A bill signed into law late last month aims to increase pharmacy access in rural communities across Maine. L.D. 239 directs the Maine Board of Pharmacy to adopt rules for the licensing and regulation of retail pharmacy remote dispensing sites no later than June 2026.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Brad Farrin, said in testimony that allowing retail pharmacies to operate remote dispensing sites “addresses a critical need for improving access to prescription medications in rural areas while maintaining the necessary safeguards.”

A Maine Monitor analysis of state pharmacy licensing data last year found that a tenth of Maine pharmacies closed between 2013 and 2024. These closures hit rural communities particularly hard, with some counties losing more than a fifth of their pharmacies.

Farrin, a Republican whose district covers wide swaths of rural Somerset, Kennebec and Penobscot counties, added that while mail order pharmacy services are helpful in some situations, they are not the solution in situations where “acute medications,” like antibiotics, need to be picked up quickly in order to avoid serious health issues.

“In many rural areas, it’s not financially possible for a full-service pharmacy to stay open, but a remote dispensing site that provides essential acute medications could make a huge difference,” he said. “It would save Mainers hours of travel time and help them start their medications on time.”

What exactly a “remote dispensing site” will look like or how it will operate will be determined by the Maine Board of Pharmacy, which licenses and regulates pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

The bill Gov. Janet Mills signed into law on May 29 states that the pharmacy board rules “must, at a minimum, require a demonstration that the geographic area in which the remote dispensing site is to be located lacks adequate access to retail pharmacy services for the general public.”

Penny Vaillancourt, director of the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation, said that the pharmacy board will develop a timeline to implement the legislation and propose draft rules over the coming months, but that it was too soon to comment on what those rules may look like.

Current rules require that retail pharmacies must be open a minimum of 40 hours a week and must have a pharmacist on duty at all times, unless a location receives a waiver from the board.

Model rules drafted last August by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, of which Maine is a member, defined a remote dispensing site as a location where “drugs are maintained and prescriptions are filled by a certified pharmacy technician,” who dispenses drugs under the remote supervision of a pharmacist.

A retail pharmacy that obtains a license to operate one of these sites would be considered the “supervising pharmacy” and must, among other requirements, maintain a common record-keeping system and have a pharmacist on duty available for patient or caregiver counseling via telehealth at all times.

Independent pharmacies, typically a lifeline in many rural communities, have shuttered at a higher rate than chain pharmacies such as CVS or Walgreens. Where just about 3 percent of chain pharmacy locations have closed in the decade leading up to 2024, nearly 31 percent of independents have shut their doors.

Washington County, which saw the steepest decline in the number of pharmacies statewide, had just nine pharmacies in operation as of February 2024, a 44 percent decline compared to 2013. All four pharmacies that closed in the preceding decade were independents.

The Monitor found that overall, 10 Maine counties had fewer pharmacies in 2024 than they did in 2013. Just three counties –– Lincoln, Piscataquis and Waldo –– saw new pharmacies open during that time period.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.