Blink Health

Blink Health is an American company that offers an e-commerce platform for prescription drugs.[1]

Blink Health
Type of site
Private
Founded2016
Headquarters
New York City
Founder(s)Geoffrey Chaiken (CEO) and Matthew Chaiken
PresidentVinayak Hegde
IndustryE-commerce, prescription drugs
Employees250
URLwww.blinkhealth.com

History

Blink Health was founded by brothers Geoffrey and Matthew Chaiken in February 2016.[2] Geoffrey is the CEO of the company.[3] The company initially launched its website along with a smartphone app to offer lower drug prices to people with high-deductible medical insurance plans.[4]

Blink initially partnered with MedImpact to connect with pharmacies. However, after Walgreens and CVS left the Blink pharmacy network in 2017, Blink broke off its relationship with MedImpact.[5][6] The company now works with its own network of big grocery pharmacies, including Wal-Mart, Costco, Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway and Publix, and has its own prescription-claims processing system.[3][4]

In 2017, Blink launched a program to provide free antidiabetic medications to patients with type 2 diabetes.[7]

In October 2018, Blink began offering home delivery for its prescription drug service.[8]

Operations

Blink puts prices of drugs online, allowing people to see the price of their prescription and compare it to the price being offered by their medical insurance plan or pharmacy.[9] The company then lets people pay for their prescriptions online and pick them up at a local pharmacy.[10] The company has over 600,000 customers.[3]

Blink negotiates directly with drug manufacturers, such as Eli Lilly and Roche, to offer discounted drug prices by grouping user purchases and appearing to be a large drug-purchasing organization.[11][12][9] It is able to offer lower prices by bypassing middlemen in the prescription drug supply chain.[8]

References
  1. LaRock, Zoë. "Ex-Amazon leaders are hopping aboard pharmacy startup Blink Health". Business Insider.
  2. Gillies, Trent (August 7, 2016). "Blink Health looks to disrupt relentless rise of drug prices". CNBC.
  3. D'Ambrosio, Daniel. "Blink Health Taking On Middle Men To Democratize Drug Prices". Forbes.
  4. Hopkins, Jared S. "E-commerce Expertise Comes to Health Startup Turnaround". WSJ.
  5. Ornstein, Charles; Thomas, Katie (December 9, 2017). "Prescription Drugs May Cost More With Insurance Than Without It" – via NYTimes.com.
  6. Ramsey, Lydia (July 12, 2018). "A pharmacy startup that's raised $165 million in funding has found a new way to lower drug prices for patients paying with cash". Business Insider Australia.
  7. "Blink Health Launches Free Type 2 Diabetes Drug Program in US". Medscape.
  8. "Exclusive: This Startup Wants to Score You Cheap Prescription Drugs. Now It's Offering Home Delivery". Fortune.
  9. Journal, John Tierney is a contributing editor of City; Times, a contributing science columnist for the New York (April 12, 2019). "Disrupting the Pharmacy". City Journal.
  10. Thomas, Katie (February 9, 2016). "New Online Tools Offer Path to Lower Drug Prices" – via NYTimes.com.
  11. "Geoffrey and Matthew chaiken". Forbes.
  12. Williams, Casey (February 12, 2016). "A New App Could Help You Get Cheaper Medicine". HuffPost.
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