On March 1, Modernizing Medicine—an electronic health records and data analytics company—announced that it had entered into a business collaboration with GoodRx, a supplier of pharmaceutical pricing information from more than 70,000 pharmacies to consumers. As part of the new partnership, Modernizing Medicine’s EHR, EMA (Electronic Medical Assistant), will interface with GoodRx’s systems to provide doctors with real-time information on pricing information for thousands of drugs nationwide.
Jason Weisstein, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and medical director of orthopedics at Modernizing Medicine explained to OTW what this new business arrangement will mean to physicians and their patients, “The high cost of prescriptions continues to be a national concern, and far too often patients leave their doctor’s office with no sense of what their medication will cost.”
“Modernizing Medicine is collaborating with GoodRx to provide an easy solution for orthopedic surgeons to know in the exam room what their patients should expect to pay at the pharmacy if they are private pay. GoodRx also provides such patients the opportunity to compare prices at their local pharmacies and even receive coupons to help them save more money.”
“This comes at just the right time: the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on drug pricing, which found that about 1 in 10 patients (11.4%) did not take their medication as prescribed because of the out-of-pocket cost of medications.”
“The high cost of prescriptions not only affects those without insurance, but also those with insurance who find themselves with a high deductible plan or prescribed an off-formulary prescription. As a practicing physician myself, I’ve had patients with high-cost-sharing plans that skip vital medications because they can’t afford their copays or deductibles. This may result in poor health outcomes and increased long-term costs for chronic or degenerative conditions.”
“The collaboration between GoodRx and Modernizing Medicine will help accomplish the following goals. First, it will deliver pricing information in-app, at the point of prescribing, for the patient’s preferred pharmacy (if designated) and multiple local competing pharmacies, doing the comparison shopping for the patient in an instant. Second, it will identify and offer coupons that may be available to further lower the out-of-pocket cost to the patient.”
“Ultimately, it comes down to quality of care and helping patients. Doctors want to give patients access to accurate and up-to-date pricing information and discounts if available for the drugs they need to reduce the likelihood that their patients either skip prescriptions or don’t take them as directed due to cost.”
“This collaboration will help enable orthopedic surgeons to provide their patients with timely drug pricing intelligence at the point of care. Connecting orthopedic surgeons with up-to-date pricing intelligence and possible discounts on thousands of drugs at nearly every pharmacy in the United States can help patients afford the prescription medications their doctor feels is optimal for them.”
“This is just one way that Modernizing Medicine continues to enhance prescription drug management and has improved the patient experience with EMA and Practice Management in the modmed orthopedics suite. With EMA, physicians can also view a patient’s entire prescription history, generate ePrescriptions for controlled substances and identify potential drug interactions, helping to improve education, avoid prescription errors, and enhance communication with patients.”
