FTC Charges Prescription Discount App GoodRx for Allegedly Selling Personal Health Data to Big Tech

This episode of There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch…

If you’re among the estimated 55 million Americans who use the prescription discount app GoodRx, have you ever wondered how the app’s developer makes money? GoodRx Gold promises a lot more than you think. “deeper discounts” Standard app is free for prescriptions that have a minimum of $10 monthly.

GoodRX, then, is it just a placebo? “Good Samaritan”? Nope, not even close — nor should it be. But it It does not seem that fair and full disclosure should be provided, particularly when it comes to users’ personal health data.

As reported By the New York TimesOn Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission accused a developer GoodRx Holdings of sharing sensitive personal health data on millions of users’ medications illnesses, with hypocritical social media companies like Facebook and GoogleWithout authorisation

The FTC claims that GoodRx violated a federal law that required fitness trackers and apps to notify users when their data was compromised. The company agreed to settle the case. However, the company has denied the allegations and insists that it has not admitted guilt.

Incidentally, why settle if you’re innocent of charges–other than bad publicity?

What about? HIPAA, The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act The personal health information entered into apps and searched online is different from data collected by doctors or hospitals. It is not covered HIPAA is the law that regulates health information access and privacy, raising the obvious question: “Why not?”

Here’s more, via the NY Times:

GoodRx’s crackdown comes at a time of increased concern about the leakage of sensitive health information, especially in states that have severely restricted or banned abortions. And it underscores the F.T.C.’s intensifying efforts to push digital health services to beef up their user privacy and security protections.

The F.T.C.’s case against GoodRx could upend widespread user-profiling and ad-targeting practices in the multibillion-dollar digital health industry, and it puts companies on notice that regulators intend to curb the nearly unfettered trade in consumers’ health details.

[…]

From 2017 to 2020, GoodRx uploaded the contact information of users who had bought certain medications, like birth control or erectile dysfunction pills, to Facebook so that the drug discount app could identify its users’ social media profiles, the F.T.C. In a legal complaint.

You should know the details in the last paragraph.

According to the complaint GoodRx also targeted users who searched for information about sexually transmitted disease. “HeyDoctor,” the company’s telemedicine service, with ads for the site’s STD testing services. FTC regulators stated that those data disclosures were contrary to public promises made by the company. “never provide advertisers any information that reveals a personal health condition.”

Oops.

Under the proposed settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge, GoodRx would be permanently prohibited from disclosing users’ health information for marketing purposes and would pay a $1.5 million fine for breaking the law requiring the protection of personal health data. health breach notification. The FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule states:

The Rule requires vendors of personal information and related entities to notify consumers in the event of a breach that involves unsecured data. If a service provider to these entities suffers a breach, the entity must notify it, and in turn, consumers. The Final Rule specifies the content, timing and method of notification. In the case of certain breaches involving more than 500 people, notice must be given to the media.

If my hunches are correct, the GoodRx revelation may be the tip of the iceberg in exposing the multibillion-dollar digital healthcare industry’s targeting of the personal health information of users. As I said at the top, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, gang. Except for “free” Of course, Democrat handouts.

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