GoodRx is rolling out a new feature in its Provider Mode platform that will make it easier for healthcare providers to find lower costs of prescription drugs based on their patients’ insurance coverage.
The real-time benefit check tool, or RTBC, will provide “seamless” access to patients’ insurance co-pay information, the company said.
Combining insurance co-pay information with GoodRx coupons and drug manufacturer savings programs, RTBC aims to help providers gain better visibility into how prescription drug prices vary and what options are the most cost-effective for patients.
“Physicians are often frustrated by sending a patient to the pharmacy without knowing if their insurance is going to cover [the drug] and how much [it will be],” said Akeel Williams, GM of GoodRx’s provider vertical and vice president of strategy and operations. “It’s akin to rolling the dice around coverage, cost and affordability.”
RTBC was developed in collaboration with patient solutions provider AssistRx.
GoodRx initially launched Provider Mode last year as a platform designed for HCPs. With Provider Mode, physicians can use a cost comparison tool that compares drug prices across drug classes, zip codes and pharmacies. It also allows doctors to pass along GoodRx coupons to patients directly.
RTBC builds upon that by adding prescription insurance information to the mix. Williams noted that RTBC has been at the “top of the list” of GoodRx’s planned updates to Provider Mode.
“When we go out and ask providers and physicians: ‘What are your top feature requests, what’s your top need, what do you need from GoodRx?’ RTBC has led the pack,” Williams explained. “Seven out of 10 providers who use GoodRx request RTBC, easily making it our most requested feature.”
To access RTBC, physicians can log into Provider Mode and input four pieces of patient information – name, date of birth, gender and zip code – to check their insurance coverage. Once HCPs find available GoodRx coupons for eligible patients, they can share them with patients using a QR code.
GoodRx is also hoping RTBC will be useful for pharma companies who want to reach audiences at the moment in the provider and patient journey where they are choosing the best drug options – and lower script abandonment.
“We’ve had good, positive feedback from testing in the pilot rollout,” explained Williams. “Providers are constantly giving us new use cases of how they’ll use it in their workflow, and they see a tremendous value in it.”
Still, there’s more to be done to build upon RTBC, Williams noted.
“We’ll leave no stone unturned to find a way to make it work better,” he added. “We’re taking this marriage of a consumer-first tech platform in GoodRx with a health care-focused platform of AssistRx – and bringing that into focus for our patients and providers. I think there are boundless possibilities of where we could go next.”
