Strategies for Dealing with Not-so-GoodRx

The braintrust running your pharmacy company made a deal with a pharmacy benefit manager and didn't read the fine print. Now you're contracted to accept GoodRx... the same GoodRx that lowers your reimbursements and adds excessive time to the filling process and endangers patients... usually for a few extra bucks.

It's a complete aggravation of epic proportions. Some pharmacists just refuse to take it whether upper management likes it or not. Sooner or later I'm sure these pharmacists will be reading and signing a "warning letter" from The Authorities. Instead of trying to find us more tech hours upper management would rather deal out some punishment to a wayward pharmacist.

But here are a few strategies that's worked for the Crazy RxMan all within the realm of "corporate legality" which you can try:

* Use your in-house discount card and see if it compares to the price offered by Not-so-GoodRx. If it's close enough just tell the patient the price is not guaranteed and most of the time they'll take it.

* If the cost of the medication is low enough, just match the Not-so-GoodRx price and run it as a cash pay for that price. That way Not-so-GoodRx won't get a bloody dime.

* This one works great: "Yes, we do accept GoodRx. Adding it into the system adds a lot of time to processing your prescription so the wait time is one hour. If we use our in-house discount card I can get you out of here in 15 minutes."

* If a patient tries to hand you their cell phone with the Not-so-GoodRx info on the screen, politely decline. Tell them policy prevents you from using a patient's cell phone due to liability issues. You don't have to explain that it's just your personal policy. Ask them to return with a printed coupon. They'll likely just accept your in-house discount.

* If the patient asks you to "put it on Not-so-GoodRx" without giving you any info to do so, just go ahead and use your in-house discount card. They'll never be the wiser.

* If someone comes in with a Not-so-GoodRx coupon and says it's from the doctor, take a moment to call that physician's office and tell them you don't appreciate their unprofessionalism. Tell them we'll handle payment for medication at the pharmacy while they can handle prescribing at their office.

* If a patient presents with a Not-so-GoodRx card and you have the time, ask them how they feel about their private medication profile being collected and eventually shared with an insurer that could potentially deny service based on their medication profile. About half the patients I've had this conversation with then withdrew their intent to use GoodRx.

You can even read your patients the following from the Privacy Policy which is buried on the GoodRx website:

It's warfare, folks, and it's YOU and ME in the trenches, not the corporate dumbasses that signed these agreements. We have to fight and claw our way out of this nightmare to survive. Upper management may be too stupid to see the mess they've created, but by using these strategies you can cut down on the usage of Not-so-GoodRx.