CVS Caremark Partners with GoodRx to Expand Access to Low-Cost Medicines

CVS Care Marka pharmacy benefits manager and part of SVC Healthannounced its partnership with a drug cost and telehealth company GoodRx to launch Caremark Cost Saver, giving Caremark members access to lower cost prescription pricing from GoodRx.

Starting January 1, 2024, Caremark members can use their existing benefit card at a network pharmacy of their choice to automatically access GoodRx’s low-cost generic medications through Cost Saver. The amount members pay will be applied to their deductible expenses and disbursements.

“We work every day to provide a more affordable pharmacy benefit to our CVS Caremark customers and their plan members, and this collaborative prescription discount solution allows us to dynamically seek out the best price on their behalf,” David Joyner, vice-president executive chairman of CVS Health and president of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. “By reducing out-of-pocket expenses for our customers’ members, Caremark Cost Saver will help patients afford to take their medications as directed.”

THE GREAT TREND

In February, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court of California alleging GoodRx shared consumers’ personal health information with third parties like Google and Facebook, allowing those parties to use the data for their own internal purposes.

The FTC claimed that GoodRx provided information about its users’ prescription drugs and health conditions for advertising purposes, such as targeting users with health-related ads on Facebook based on the medications they had. previously purchased.

The agency also said GoodRx misrepresented its HIPAA compliance and failed to establish policies on how it should protect its users’ personal health information.

GoodRx agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine to settle the case, but admitted no wrongdoing.

In 2022, the The FTC issued orders to CVS Caremark, Prime Therapeutics, Express Scripts and several other companies in its investigation of the impact of pharmacy benefit managers on the accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs. The orders required companies to provide information and documents regarding their business practices.

In May, the FTC added CVS Health Zinc Health Services Group Purchasing Organization and return the contracting organization Ascent Health Services to its list of PBMs that it reviews.