I'm sure the fine will be a real deterrent. Just like the fines have deterred Amazon to stop their anti-union practices. I wonder if we will ever see some antitrust measures ever again, or if it is just going to be a free for all from now on.
> GoodRx will be prohibited from sharing user health data with applicable third parties for advertising purposes, and has agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty for violating the rule.
Meanwhile, GoodRx's revenue in 2021 was $745 million.
So basically, they got something roughly akin to a speeding ticket.
So if the fine were even remotely as impactful as a speeding-ticket is to a normal person then GoodRX would have just earned 3 penalty points on their business-license, have substantially higher business indemnity insurance costs, and once they hit enough points and caught doing-business-while-impetuous (DWI) again then the state would seize their business and crush it under a tank[1] and those at the wheel would be behind bars.
Somehow I doubt anything remotely close to that will happen to GoodRX and its management when this inevitably happens again.
I'm not sure the FTC will be Amazon's primary regulatory concern in this instance. And HIPAA is just the start. The FTC really is the least of your concerns once you start playing in healthcare on a diagnostic level.
Full disclosure, I've exited a diagnostic medical imaging software company and have been through the regulatory proctology exams that are 510(k) and HIPAA.
It's been less than 48 hours since the FTC fined another high-profile healt-tech startup for selling patient data to advertisers, including Facebook and Snapchat: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/02/...
HIPAA provides some very basic protection, but nowhere near what most people think it does, and nowhere near enough.
It applies in very specific situations, and it can be surprising where it can be circumvented.
Not sure whether these FTC statements are routine whenever global megacorps gobble up smaller companies, or whether they're issued based on past performance of the companies in question.
"The Federal Trade Commission issued a statement Feb. 27 warning Amazon and One Medical that it must keep healthcare data safe and is prohibited from using it for advertising or marketing purposes.
Amazon said it would not share One Medical patients' personal health information to sell other Amazon products, and the FTC said the company must uphold that statement.
'Companies that fail to abide by the commitments and representations they have made to consumers can violate Section 5 of the FTC Act,' the FTC wrote.
The FTC also said both companies must make it clear on how they will use protected health information as defined by HIPAA, as well as how Amazon will use One Medical patient data for purposes 'beyond the provision of healthcare.'
Amazon completed its $3.9 billion acquisition of virtual and in-person primary care company One Medical on Feb. 22."
Becker - https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/disruptors/ftc-warns-a...
FTC Statement in full - https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2210191amazonon...