IRMA Pharmacy Assistance Program

The Illinois Retail Merchants Association is pleased to be able to provide the Pharmacy Assistance Program, a funding opportunity pursuant to Public Act 104-0439 Section 605-70. . Illinois retail pharmacies meeting the criteria for assistance may apply for funding by clicking “Apply” at the bottom of this page. Funds awarded by this program are to promote access to pharmacies and pharmacist services.

Who can apply?

Illinois retail pharmacies that meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. Critical access care pharmacies as defined in Section 5-5.12b of the Illinois Public Aid Code;
2. Retail pharmacies with a physical location in Illinois owned by a person or entity with an ownership or control interest in fewer than 10 pharmacies;
3. Retail pharmacies with a physical location in a county in Illinois with fewer than 50,000 residents;
4. Retail pharmacies with a physical location in a county in Illinois with 50,000 or more residents and in an area within Illinois that is designated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services as either:
   1. A Medically Underserved Area, including Governor’s Exceptions; or
   2. A Medically Underserved Population, including Governor’s Exceptions;
5. Pharmacies whose claims constitute 65% or greater for Medicaid services and at least 80% of their total claims are for pharmacy services administered in Illinois;
6. A pharmacy located in an Illinois census tract that meets both of the following poverty and population density and pharmacy accessibility standards:
   1. The census tract has either: (i) 20% or more of its population living below the poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2); or (ii) a median household income of less than 80% of the median income of the nearest metropolitan area; and
   2. The census tract has at least 33% of its population living one mile or more from the pharmacy for urban tracts or more than 10 miles from the pharmacy for rural tracts.

Note: Beneficiaries (pharmacies) may only receive one financial award per fiscal year, regardless of the number of qualifying criteria met.

“Rural tract” means a census tract that is not an urban tract. “Urban tract” means a census tract having its geographic centroid in an urban area, as defined by the Bureau of the Census for the most recent year in which all relevant data to identify food deserts is available. (Public Act 103-0561)

IRMA cannot determine which if any criteria are applicable to applicants. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the selected criteria are met and a certification of same is required to successfully apply.

Application Deadline

Applications will only be accepted through the online application process. The application will be available until midnight March 9, 2026.

Process

IRMA will review the applications after the application period has expired and for those pharmacies which qualify, issue payments to the beneficiary named in the application.

For questions regarding the program or the application please email us at rkarr@irma.org.