start 2026 on medicare.gov. As a reminder our pharmacies will not be participating with Humana starting 2026. If you would like to continue to use our pharmacies with your Medicare insurance you would need to enroll with a different plan.

As a reminder there is no longer a donut hole. The maximum deductible in 2026 is $615. The maximum out of pocket is $2100 for the year on your prescriptions. This does not include premium payments.

If you'd like our staff to review your medications and plan options please do not hesitate to ask!

https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment

10/08/2025

Another small town in upstate NY is losing its pharmacy. It’s sad that PBMs are allowed to continue paying pharmacies below cost. It doesn’t make sense that busy businesses with strong community support continue to close for no fault of their own. It’d be nice if our legislators and governor finally stood up to the PBMs and passed the legislation pharmacies have been proposing for years to avoid situations like this.

07/30/2025

This is why PBMs should not be allowed to own pharmacies. They put retail pharmacies out of business through low reimbursements. Then market to those patients to switch to their mail order pharmacy. There’s a clear conflict of interest.

07/17/2025

If a PBM offers our pharmacy a contract that will pay nearly 10% below our cost does that sound like the PBM values our participation in the network? They seem to think so. We think they're living in another universe and obviously declined the offer. This contract even offered annual reductions in reimbursement too just to rub it in even more.

For perspective this would mean if a patient tried to fill a prescription for the very popular GLP1 Wegovy we would lose $126 every month!

06/24/2025

Thank you to those that contacted our state representatives regarding legislation that would force commercial plans to reimburse pharmacies fairly. Unfortunately, the state government ultimately failed to act and pharmacies will continue to regularly be paid far below our cost. Pharmacies will continue to close through out NYS and many communities will lose access to a local convenient healthcare provider. Below is a great article discussing this issue.

Village Apothecary’s Neal Smoller explains how PBMs bleed small pharmacies dry—and why a stalled NY bill could be the lifeline independents need to survive.

06/06/2025

Sadly another pharmacy is closing and this one is close to home. Service Pharmacy recently announced they will be closing their Norwich location July 1st. Their other two remain open. Please help prevent future closures of pharmacies by asking your legislators to force PBMs to fairly reimbursement pharmacies with the "PAPA Bill" using the link below. Better yet if you call them directly that is even more effective. Please and thank you!

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To unite and empower the profession of pharmacy through advocacy, education, networking, and interprofessional collaboration.

05/27/2025

05/14/2025

If you haven't heard already Rite Aid will be closing ALL of their 175 locations in New York State and nearly 2000 across the country. This is nothing Dougherty Pharmacy celebrates. The same headwinds that forced Rite Aid to this decision affect our pharmacies as well. Pharmacy Benefit Managers, PBMs, like Express Scripts, that reimburse pharmacies for prescription medications for your health plan pay us below our cost on a significant number of prescriptions and essentially all brand name medications like Ozempic, Eliquis, and Lantus.

To help prevent further closures of pharmacies please contact your local representatives to let them know we need to pass NYS bill A5882/S5939. It is called the "Commercial Reimbursement Floor Bill". Thank you for your advocacy and support!

-NYS Senator Joseph Griffo 315-793-9072 griffo@nysenate.gov
-NYS Assembly Joe Angelino 607-648-6080 angelinoj@nyassembly.gov
-NYS Assembly Brian Miller 315-736-3879 millerb@nyassembly.gov

Time is also running out for returns and exchanges.

04/08/2025

Please click the link below to let your representatives know you support legislation that will help keep local pharmacies open and bring transparency to the pharmacy insurance industry. Thank you!

https://www.ipcrx.com/legislative-action-center/tell-congress-pbm-reform-creates-savings-for-taxpayers/

03/25/2025

PBMs, like Express Scripts, are middlemen that contract with pharmacies on behalf of health insurance plans. These PBMs get massive rebates, basically kickbacks, from drug manufacturers. Manufacturers have to increase the price of their drugs to keep up with the demand for these kickbacks. This drives up costs for everyone. Bringing transparency to the system can help to eliminate these from driving up drug costs.

Please click the link below to request that your NYS Assemblyman support this transparency. Please update the message body to say you are a resident, not a pharmacist. Thank you!

To unite and empower the profession of pharmacy through advocacy, education, networking, and interprofessional collaboration.

03/21/2025

Did you know many large pharmacies like Wegmans and Kinney Drugs do not fill all your prescriptions at the pharmacy you pick up at? This siphon's away jobs from your community and means less of your money stays local when you use don't use a pharmacy like ours that is filling all your prescriptions locally.

Wegmans wants to lighten the workload for its in-store pharmacists and technicians, and has opened a central location designed to handle most of its next-day prescription refills. The Rochester-based chain

03/20/2025

Spring brings blooming flowers and… allergy season! 🤧 If you suffer from seasonal allergies, we’re here to help you breathe easier this season. Stop by for advice on the best over-the-counter allergy medications and ways to manage symptoms naturally. 🍯💊

02/15/2021

04/30/2017