GoodRx files to go public with a rare characteristic: Profits

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mentos

mentos

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"
  • GoodRx helps consumers find deals on their prescription medicines.
  • The company filed to go public on Friday.
  • Unlike other companies in the recent spate of IPO filings, GoodRx has been consistently profitable since 2016."
This is the company that's killing pharmacy right?
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mentos said:

"
  • GoodRx helps consumers find deals on their prescription medicines.
  • The company filed to go public on Friday.
  • Unlike other companies in the recent spate of IPO filings, GoodRx has been consistently profitable since 2016."
This is the company that's killing pharmacy right?
Click to expand...
PBMs are what’s killing pharmacy
The way I understand, GoodRx just takes a piece of cake out of PBM’s profiT
 
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Pronounce Doxazosin said:
PBMs are what’s killing pharmacy
The way I understand, GoodRx just takes a piece of cake out of PBM’s profiT
Click to expand...

Shows how much profit PBMs take if GoodRX only takes a small slice and is still profitable.
 
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Gotta say I never would have guessed they would bring in $500 million in revenue by the end of the year.

I'm definitely interested when it goes public.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
Gotta say I never would have guessed they would bring in $500 million in revenue by the end of the year.

I'm definitely interested when it goes public.
Click to expand...

Will it feel weird to support a company that's parasitic to our profession?
 
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mentos said:
Will it feel weird to support a company that's parasitic to our profession?
Click to expand...

Personally I want the customer to always get the best price.

Let's be honest, Walgreens has horrible cash prices and really needs to update them. There's some dirt cheap meds that are way too high but they also want everyone to join their savings club.

Walgreens is also rarely the best price on goodrx too though.
 
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wagrxm2000 said:
Personally I want the customer to always get the best price.

Let's be honest, Walgreens has horrible cash prices and really needs to update them. There's some dirt cheap meds that are way too high but they also want everyone to join their savings club.

Walgreens is also rarely the best price on goodrx too though.
Click to expand...

They have to keep them high to capture maximum reimbursement. If the U&C is below reimbursement max, the PBM only pays the lowest price.

Discount cards were never a huge problem before because they were just the negotiated rate of one insurance company. So there were places where profit could be made as the reimbursement of some drugs was still pretty good and enough to outweigh the prices that were really bad to the point of losing money. With GoodRx, they do a metasearch of a several PBMs and they only give the end user the prices that either lose money or give you like 8 cents of profit. And the pharmacy has to take the card because they have contracts with all of these PBMs that require them to honor the cards. The PBMs don't really give a damn because they see it as free side hustle money. The pharmacy is left holding a bag of ****.

It really is incredibly unfair, TBH. I mean, sure, to hell with our corporate overlords, but it really is unfair. I couldn't imagine being an independent pharmacy and having to deal with this.
 
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Who ever said the U.S. has the "best" health "care" delivery (non)system is delusional
 
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WVUPharm2007 said:
They have to keep them high to capture maximum reimbursement. If the U&C is below reimbursement max, the PBM only pays the lowest price.

Discount cards were never a huge problem before because they were just the negotiated rate of one insurance company. So there were places where profit could be made as the reimbursement of some drugs was still pretty good and enough to outweigh the prices that were really bad to the point of losing money. With GoodRx, they do a metasearch of a several PBMs and they only give the end user the prices that either lose money or give you like 8 cents of profit. And the pharmacy has to take the card because they have contracts with all of these PBMs that require them to honor the cards. The PBMs don't really give a damn because they see it as free side hustle money. The pharmacy is left holding a bag of ****.

It really is incredibly unfair, TBH. I mean, sure, to hell with our corporate overlords, but it really is unfair. I couldn't imagine being an independent pharmacy and having to deal with this.
Click to expand...

Oh I get that but I assume the price it shows in the history is the actual reimbursement we get and it's not even close to the cash price. Is there an insurance that pays extremely well on it and that's the reason we keep it so high? Maybe, but I think most of the time it's just outdated from when it was still an expensive generic.

I'll try to find a good example today.

I don't believe we lose money on most scripts through discount cards but i also can't see the amount we pay the pbm

Independents could probably give way better examples then I could find though with the limited information I have.
 
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wagrxm2000 said:
Oh I get that but I assume the price it shows in the history is the actual reimbursement we get and it's not even close to the cash price.

I'll try to find a good example today.

I don't believe we lose money on most scripts through discount cards
Click to expand...

What the patient pays as a “co-pay” isn’t the net reimbursement the pharmacy gets to keep. Money can get clawed back through
 
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PharFromNormal said:
What the patient pays as a “co-pay” isn’t the net reimbursement the pharmacy gets to keep. Money can get clawed back through
Click to expand...

Yeah I know that's why I added an independent probably can see more info then what I'm limited to. It's also why a lot of independents match the goodrx price without billing it.

Hopefully someone will give examples better then what I find today.

It's also why I said Walgreens rarely has the best price on goodrx.

Just want to add my beef is with some of the cash prices on dirt cheap meds that needs updated

I'm not pro PBM just want better prices.
 
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Wonder when they will bring in discount cards for dental/ physician offices.

Actually they already have for dental but it hasn’t gotten any significant momentum.
 
wagrxm2000 said:
Yeah I know that's why I added an independent probably can see more info then what I'm limited to. It's also why a lot of independents match the goodrx price without billing it.

Hopefully someone will give examples better then what I find today.

It's also why I said Walgreens rarely has the best price on goodrx.

Just want to add my beef is with some of the cash prices on dirt cheap meds that needs updated

I'm not pro PBM just want better prices.
Click to expand...

Some insurance plans will pay a lot of money on obscure medications. For example, the $4 generics at Walmart basically resulted in a lot of lost profit since they could not bill for more than $4 even though insurance was often willing to pay more (especially $4 levothyroxine).

In the case of Goodrx and Goodrx GOLD, the price is so low that it's basically pointless (from a business perspective) to fill some medications. Goodrx GOLD doesn't take as much from the pharmacy (upfront), but the patient's copay on some of the most common medications aren't even worth filling. Think $3.50 for 90 Fluoxetine 20 caps. Not to mention that patient's pay $10 a month to Goodrx.

Eg: amlodipine 10 mg 90 DS. Patient pays $10.98 and $8.00 of that goes too Goodrx. Sure amlodipine is dirt cheap and the pharmacy still makes ~$2, but what has Goodrx done to deserve 70%+ of the claim.
 
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wagrxm2000 said:
Oh I get that but I assume the price it shows in the history is the actual reimbursement we get and it's not even close to the cash price. Is there an insurance that pays extremely well on it and that's the reason we keep it so high? Maybe, but I think most of the time it's just outdated from when it was still an expensive generic.
Click to expand...

I suppose we don't know for sure if it's laziness/legacy pricing or reflective of actual reimbursements unless we are at corporate and saw the numbers.


[/QUOTE]
 
Thestrugglez said:
Eg: amlodipine 10 mg 90 DS. Patient pays $10.98 and $8.00 of that goes too Goodrx. Sure amlodipine is dirt cheap and the pharmacy still makes ~$2, but what has Goodrx done to deserve 70%+ of the claim.
Click to expand...
To be fair, capitalism is 90% figuring out how to make other people do all the work and you lay in the cut getting paid.
 
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Thestrugglez said:
Some insurance plans will pay a lot of money on obscure medications. For example, the $4 generics at Walmart basically resulted in a lot of lost profit since they could not bill for more than $4 even though insurance was often willing to pay more (especially $4 levothyroxine).

In the case of Goodrx and Goodrx GOLD, the price is so low that it's basically pointless (from a business perspective) to fill some medications. Goodrx GOLD doesn't take as much from the pharmacy (upfront), but the patient's copay on some of the most common medications aren't even worth filling. Think $3.50 for 90 Fluoxetine 20 caps. Not to mention that patient's pay $10 a month to Goodrx.

Eg: amlodipine 10 mg 90 DS. Patient pays $10.98 and $8.00 of that goes too Goodrx. Sure amlodipine is dirt cheap and the pharmacy still makes ~$2, but what has Goodrx done to deserve 70%+ of the claim.
Click to expand...

You could technically take the other side and say if the pharmacies just gave normal prices we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

What should the margins be on average? 20%? A lot of generics are way over that.
 
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wagrxm2000 said:
You could technically take the other side and say if the pharmacies just gave normal prices we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

What should the margins be on average? 20%? A lot of generics are way over that.
Click to expand...
Idk what prices are at Walgreens, but we have a lot of $5 or $10 maintenance meds. I always aim to use discount cards that take 0 to 0.50 from the pharmacy if cash price isn’t reasonable.

20% on generics honestly isn’t enough to mitigate the cost of operations + Part DIR fees on brand names
 
Thestrugglez said:
Idk what prices are at Walgreens, but we have a lot of $5 or $10 maintenance meds. I always aim to use discount cards that take 0 to 0.50 from the pharmacy if cash price isn’t reasonable.

20% on generics honestly isn’t enough to mitigate the cost of operations + Part DIR fees on brand names
Click to expand...

I believe Abilify is the med I'm thinking of. Both Walgreens cash and goodrx are over $200. Pretty sure we buy it cheaply though.

It's like $10 with Kroger
 
wagrxm2000 said:
I believe Abilify is the med I'm thinking of. Both Walgreens cash and goodrx are over $200. Pretty sure we buy it cheaply though.

It's like $10 with Kroger
Click to expand...

And the profit from that generic offsets the losses from other generics. Do you not know any independent pharmacy owners? They tell me all the time that GoodRx is a negative income generator for them. They have to beg their customers to take their GoodRx discount scripts to chain pharmacies so they won't lose money. At least that's what they tell me.
 
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WVUPharm2007 said:
And the profit from that generic offsets the losses from other generics. Do you not know any independent pharmacy owners? They tell me all the time that GoodRx is a negative income generator for them. They have to beg their customers to take their GoodRx discount scripts to chain pharmacies so they won't lose money. At least that's what they tell me.
Click to expand...

So you are perfectly fine with Walgreens making $200 on it?

We buy it for $1.50

If an independent wants to charge $10 that's fine but $200 plus is too much.

I was told most independents just match the price which isn't a negative income generator.
 
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If Goodrx is listing a price of $10, that means the pharmacy probably gets $2-$3. If you factor in labor, supplies, etc even if the drug costs $1.50, your 33-100% return is probably a net negative or at best you break even.

There are other discount cards out there that take 0, 50 cents, or 1-2 dollars that gives customers $10-$15 price and allow pharmacies to make a decent profit.

Price matching has a different issue (I was told) since it leads to PBMs potentially decreasing reimbursements on those meds.
 
Thestrugglez said:
If Goodrx is listing a price of $10, that means the pharmacy probably gets $2-$3. If you factor in labor, supplies, etc even if the drug costs $1.50, your 33-100% return is probably a net negative or at best you break even.

There are other discount cards out there that take 0, 50 cents, or 1-2 dollars that gives customers $10-$15 price and allow pharmacies to make a decent profit.

Price matching has a different issue (I was told) since it leads to PBMs potentially decreasing reimbursements on those meds.
Click to expand...

That doesn't answer my issue. So it's ok that Walgreens charges $200 for a $1.50 drug?

The price matching issues seems like just an excuse. How would the PBM even know the independent isn't billing but instead price matching?
 
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Discount cards are easy money since most companies are willing to pay you $1 per claim. You know the parent company is making even more which is evident from the article. What are their expenses anyway? Advertising and sending out physical cards? It's a genius business model.
 
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Since they are cutting into my slice of the pie, I’m going to become an investor so I can get back some of what we are owed. Play both sides of the coin to win.
 
I’m definitely playing their IPO. IPOs have been on fire recently. Investors also love any company that has a good subscription model (such as Goodrx Gold) since that means the money will keep flowing in.
 
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Why didn't any of the chain pharmacies make their own discount cards? It can't be a conflict of interest issue since they own PBMs.
 
owlegrad said:
Both chains have their own “savings clubs” or some such.
Click to expand...
They have done these but I believe it has at times messed with their Part D reimbursement as it changed their usual and customary pricing.

I found a link. I’m surprised to find there is a website called Pharmaceutical Processing World.:smack:
www.pharmaceuticalprocessingworld.com

Walgreens to Pay Feds and States $60m in Largest-Ever Settlement by a Pharmacy Chain for Overcharging for Drugs - Pharmaceutical Processing World

www.pharmaceuticalprocessingworld.com www.pharmaceuticalprocessingworld.com
 
Gombrich12 said:
Why didn't any of the chain pharmacies make their own discount cards? It can't be a conflict of interest issue since they own PBMs.
Click to expand...

Because it's illegal for the most part.
 
One good thing about people using GoodRx and not using insurance is not having to do BS MTM calls.
 
msweph said:
So you have this as a side hustle??
Click to expand...

Discount cards? Definitely not but I've been approached by some companies asking me to sign up. They pay $1 per claim up to 500 claims in a month then it goes up to $1.25 after that.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
They have to keep them high to capture maximum reimbursement. If the U&C is below reimbursement max, the PBM only pays the lowest price.

Discount cards were never a huge problem before because they were just the negotiated rate of one insurance company. So there were places where profit could be made as the reimbursement of some drugs was still pretty good and enough to outweigh the prices that were really bad to the point of losing money. With GoodRx, they do a metasearch of a several PBMs and they only give the end user the prices that either lose money or give you like 8 cents of profit. And the pharmacy has to take the card because they have contracts with all of these PBMs that require them to honor the cards. The PBMs don't really give a damn because they see it as free side hustle money. The pharmacy is left holding a bag of ****.

It really is incredibly unfair, TBH. I mean, sure, to hell with our corporate overlords, but it really is unfair. I couldn't imagine being an independent pharmacy and having to deal with this.
Click to expand...
We dont take goodrx. I explain to all patients wanting to use goodrx how much of a fraud they are, patients end up just paying for our regular price.
 
VA77 said:
One good thing about people using GoodRx and not using insurance is not having to do BS MTM calls.
Click to expand...
Another good thing about goodrx app is, now it shows the regular cash price for all pharmacies lol now i know how much they all charge and we can price our drugs accordingly.
 
owlegrad said:
Both chains have their own “savings clubs” or some such.
Click to expand...
Yes, but they don't have their own discount cards. Why didn't one of the chain pharmacies buy GoodRX? Seems like the data you would acquire and marketing opportunities would've been perfect for a walgreens/cvs
 
Gombrich12 said:
Yes, but they don't have their own discount cards. Why didn't one of the chain pharmacies buy GoodRX? Seems like the data you would acquire and marketing opportunities would've been perfect for a walgreens/cvs
Click to expand...

I don't think there was any chance a company that was already profitable would sell.

Doug Hirsch and Trevor Bezdek are about to become very wealthy men.

Unless they screw things up, this will become a 100 billion market cap company.

Obviously Medicare for all would destroy them.
 
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I always thought it's breach of contract to charge a cash price that is less than what we charge insurance for for same drug. But discount cards are a loophole to get around that. No idea if it's true or not.
 
Maybe I'm just stupid and/or exhausted after a Monday, but pharmacy reimbursements, PBMs, discount cards, patient care calls, and everything in between are all bull$hit. The whole pharmacy system is broken and needs to be reworked from the ground up. We can have our online group therapy sessions and banter back and forth about prices or what's legal, but at the end of the day, the pharmacy must make a profit to stay in business and it's crazy to even fathom that retail pharmacy actually loses money by dispensing a drug. I'm all for removing these third party blood suckers and selling a drug at a percentage or flat rate above acquisition costs even if that means sacrificing my hourly pay.

I work for a chain and if they suddenly decided to pay me $30/hr but I could rest assured that my job would be secure because my pharmacy was making a decent profit on each prescription, I'd take it. I didn't join this profession for the money. I jumped an this ship to provide drug information and help people who who need it without having to look at their blood and guts. I do not want to screw anyone over whether it be the patient, corporate, drug manufacturers, or my own ideals. My take is that RX insurance, which was originally designed to help those in need, is now a siphon to collect pharmacy profits and needs to be undone.

But then again, maybe I just need to go to bed...
 
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ValeRx said:
"partnered with GoodRx"

"The Kroger Rx Savings Club provided by GoodRx, Inc saves users up to 85% from the pharmacy's usual and customer price, as calculated on projected claim volume. "
Click to expand...
I joined it. The prices are better than goodrx. Maybe it's like having good rx gold?
 
TikiTorches said:
I joined it. The prices are better than goodrx. Maybe it's like having good rx gold?
Click to expand...

That's because the exclusivety deal with Kroger means they send back fewer fees to the PBM. You paid the same price as before but GoodRx isn't free so the fee is passed onto you.
 
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