GoodRx explained

GoodRx Holdings, Inc.
Type:Public
Founders:Trevor Bezdek
Doug Hirsch
Scott Marlette[1]
Hq Location City:Santa Monica, California
Hq Location Country:United States
Num Locations:2
Num Locations Year:2019
Num Employees:777[2]
Num Employees Year:2021
Area Served:United States
Revenue: $745.4 million (2021)

GoodRx Holdings, Inc. is an American healthcare company that operates a telemedicine platform and free-to-use website and mobile app that track prescription drug prices in the United States and provide drug coupons for discounts on medications. GoodRx checks drug prices at more than seventy-five thousand pharmacies in the United States.[3] The platform allows individuals to consult with a doctor online and obtain a prescription for certain types of medications at a cost of US$20, regardless of insurance status. Medical testing services, which vary in price, are also offered through the platform.

In 2017, the website received about fourteen million visitors a month.[4] As of February 25, 2020, "millions of people" had downloaded the GoodRx app.

History

GoodRx was founded in Santa Monica, California, in 2011. In 2017, the company announced partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies to negotiate lower prescription drug costs.[5] In September 2019, GoodRx acquired the telemedicine company HeyDoctor and rebranded the telemedicine platform as GoodRx Care.[6] In 2021, GoodRx acquired the health video company HealthiNation.[7]

In October 2022, GoodRx launched Provider Mode which allows healthcare providers to use the app to compare costs of drugs for patients based on different payment methods and drug alternatives.[8]

GoodRx began its partnership with CVS Caremark in July 2023 to automatically apply coupons to insured CVS customers purchasing generic prescriptions at certain locations.[9]

In April 2024, GoodRx Gold added Publix into their network. Now, across the southeast, GoodRx Gold members can use their cards at Publix Pharmacies to save money on their prescriptions.[10]

Key people

The Santa Monica-based startup was founded in September 2011 by Trevor Bezdek and former Facebook executives Doug Hirsch and Scott Marlette.[11] [12] [13] [14] Marlette was one of the first 20 employees at Facebook and built Facebook's photo application.[12] In 2005, Hirsch was the Vice President of Product at Facebook, working closely with Mark Zuckerberg.[13]

Controversy

On February 25, 2020, Consumer Reports published an article stating that GoodRx shared user data—specifically, pseudonymized advertising ID numbers that companies use to track the behavior of web users across websites, the names of the drugs that users browsed, and the pharmacies where user sought to fill prescriptions—with Google, Facebook, and around twenty other internet-based companies.[15] A few days later, GoodRx released a statement claiming it had made changes to prevent user search data on medical conditions and pharmaceuticals from being shared with Facebook.[16] In March 2020, GoodRx stopped sending data about users' prescriptions to Facebook.[17]

On February 1, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission fined GoodRx US$1.5 million for violations of the Breach Notification Rule and the Federal Trade Commission Act for allegedly failed to obtain specific, informed, and unambiguous consent from users before disclosing health-related information[18] to Facebook and Google.[19] [20]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: CNBC.com Staff. CNBC 2019 Disruptor 50. May 15, 2019 . CNBC. May 15, 2019.
  2. Web site: GoodRx 2021 10-K. sec.gov . 3 May 2022.
  3. Web site: Money, drugs, and the medical practice: Can physicians benefit from helping patients reduce prescription costs? – Continuum. Carecloud. March 2018 . en-US. March 20, 2018.
  4. News: Thomas. Katie. New Online Tools Offer Path to Lower Drug Prices . New York Times. February 9, 2016 . May 18, 2017.
  5. Web site: Morgan. David. Inside Rx aims to lower high prescription drug costs . CBS News. May 8, 2017 . May 18, 2017.
  6. Web site: Heather Landi . Tech GoodRx acquires telemedicine company HeyDoctor to add virtual healthcare services . FierceHealthcare . December 25, 2019 . September 27, 2019.
  7. Web site: GoodRx to acquire health video company HealthiNation forever and $75M in cash . April 20, 2021 .
  8. Web site: GoodRx adds patient insurance information to drug cost platform for providers . 2024-04-12 . Healthcare Dive . en-US.
  9. Web site: GoodRx adds patient insurance information to drug cost platform for providers . 2024-04-15 . Healthcare Dive . en-US.
  10. Web site: Cohen . Howard . April 8, 2024 . Publix just rolled out a new way to cut prescription costs. It involves a new card . April 9, 2024 . Miami Herald.
  11. Web site: Mcusic. Teresa. Where to turn online to save money on prescription drugs . Star Telegram. May 18, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170517152826/http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/teresa-mcusic/article150221567.html. May 17, 2017.
  12. Web site: Dickinson. Boonsri. These Ex-Facebook Guys Want To Help You Find Cheaper Drugs . Business Insider. May 18, 2017.
  13. Web site: Empson. Rip. GoodRx Grabs $1M+ From SV Angel, Founders Fund & More To Help You Find Cheap Prescription Drugs. February 19, 2012 . TechCrunch. May 18, 2017.
  14. Web site: Lazarus. David. Making it easy to comparison shop for prescription drugs . Los Angeles Times . February 24, 2012 . May 18, 2017.
  15. Web site: GoodRx Saves Money on Meds — It Also Shares Data With Google, Facebook, and Others . Thomas Germain . Consumer Reports . March 6, 2020. April 22, 2020.
  16. Web site: GoodRx and Data Privacy . GoodRx. February 28, 2020. April 22, 2020.
  17. Web site: Germain . Thomas . GoodRx Stops Sending Prescription Data to Facebook . Consumer Reports . March 6, 2020 . 17 September 2022.
  18. News: Calascibetta . Thomas M. . Examining the FTC's GoodRx Case and the Growing Risks of Improper Data Collection and Processing . 7 April 2023 . The National Law Review . Chuhak & Tecson P.C. . 21 March 2023.
  19. Web site: Discount prescription company GoodRx fined $1.5 million for sharing sensitive user info . Dudek, Mitch . Chicago Sun-Times . February 1, 2023 . February 1, 2023.
  20. Web site: Weatherbed . Jess . 2023-02-02 . FTC fines GoodRx for sharing user health data with Google and Facebook . 2023-02-03 . The Verge . en-US.