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:

Critical access care pharmacies as defined in Section 5-5.12b of the Illinois Public Aid Code;
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;
Retail pharmacies with a physical location in a county in Illinois with fewer than 50,000 residents;
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;
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;
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 31, 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 info@irma.org.

Apply here

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Recently our Hospital District acquired a local retail pharmacy in our community. This program came to our attention, and we were wondering as a Governmental Hospital entity if we were eligible to apply?

If so, could you please provide additional information regarding the program and what the funds can be used for?

A: Eligible pharmacies must meet one or more of the stated criteria which can be found here: https://irma.org/irma-pharmacy-assistance-program/. Funds may be used at the pharmacy’s discretion so long as they increase the availability of pharmacy services in the service area.

Q: I am a pharmacist with an eligible pharmacy located in rural Illinois. I wanted to get some guidance on what our narrative should look like. The use of these funds will greatly impact on our community, and I want to make sure every aspect of the form is filled out appropriately. Can you help provide guidance on what the narrative section should look like?

A: The narrative is an opportunity for the applicant to explain how the funds will be used to increase the availability of pharmacy services in the community. This can be in the form of expanded pharmacy hours, additional staff or community programs. The narrative isn’t meant to be burdensome and can be simple statements like “we will add two hours to our daily schedule for the pharmacy,” or more complex like offering drug counseling to seniors by pharmacists at the local community center.

Q: Are FQHCs (federally qualified health centers) that have their own pharmacy embedded in their health center eligible to apply?

A: Pharmacies must meet one or more of the stated criteria which can be found here: https://irma.org/irma-pharmacy-assistance-program/. The legislation did not specifically address FQHCs, however if the pharmacy meets one or more of the criteria, then it may apply.

Q: What document is preferred for “proof of ownership?”

A: Proof of ownership may be accomplished by providing a digital copy of the entity’s IL Certificate of Good Standing or a screen shot of the business entity’s status found on the Illinois Secretary of State’s Business Entity site https://apps.ilsos.gov/businessentitysearch/.

Q: What document is preferred for “proof of locations?”

A: Proof of locations may be made by attaching a digital copy of the pharmacy license or a screen shot of the pharmacy status page from the IDFPR license look up site https://online-dfpr.micropact.com/Lookup/LicenseLookup.aspx.

Q: If I am not selecting the Medicaid threshold numbers, do I need to provide aggregate Medicaid claims data? Those numbers are rather high and while we are rural, we are more consolidated in Medicare than Medicaid.

A: Applicants need only provide the required information for the qualifying criteria selected in the application.

Q: Will the funds be dispersed based on eligibility or judged on the narrative?

A: Pursuant to the statute, the awards will be equal amounts divided among the successful applicants. The narrative statement is not part of the award criteria, rather it is for reporting back to the General Assembly to support the current and future assistance programs.

Q: Under Section 2, it states, “A Critical access care pharmacy. “Critical access care pharmacy” means an Illinois-based brick and mortar pharmacy that is located in a county with fewer than 50,000 residents and that owns fewer than 10 pharmacies.” With the new definition of a Critical Access Pharmacy, we are included on the PDF list provided but we are in a county with more than 50,000 residents. Is it okay for me to select that my pharmacy is a CAP?

A: If a pharmacy is on the CAP list found on the HFS website, then it may select the that it is a Critical Access Pharmacy on the application. Any other applicable criteria may also be selected.