New Mexico ranks low in some pharmacy categories, study finds

May 18—From pharmacists per capita to the availability of drug and drug store closures, New Mexico didn't fair well in a recent pharmacy study.

A new study takes a closer look at the U.S. states facing the biggest pharmacy challenges. Unfortunately, the study by Universal Drugstore ranked New Mexico 2nd among states with the biggest pharmacy shortages.

According to Universal Drugstore: "With a score of 8.13 out of 10, New Mexico has the second-highest pharmacy shortage in the United States. On average, there are just 11 CVS drugstores per 1 million population, meaning residents may find it less convenient to access their prescriptions. Moreover, the state saw a massive — 8.56% — decline in pharmacy jobs by 2022, making it one of the top five states to do so."

Although New Mexico isn't listed among states with the most drugstore closures, (that would be Pennsylvania, California and New York, respectively), it came in fifth for states with the highest decline in pharmacy jobs from 2021 to 2022.

Cheranne McCracken, New Mexico Board of Pharmacy executive director, questioned the study's conclusions and said in an email that it used an invalid methodology.

Regarding the study's reported drop in NM pharmacy jobs from 2021 to 2022, McCracken said, "pharmacy employment per 1,000 jobs going from 2.430/1,000 to 2.222/1,000 jobs does not necessarily mean that there are less pharmacy jobs."

McCracken said there could be an increase in other job types that make up the numerator .

New Mexico was also ranked 10th among states with the least pharmacists in 2022 in the study. That's 86.1 pharmacists per 100,000 population.

Doubtful, says McCracken.

"The number of pharmacists in New Mexico from 2020 to 2024 has been relatively stable," McCracken said. "Regarding the pharmacy shortage, I question the soundness of their methodology. ... They used the number of CVS stores to estimate the total number of drugstores per state."

Dale Tinker, outgoing executive director of the New Mexico Pharmacists Association, said when it comes to business pressures on pharmacies in the state, the onus likely falls on health plans, which he said reduced reimbursement. But Tinker said there's hope on the horizon.

"Reimbursement will be turning around with the change in the Medicaid contract, which takes effect in June and requires changes in the pharmacy reimbursement structure, especially to New Mexico-based independent community pharmacies," he said.

He said most plans are including reimbursement to pharmacies for the clinical services provided and that will help the financial structure of pharmacy operations.

And the number of pharmacists serving the state is expected to grow anyway.

"The enrollment at the College of Pharmacy has increased each year for the past few years," he said.