Community Corner

Walgreens Decision Means Some Customers in O'Fallon Must Fill Prescriptions Elsewhere

Express Scripts customers who get their medications at the Walgreens in O'Fallon have until Jan. 1 to choose a new drug store.

Visit the Express Scripts website press room and you won’t find an announcement about the decision by Walgreen’s to stop filling prescriptions for the pharmacy provider network based in North St. Louis County. You will find the news on the website for the national drug store chain, based in the Chicago area.

This quote from a Walgreens press release points to a breakdown where many contract negotiations often come to an impasse: money.

“Walgreens is committed to providing quality, convenient and cost-effective pharmacy services to our patients, but we cannot continue to deliver these services under the terms and rates Express Scripts offered. As the largest retail provider in their pharmacy network, we were surprised by Express Scripts’ ultimate stance during our talks, which made it clear to us that they no longer had an interest in continuing a meaningful relationship.”

Quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Express Scripts CEO George Paz said:

“It is shocking to us that Walgreens would back away from the table with six months to go in the current agreement, especially considering that negotiations are part of the normal course of business.”

More on the pharmacy feud


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