Dear Investor, I am happy to report that on January 13, 2004, the Phase I requirements of our Prescription Drug Monitoring Pilot contract with the Commonwealth of Kentucky were successfully completed. Under the terms of the contract, the project is divided into three phases: Design, Development, and Implementation. By Second Quarter 2004, we expect all three phases to have been completed and the pilot successfully operational. At that point, an independent consulting team will validate the system, assess the impact on interested stakeholders, and issue findings in Third Quarter 2004. Again, my apologies for the long silence regarding the project status. The Kentucky project is critical to our business plan, as most of the other regulatory states, particularly those in the Rogers Fund program, are watching our progress before making a commitment. Because of our contractual obligations, we cannot be as open in our communications as we have been in the past. We will, however, keep you apprised of major milestones. Best regards, Best wishes, James Kemper Millard President & Chief Executive Officer Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc. 325 West Main Street, Suite 240 Post Office Box 12012 Lexington, Kentucky 40579 VOX: 859.268.4446 eFAX: 419.821.3646
This communication may contain forward-looking statements. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Verified Prescription Safeguards, VeriScrip, and VPS are trademarks of Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc. Envoii is a trademark of Envoii, Inc. ____________________________________________________________________________________ http://www.equitytechnologies-resources.com/pages/275129/index.htm
Updated: Wednesday, August 6, 2003, 4:00 PM EDT Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc., and Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc., Announce Contract Award for Kentucky Prescription Drug Diversion Pilot Program Lexington, Ky. — August 6, 2003 — Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc., (ETCR.PK) President James Kemper Millard announced today that VPS Holding, LLC, a Kentucky limited liability corporation, has been awarded a contract to lead the Prescription Drug Monitoring Pilot Project mandated in House Bill 26 by the 2002 Kentucky General Assembly. “This is just the latest in a consistent set of milestones the Company has met in its efforts to set a new standard — and solution — for the prevention of drug diversion and Medicaid fraud with our provisionally-patented Verified Prescription SafeguardsTM Prescription Drug Monitoring System,” Millard said. Drug diversion occurs when a lawful controlled prescription drug is used for illicit purposes, such as when painkilling medications are sold on the street as substitutes for heroin or cocaine. “The pilot project will be conducted at medical, clinical, and pharmacy facilities in Kentucky’s Perry and Harlan counties on a voluntary basis, under a contract with the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Millard said. “The revolutionary VPSTM technology provides immediate (‘real time’) data delivery when the practitioner writes the prescription and again when it is filled by the pharmacist. The information is conveyed instantly to the regulator. Real-time reporting dramatically reduces an investigation of potential diversion from months to minutes,” Millard emphasized. “In addition, the positive results of real-time monitoring will significantly improve patient care by preventing drug-drug interaction and by eliminating the risk of misread prescriptions, while assuring patient privacy protection and compliance with all HIPAA requirements.” Millard noted that if the state decides to adopt the statewide use of the VPS System after the pilot, this could result in Kentucky saving an estimated $20-30 million annually by reducing Medicaid prescription drug fraud. In making the announcement, Millard said a consortium of companies has been formed under licensee VPS Holding, LLC, to make the bid. In addition to Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc.), the others are Envoii, Inc., a San Francisco, California, software developer whose suite of EnvoiiTM software and services dramatically improves performance, utility, and return on investment of web-based applications, and Computer Information Systems, Inc., a London, Kentucky, consulting firm and solutions provider for information technology. For the purposes of the pilot project, VPS Holding, LLC, will license the technologies from each consortium corporation for a nominal fee. Any benefits or revenues derived from the use of technology acquired by VPS Holding, LLC, will pass through to Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc., and/or Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc., under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement. “Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc. and it’s subsidiary, Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc., assigned all intellectual property rights to the Verified Prescription Safeguards System for controlled substances to VPS Holding, LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company,” Millard explained. “In anticipation of development and funding for the VPS System, VPS Holding, LLC, entered into an Agreement with Envoii Healthcare, LLC. In the absence of any contracts or funding for the project, this was the only viable alternative available. Envoii has been pursuing similar technology in the healthcare industry, and it was practical and prudent to partner with the Envoii Healthcare technology. The manner in which the funding and technology development issues have been structured will beneficially protect both the creditors and the stockholders of Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc., and Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc. Both companies will receive significant revenues from prescription drug monitoring database contracts, as well as revenues from an emerging national electronic health network initiative.” Verified Prescription Safeguards and VPS are trademarks of Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc. Envoii is a trademark of Envoii, Inc. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company’s current expectations regarding future events. While these statements reflect the Company’s best current judgment, they are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ significantly from projected results due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to assumptions beliefs and opinions relating to the business and growth strategy of Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc. and it’s wholly owned subsidiary Verified Prescription Safeguards, Inc., and implementation thereof, based upon the Company’s interpretation and analysis of financial and market conditions, the decisions of businesses with whom the Company is either engaged in business with or negotiating, healthcare industry trends and management’s ability to successfully finance, develop, market, sell and implement its e-commerce and internet solutions, clinical and financial e-transaction services and software applications to physicians, pharmacies, governmental agencies, laboratories, insurance companies, HMOs, and payers. These factors and other risk factors are more fully discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contact: James Kemper Millard, President & CEO Equity Technologies & Resources, Inc. 325 West Main Street, Suite 240 Lexington, KY 40508 (859) 268-4446
Saturday, January 24, 2004 Ohio considers Rx database
Police could track, thwart drug abusers from Kentucky By Jordan Gentile Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS - Ohio lawmakers hope to help police attack a growing black market in powerful prescription drugs with a new statewide database that would track their sales. A bill introduced Wednesday is aimed at halting an increase of "doctor shopping" cases, in which patients visit many doctors to get several prescriptions for drugs like the addictive painkiller OxyContin. In these instances, police often suspect drug abuse or illegal selling. The success of a similar database in Kentucky has made Southwest Ohio vulnerable to people looking to get large amounts of drugs they can no longer get in the commonwealth, says the bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Raga, R-Mason. "We're fine targets," Raga said. "Ohio has the fewest restrictions, so we get the most abuse." Law enforcement officials who investigate doctor-shopping cases agree. Regina Zimmerman, a special investigator for the Cincinnati police, said that as recently as New Year's Eve she tracked $1,600 worth of illicit prescription drug purchases back to a group of people in Kentucky. "They view Ohio as a security blanket," Zimmerman said. "They come over here thinking they can't be tracked." Doctors and pharmacists would use the database to view their patients' past drug purchases before prescribing or filling new medications. They could also add new information to the database so police can keep track of suspicious buying patterns. Officials say those patterns are hard to detect without input from all doctors and drug sellers in Ohio. "We're just hitting the tip of the iceberg," said Tim Benedict, assistant director of the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, which investigates doctor-shopping cases. "There's no formal way of identifying these individuals." While doctors agree a database will help crack down on doctor shopping, some fear the proposed system could be used by police to invade the privacy of people who take prescription drugs legally. Bill Byers, a lobbyist for the Ohio State Medical Association, said his group is concerned that any patient using a drug like OxyContin would be vulnerable to a records search. "It would allow police to go on a fishing expedition," Byers said. But Raga said police already have the right to look into a patient's prescription records at individual pharmacies. He said the database would only coordinate this information and make it accessible to investigators statewide. "Could someone pull your information up?" Raga said. "Yes. But only under an ongoing, approved investigation." Raga first proposed a database more than two years ago, when officials in Southwest Ohio told him that abuse of prescription painkillers was on the rise. The measure stalled in the Senate. Raga said the database would cost nearly $1 million in its first year. A $180,000 federal grant would help get it started. "We spend a lot of time and energy on prescription drug abuse," Raga said. "This will speed up the investigations and put the sellers behind bars."
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