Square Care Medical & Pharmacy, 8600 E. Mill Plain Blvd., opened in February 2022 and offers a range of pharmaceutical and wellness services, including medication counseling, immunizations and travel vaccines. Square Care’s owner, Ike Ekeya, said the business is now at risk of closing due to a lack of customers and low insurance reimbursement rates.
“It’s extremely hard not to be emotional for something you have worked so hard for,” Ekeya said. “This project has been my life for the past four to five years and I want to do whatever it takes to keep it alive.”
Ekeya said another challenge Square Care has faced is competing with retail pharmacy chains like Walgreens, Fred Meyer and CVS.
Ekeya is hoping the upcoming respiratory season may boost demand for vaccination appointments and provide a lifeline for the business, but he is tentatively planning to close the pharmacy in December.
“Nationally, things have been rough for independent pharmacies,” Ekeya said. “Reimbursement rates from PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) have been slashed so much, and independent pharmacies are gradually being squeezed out of the business.”
Pharmacy benefit managers were initially formed in the late 1960s to negotiate lower drug prices with drugmakers.
Today, just three pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Caremark of CVS Health, Express Scripts of Cigna and OptumRx of UnitedHealth Group — processed nearly 80 percent of all prescription insurance claims in the drug market.
Ekeya said in his experience, the reimbursement rate for a 90-day supply of a patient’s medication can be as low as 66 cents, which is not enough to cover the cost of the drug, wages and additional operational costs of the pharmacy.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., recently called on her colleagues to pass the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act, which would hold pharmacy benefit managers in the drug market accountable for unfair practices, according to a June news release. The legislation awaits a full vote in the Senate.
In 2023, Washington saw the closure of 60 pharmacies, the news release said.
A recent report by the Associated Press also found that Washington is ranked sixth in the nation for worst pharmacy access, particularly creating deserts for Black and Latino communities.
Before opening Square Care, Ekeya worked as an emergency department pharmacist at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center for nine years.
During his time at PeaceHealth, he noticed the need for a proactive and personalized approach to pharmaceutical care. Ekeya left PeaceHealth in 2021 and opened Square Care a year later.
Rick Cherwitz of Camas began going to Square Care after he and his wife moved from Texas in May.
“We did some research and discovered this independent one here with Ike, and we began corresponding with him. From the beginning, it was so efficient,” Cherwitz said.
Ekeya said he shaped the business to personalize care for each patient and to ensure they understand the use of medications, which is often not prioritized at retail chains.
“We’re going to keep fighting and see if there’s anything we can do to change the trajectory,” Ekeya said.
For more information on Square Care Medical & Pharmacy or to schedule an appointment, visit squarecarerx.com or call 360-583-4633.
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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