Which means that as far as patient privacy is concerned, GoodRX has no integrity and its reputation is deservedly destroyed.
This is a "lawyer" response.
It will not keep GoodRX from being sued. It will not reduce the liability. But saying this, is an absolute indication that this is a classic non-apology and failure to take responsibility.
Recall, specifically, that a Facebook user discovered that their medication information was in Facebook because GoodRX had put it there.
To classify this as no-wrongdoing is intellectually dishonest. Especially when GoodRX itself previously categorized this mistake as "not living up to our own standards". Note that this link is to a blog post that GoodRX has since taken down. Not a good look to declare now that you did nothing wrong, when you previously admitted that you had done something wrong, and then you took down that blog post. The url for that blog post now forwards to GoodRX privacy policies (i.e. the privacy policies that they failed to honor, which is what got them in hot water with the FTC)
Again, quoting from that now-deleted blog post: "For this we are truly sorry, and we will do better. "
So this letter on the privacy problems is a redaction of the previous position which was "Yeah we were sharing data with Facebook.. we should not have been.. we will stop doing that, and we are sorry".
GoodRX could have chosen to notify all of its users of this problem at that time, but chose not do so, putting it in violation of the FTC breach notification rule.
So no matter how you cut it, this is an example of wrong-doing, GoodRX did mess up, and they have never taken full responsibility for their mistakes. Indeed what little responsibility they have taken, this article largely unwinds.
GoodRX does a valuable and critical service for patients. I will continue to recommend it to patients. But I will state, clearly, that GoodRX will sell patient data in unethical ways, and that this is the decision that patients need to make as the decide whether to have discounted medications or privacy.
GoodRX current position is that patients must choose one or the other. Privacy or affordable medication. Not both.
-ft