Pharmacies taste dose of managed health care

Like other health-care providers, retail pharmacies are feeling the effects of a cost-conscious health-care system.

Managed-care companies have put the squeeze on pharmacies in their effort to control skyrocketing costs for medication and now dictate what kinds of drugs are dispensed and how they are priced.

Big chain pharmacies rely on volume to keep them profitable in the face of stricter controls, but smaller, independent pharmacies find it harder to remain viable in a more frugal health-care system.

Ed Horejs has worked in the pharmacy business in Fort Collins for almost 20 years. The former owner of Northern Pharmacy partnered with Steele’s…