Scriptsave Website Analysis

ScriptSave is a prescription program to reduce the cost of prescribed medications for individuals who lack traditional health care insurance or prescription coverage plans. I was drawn in by their altruistic mission, to “serve others as we would like to be treated”, which inspired high hopes for service-oriented values and clear set of service-driven goals and objectives; but my inspiration ended when I pursued their website for more information.

The ScriptSave website is a one-page site that displays a close-up stock photo of a picnicking family consisting of young dad, young mom, and their bright-eyed, pig-tailed toddler. Below the photo, emblazoned with the ScriptSave logo, is a field to enter your group number with a radio button
to “Start Saving”. Subsequent to this required information is an alternative direction for those who don’t know their group number to contact their “plan sponsor” or call customer support. This information alone tells me that in order to learn more about ScriptSave, I need to research other avenues like a parent company or collaborating entities called “plan sponsors”. As a potential customer, this would most likely look like a dead end, since I have no plan sponsor and do not desire to spend my time calling their customer support line. Luckily, the disclaimer located at the very bottom of the website indicates that it is administered by Medical Security Card Co. LLC.

A search for Medical Security Card Co. (MSC) offers a better glance at the supporting company, which boasts savings “up to 75% on all prescriptions at more than 62,000 participating pharmacies nationwide.” Their website also provides a more specific look at their targeted market of “pharmacies, employers, health plans, nonprofits and other organizations.” In analyzing ScriptServe’s mission to “serve others as we would like to be treated,” their supporting agency actually targets mediators or distributors, rather than the individual. The “About Us” page for MSC reveals the company’s intention to “help close the gaps in prescription coverage for the insured, uninsured, and under-insured and their families.”

In my experience working with a human services organization, families who are uninsured or underinsured rarely benefit from, or even know about, discount prescription services. Many of them only visit a doctor or hospital in emergency situations and a majority of those will not obtain prescribed medications based on the expense; instead, choosing to pursue holistic alternatives, self-medicate, or forego medications entirely. Uninsured and underinsured individuals may be listed as the intended beneficiaries of ScriptServe’s services, but their targeted market suggests that they are more concerned about large distributors and profitability than practical service to the individual consumer.

Further research reveals that ScriptServe is the dba of Medical Security Card Co.
(MSC), and that MSC operates as a subsidiary of MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc. (MIHS). MIHS also has additional subsidiaries listed as Home Medical, Inc., Home Approach, LLC., and Home Care in the United States. The MedImpact Healthcare Systems website offers little more than the first two in regards to support of the originating mission. In fact, this website leads to a page stating, “ScriptSave’s mission is to build loyalty and trust between consumers and their community pharmacy by offering innovative product designs and communication strategies that lower cost barriers and improve overall compliance and adherence." After much research between the three websites, I was able to determine that the original ScriptSave mission was developed in 2002 (FranklinCovey 2002), while the above mission was established in 2013, after it was acquired by
MIHS.

This later adaptation seems a more fitting mission than the original, and contains language and priorities that are more appropriate to the target market of pharmacies and health care mediators.
In the FranklinCovey Case Study (2002), cardholder demographics are listed as “virtually all are over the age of 50, and 80% are over the age of 65.” It would seem that the large banner photo of the young family on the ScriptSave website does not reflect the target demographic served by its parent company at all. The original mission of ScriptServe to “serve others as we would like to be treated” would indicate that they are far removed from the unclear, confusing nature of their company’s priorities to the average layperson. I do, however, believe that the new business-centric mission is far more appropriate to their targeted market and business goals to “deliver innovative products and services that better manage drug expenditures, improve health outcomes and, ultimately, increase customer satisfaction” (2013). According to this updated mission, increasing customer satisfaction is the ultimate result of obtaining the aforementioned priorities, which is more aligned with the objectives and targeted market for discount pharmaceutical
services.