Cone Health has announced plans to buy three small pharmacies in Reidsville.
Officials say they've reached an agreement to acquire Carolina Apothecary, Belmont Pharmacy and Rx Care.
It’s part of a growing trend of consolidation in health care. Economist Tina Marsh Dalton with Wake Forest University says deals like this can help companies cut costs.
“Because the idea is that if you're going to negotiate for prices, the bigger that you are, the more clients you have, or the more enrollees, or the more patients, the more leverage you have in the negotiation," she says.
But she cautions that consolidation doesn't always lead to savings for consumers. She points to research on hospital mergers showing that when competition decreases, prices can actually rise.
“Because we've essentially created a monopoly, and monopoly pricing tends to push prices up," she says.
In a release, Cone officials said “competitive pricing” will continue after the acquisition. They said the deal will also help them better coordinate patient care and offer long-term care pharmacy services for the first time.