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Prescription card mailings raise concern 3 Scrip Relief promises in literature in its mailing that "Your privacy is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act," and that it "will never sell or rent any personal information with a third party." Within the privacy policy on it website, however, the company states that use of its services doesn't create a ".. confidential, or privileged, relationship, or any other relationship that would give rise to any (HIPPA privacy) duties on the part of the Script Relief." Elsewhere the site offers the caveat that it's not responsible for the privacy practices of websites linked to or integrated into its sites "including the sites of our partners " and it states: "We may contact you from time to time about our website, or other affiliated Script Relief services we believe may be of interest to you." In other words, the personal information may be given to related marketing companies, a.k a. LOEB Enterprises, owned by Michael Loeb which identifies itself on its website as "experts at influencing consumer behavior. We combine sophisticated targeting and segmentation with a deep understanding of market dynamics." The company has been involved in three different ventures since it was formed in 1992, its website says: the Synapse Group Inc , which developed a process of automatically renewing annual magazine subscriptions, rather than soliciting renewals every year; Priceline conceived by partner Jay Walker in 1995, as a means of offering consumers discounted airfares and travel accommodations via a "name your own pnce' auction model on the Internet; and Script Relief Buyer beware "There are a variety of (discount cards) out there," said Chellie Ortiz, vice president of operations for the Kansas Independent Pharmacy Service Corporation. "There's no way somebody is going to say, I don't do anything but offer these fabulous cards.' There s got to be a financial benefit, whether its value-added, to make what they re selling look better, or they're charging patients $20 a month, or it's an outside vendor collecting data from the prescriptions and reselling it." Like Kaufman, Ortiz noted that a pharmacy's discounted price is often less than offered by the discount card, and some pharmacies offer their own discount card. "We encourage patients to talk to their pharmacist, to see what options they recommend," Ortiz said. "And look at generics. If a generic can be used, it's often much less expensive than with a discount card." And remember the adage, said both Ortiz and Natalie Goertzen, assistant director at the Reno County Department of Aging: "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." "If people have questions about mail they receive, they can bring the info in and we'll look at it," Goertzen said. "If we're in doubt about its legitimacy, it goes to the police." file:///C:/Users/mpursel/AppData/Local/Temp/XWEPGKR5.htm 1/27/2014 203