KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate

A proposed Arkansas law that would have allowed nonprofit hospitals to hold a retail pharmacy permit narrowly failed in committee Wednesday after more than an hour and a half of discussion and public testimony.

Arkansas is the only state in which the law currently prohibits nonprofit, tax-exempt or governmentally-funded hospitals from holding or acquiring interest in retail pharmacy permits.

Lawmakers have attempted for years to change this via policy proposals that intend to help both hospitals and independently owned pharmacies serve their communities, Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 58, told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

Committee rejects bill to allow nonprofit Arkansas hospitals to hold retail pharmacy permits

*Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate*
Ryan Gehrig (center), president of Mercy Arkansas Hospitals, testifies in favor of a bill that would allow nonprofit hospitals in Arkansas to hold retail pharmacy permits on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. At right is Troy Wells, president and CEO of Baptist Health, who also spoke in favor of the bill before it was voted down by the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

The U.S. Marshals Museum Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Fort Smith museum, will hold its next scheduled meeting on March 7. It will be the first meeting for three new board members — Neff Basore of Bella Vista, Ryan Gehrig of Fort Smith and David Harlow of Loda, Ill.

Basore is senior vice president of residential developer Cooper Communities Inc. in Rogers. He is also a captain in the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, where he commands the Reserve Division and a member of the Arkansas State Police Commission.

Gehrig is president of Mercy Arkansas Communities, leading all Mercy hospitals across the state. That includes its two largest hospitals in Fort Smith and Rogers. Gehrig first came to Mercy as the president of the Fort Smith hospital in April 2012.

U.S. Marshals Museum Foundation welcomes 3 new board members ahead of March meeting