A Case Study in Equity Crowdfunding: Cary Breese, CEO of NowRx (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Where were these customers coming from? What was the customer acquisition strategy?

Cary Breese: We knew that the point of sale or service for pharmacies is inside the doctor’s office. When I was in the doctor’s office, he was the one who decided that I was going to get a prescription. It wasn’t me or the consumer that decides if they are going to get the prescription.

We quickly decided that we would target physicians in the area around the area where our pharmacy facilities are. We started knocking on doors. I went out personally and said, “Hey, I have this idea for a better pharmacy. We are open for business. Here’s the information about it. I can answer your questions regarding the business. We think that this would be great for your patients.”

The insurance company that I worked for had a healthcare insurance operation as well. They are known as one of the top health insurance providers, so I had some knowledge about health insurance. I knew from my research that prescription medications often aren’t taken by the patient.

Oftentimes, patients won’t go to pick them up at the pharmacy. They either think that it’s too inconvenient or expensive. Even when they get the medication at home; sometimes patients forget, and they don’t take it.

This is a huge problem in the health industry at large. The term they use for it is medication non-adherence. This means that the doctor gave them a prescription, but the patient did not take them as prescribed. We knew that there was an upside here and a long-term potential that we could improve medication adherence and drive better health outcomes if we can improve the management of medication.

That was the core of my pitch to physicians as we were meeting with them. Not only is it more convenient for your patients, but they are also going to be healthier at the end of the day. If they don’t have means of transportation, then that’s no excuse with NowRx. We can bring the prescription right to them.

If they don’t have time, that’s no problem either because they don’t have to wait in lines. We can bring it right to their homes or office free of charge. We also have things built in the app to remind them to take their medications at home.

We have a streamlined refill business process. We created a better model. It’s better for patients and physicians. They get better reimbursements if they have a better star rating from Medicare. That’s driven about 95% of our growth.

New customers have been from physician referrals. Patients try it when their doctors bring up the idea to them. We don’t have to pay the doctors anything as well. We are precluded from paying them anything by law. It’s the gift that keeps giving in our business. 

Sramana Mitra: How do you find the doctors to refer you?

Cary Breese: We have some assistance from our McKesson partners. They helped us launch our first pharmacy and provide inventory for our pharmacy. As a part of that service, they also offered marketing data. We can access their database of physicians that prescribe in any area. You can put in a zip code and say, “Get me locations of physicians and their contact information.” I had access to all that data through McKesson. 

Sramana Mitra: You launched in 2016. At what point did you hit upon the physician strategy as a multiplier?

Cary Breese: We hit upon that in the beginning, because we thought about how the prescription originated. We knew that this was going to be the key to our marketing. We started with that from the beginning and it’s continued to be a great source of referral business for us to this day.

It’s just about getting the word out and knocking on doors to meet physicians and their staff. It sounds old school to some people, but we drove around doctor’s offices and knocked on their doors. We introduce ourselves to them that way. We would sometimes buy them lunch and give them a presentation. 

Sramana Mitra: That’s how you built the physician relationship? In person? 

Cary Breese: It is in person. There has to be trust there. They have to know that it’s a real company. They need to make sure that we will take care of their patients. You take care of any issues that come up and you follow through. As long as you do all that, you can earn their trust and their referrals. 

Sramana Mitra: How many physicians are in the business right now?

Cary Breese: We receive prescriptions from more than 3,500 physicians over the last five years. Some physicians give us more patients than others. It’s like the 80/20 rule. 20% of the physicians that we work with probably drive 80% of our customers. We have a wide range of physicians.

Once we establish a relationship with a physician and they refer a patient, that patient may fall in love with NowRx and then go to a different physician in the future and bring NowRx to that physician. The patient can say, “Hey, please send my prescription to NowRx. I used it before, and I like it.”

Even if the physician doesn’t know about it, they can send it to us through their electronic prescription system. There are no different workflows for physicians. Customers are now spreading the word and taking it to physicians whom we have never met before. 

This segment is part 4 in the series : A Case Study in Equity Crowdfunding: Cary Breese, CEO of NowRx
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