内容摘要：When a hospital does stay open in a large rural area where few people live, the facility may not see the number of patients it would need to see to be profitable, said Arrianna Planey, who researches health policy and management at the University of North Carolina.

When a hospital does stay open in a large rural area where few people live, the facility may not see the number of patients it would need to see to be profitable, said Arrianna Planey, who researches health policy and management at the University of North Carolina.

, and Walgreens has cited it as one of the many reasons it closes stores. Drugstores often carry small, pricey items like beauty supplies, batteries and baby formula that are easy to steal and resell, said Burt Flickinger III, managing director of the retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.It can take new pharmacy locations as many as three years to build a customer base and break even, said Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds who follows the industry. That’s tough when customers also are less reliant on drugstores now than in decades past.

He said shoppers buy more things online or during bigger trips to Costco or Walmart, and discount stores look even more attractive when inflation pushes up prices.“I don’t think (consumers are) walking into the pharmacy two or three times a week and doing those little impulse buys in the front of the store as often,” Jonas said.Drugstores say they haven’t forgotten the communities left behind when a store closes. Walgreens, for instance, delivers some prescriptions for free within a 15-mile radius.

But deliveries don’t involve seeing a pharmacist or a pharmacy staff. And pharmacy technicians and others behind the counter often look like their customers or may speak a language that’s dominant in the neighborhood.At least one in six retail pharmacies reported offering services in Spanish, according to the AP’s analysis of pharmacies in 49 states and data from the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs.

That connection can’t easily be replaced “by telling patients, ‘Go to the next pharmacy,’” Adepoju at the University of Houston said.

Craig Jones fills a prescription at Basin Pharmacy in Basin, Wyoming. (AP Photo/Mike Clark)“It was a clean tear, if you want to call it that, so it’s one of those ones that heals ... it’s the more quick-healing version,” Harbaugh said. “Ar’Darius tells me he’ll be back in November. He’s always been a quick healer. I’m looking at November, December in my mind, so yes, we’re counting on him being back.”

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer returned to Florida’s lineupover the Carolina Hurricanes that sent the Panthers back to a third straight Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers lost forward Eetu Luostarinen in the first period of this Eastern Conference final game, though coach Paul Maurice said afterward he expected him to be fine with time off coming before a Cup series against the Edmonton-Dallas winner.Reinhart, Mikkola and Greer had missed Game 4 with injuries, a shutout loss Monday night at home that allowed the Hurricanes to avert a sweep and extend the season.