Online prescription platform Healthera has confirmed that pharmacy owners can request to have their businesses removed from its directory after numerous people accused it of being “misleading” and “unethical”.
In a LinkedIn post shared last week (December 5), Healthera announced a “major design upgrade” that it said adds “even more valuable content” to its pharmacy listings “for partners and non-partners alike”.
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The changes include a link to each pharmacy’s website, which it said will send “direct traffic” and boost its “SEO presence”, as well as “information on [the] community pharmacy’s service offerings”.
The website also now offers business owners “a clear pathway to adding online ordering and booking functionality to [their] directory page”, the company added.
Opting out
But LinkedIn users again questioned when contractors would be given the “option to opt out of being listed on [the] directory” altogether, with Raylane Pharmacy Group superintendent Kalpesh Patel saying that this is “what we are all waiting for”.
Healthera confirmed that pharmacies can be removed from the directory upon request - but that a know your customer (KYC) process, which involves confirming a person’s identity, is required.
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“To answer everyone’s question - yes, a page can be taken off if requested by the business owner,” the company said.
“However, we don’t tend to receive many requests since most would prefer to keep the online presence or upgrade to a fully functioning online ordering page with one of our partnership plans,” it added.
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It follows Healthera last month amending its online directory after pharmacy owners and leaders accused the company’s “unethical” website listings of “[driving] business away” from non-partner pharmacies.
In response to the complaints, Healthera founder and chief executive Quintus Liu said that the page had been updated so that non-partner pharmacies would “no longer display” an order card, adding that the company “never meant to mislead anyone”.
Contractors said at the time that the changes were “not good enough” and urged Healthera to “do the honourable thing” and remove non-partner pharmacies from the directory altogether.
