GoodRx pays $1.5 million to settle health privacy claims

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. healthcare company GoodRx Holdings has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle allegations that it failed to tell customers it was sharing personal health information with Google Alphabet, Meta’s Facebook and others, the Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday.

Under the terms of the settlement, GoodRx will not be able to share users’ health data with other companies for advertising purposes.

“Digital health companies and mobile apps should not profit from consumers’ extremely sensitive and personally identifiable health information,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Office of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.

GoodRx, which has seen more than 55 million people use its website or app in the past six years, is a platform that offers drug discounts while collecting health information from users and their pharmacy benefit managers.

GoodRx promised users it would never share health information with advertisers, but provided information to Google, Facebook, Criteo and others, the agency said in its complaint.

GoodRx said in a statement that the settlement issue was resolved three years ago before the agency began its investigation.

“We do not agree with the FTC’s allegations and do not admit any wrongdoing. Reaching the settlement allows us to avoid the time and expense of prolonged litigation,” the company said in a statement. communicated.

The settlement is the first under the FTC’s health breach notification rule, the agency said.

Under the regulations, the company is also required to limit how long it retains personal and health information and publicly post the retention schedule, the agency said.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Josie Kao)

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