New Service Provides First Real Change to Discount Prescription Drug Card Model in 15 Years
Healthcare Reform may have muted effect on high cost of prescription drugs, but one Florida company has added a new twist to an old idea that could save up to 90% off some prescription drugs
Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) December 29, 2009
Healthcare reform will do little to reverse the upward trend in prescription drug prices which have doubled in 10 years, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Controlling runaway costs through process change and application development is what Genuity Group (http://www. GenuityGroup. com) of Sarasota, FL does best and it is not waiting for reform to change things.
The company's new online resource -- called BetterRxCard (http://www. BetterRxCard. com)- provides a fresh take on the old discount prescription drug card programs with several new features designed to help more consumers save more money on more drugs at more pharmacies.
The BetterRxCard reduces the cost of expensive drugs for the uninsured, underinsured and --for the first time in 15 years-- insured consumers with high co-pays.
"BetterRxCard provides two ways to beat the high cost of drugs. First, it is a free discount prescription drug card program supported by most U. S. pharmacies (http://betterrxcard. com/Features/participating-pharmacies. html) providing up to 70% off the cost of generic drugs (http://betterrxcard. com/Features/drug-discounts. html)," said David Smith, director of Product Marketing at Genuity Group.
"Second, consumers may elect to use Genuity's EquivaMeds service which reduces costs on many brand name drugs taken for chronic conditions. This is especially important now since healthcare reform does not address increasing prescription drug costs," he said.
Several reports seemed to suggest that the healthcare reform bill will fall short of meaningful prescription drug price reform. A report by Reuters said that the Obama administration was moving forward on drug reimportation as a separate way to lower drug costs. Meanwhile, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association claimed on its website that healthcare reform would drive Medicare patients to higher cost drugs.
Discount prescription drug cards, which originated in the early 1990s, help reduce costs on generic drugs, but discounts on costly brand name drugs have been disappointing for uninsured and underinsured.
EquivaMeds works using a distinctive database of medication classes and costs that represent the various medications physicians can prescribe for similar conditions. This patent-pending process identifies many more options and savings opportunities than the typical brand-to-generic comparison methods and is the first advanced price control tool provided with a discount drug card program in 15 years. Some substitutes saved consumers up to 90% and last year the average consumer saved $893.
Another innovation announced was the mobile pharmacy application, initially designed for the Apple iPhone. The tool provides a search capability with mapping, address, phone and directions for all 59,617 pharmacies in the BetterRxCard pharmacy network including Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens, Target and Rite-Aid.
Other features of the service include deep drug discounts of up to 70%, printable and pre-activated cards, and the ability to use the card for many pet medications.
The free BetterRxCard is available nationwide today. For a limited time, Genuity Group is providing a 75% discount off the one-time fee of $19.95 for EquivaMeds and a savings guarantee of at least $120. To take advantage of this special offer, users can visit the site to download a BetterRxCard free discount prescription drug card (http://betterrxcard. com/Print-a-Card. aspx).
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