The economic realities of rural pharmacy practice.

Rural pharmacy practice is characterized by difficulties in recruiting and retaining pharmacists, demanding workloads and financial pressures that exceed those felt by pharmacies in urban areas. There is little optimism that these harsh realities will soon ease, given the shortage of pharmacists, high drug costs, and leverage by third-party payers. These realities should create concern among policy-makers for the economic viability of rural pharmacies and for the continued ability of pharmacists to provide health care services to residents of rural and frontier communities.