Cheaper self-pay meds

[Sust]

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I've sat on this for a while now and stared in shock that this hasnt been posted earlier, but i've made a new yr's resolution to not let my feelings about faceless corporations taint some of the benefit they can bring to patient care. Having said that, I have no affiliation with goodrx other than I use it a lot to print coupons for all pts paying out of pocket for meds.

Link to goodrx: http://www.goodrx.com

The good:

1. It breaks down price of medication by pharmacies in specified ZIP code
2. It's unnecessary to have the goodrx card or be a member in order for free coupon to work
3. Provides free coupon or warns of needing pharmacy or store membership
4. Pts can look up their own meds for coupons on their smartphone
5. Said coupon can be a significant price difference(see below lexapro example or check olanzapine price)
6. Can dynamically adjust form/dose/quantity etc
7. Also has nifty pictures of all of the pills if you click on the pill image next to name(I finally saw what the xanax footballs and bars looked like)

[Here's lexapro as an example and here's a post from someone about vicodin]

The bad:

1. The prices listed can sometimes be wrong(rarely in my experience except volatile price for vials of haldol dec) since meds are apparently priced like commodities and subject to the laws of supply and demand.
2. Pts have to be their own advocates in pushing the pharmacy to try and find cheapest price for them which might occasionally include calling the goodrx phone number on the coupon to conversate with pharmacist
3. They suggest prescribing larger doses, but dont tell you which ones should not be cut such as olanzapine

The ugly:

1. It's a corporation and they can do whatever they want with this site such as shut it down if another large enough entity comes around and decides to buy goodrx and then neuter its cost-saving potential
2. Ive met no one(including pharmacists) who could explain what the numbers on the coupon are and how they can leverage such a low cost when theyre not the size of Walmart so it's essentially some funny numbers(or black magic) thus far that can't be reverse-engineered.

Please pass on this site to others including the medicine folk as Im sure that they'd be pleased to hand out cheaper losartan as well as viagra. I'd appreciate input from anyone about things ive messed up or how the heck goodrx works.

 

[PistolPete]

Very nice, thank you!

 

[Shikima]

Thanks for this.

 

[Sust]

I hope people use it. Works great in my free clinic with undocumented immigrants who typically deal in cash only.

Also wanted to add a great centralized listing for big-pharm's Prescription Assistance programs for meds like cymbalta.
I havent had the chance to try the MRI/CT scan discount, but would be interested if anyone can get it to work?