WILMINGTON — Kratzer’s continues to be your Hometown Pharmacy in more ways than one. And owner Mark Kratzer continues to work for the betterment of all of Ohio’s residents as well as for hometown pharmacies.
Kratzer, along with Marcus Barr of Hometown Pharmacy, opened Barr’s Hometown Pharmacy in Xenia in 2017, marking the fourth Hometown Pharmacy store — along with Downtown Drug in Hillsboro and Town Drug in Sabina which had a grand re-opening in September 2016.
While Kratzer is still affiliated with Barr, he still owns 100 percent of his pharmacy.
Kratzer was also the recipient of the 2018 Ohio Pharmacist Association (OPA) Good Government Award for contributions to the Public through Government and Legislation Service at the OPA’s annual April Convention held in Columbus.
He has been working with State Sen. Bob Peterson and State Rep. Scott Lipps in legislating laws to help combat Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM).
According to Kratzer, PBMs control the benefits of four of the five HMOs for Ohio Medicaid.
He said that in 2017, “They started reimbursing on a non-sustainable reimbursement at or below our costs. Right now there are tough times for all pharmacists and pharmacies in the State of Ohio and nationwide,” he said.
One state he cited was Kentucky which, according to him, is getting hit hard with the practice of using the high Medicaid to take money from not only independent pharmacies but places like Kroger.
“We’re trying hard to reverse that. We have some bills in the House right now that would carve out the HMO Medicaid back to traditional Medicaid which guarantees a better reimbursement,” he said.
With the new pharmacy partner and his award, Kratzer still practices the motto of “treat others how you want to be treated” when it comes to his customers.
“We had a patient come in who needed assistance on his insulin. So, we referred him to Heather’s Hope (Diabetes Foundation) which helps pay for medication for diabetics needs,” he said. “Instead of me making money off his prescription I instead help that patient get their medication for free.”
The insulin was only one example of how they help patients.
“If a patient comes in that has a high co-pay we check to see if there’s a coupon for that. There was one patient who had two items, their co-pay for one was $250 and the other was $260. We found a coupon for they were eligible for. They went from paying almost $500 to paying only about $50 for it,” he said.
The hours at Kratzer’s Hometown Pharmacy are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.
It is located at 179 W. Locust St. in Wilmington. The phone number is 937-382-0081 and the fax number is 937-655-8774.
Visit www.kratzerspharmacy.com for more information.
