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Pork Reforms not mentioned by the American ?More Pork? Reform Association, why do hospital's advertise?

By Steve Lombardi

Consider the policy of medical service providers wanting tort reform measures to save money. The policy is to make severely injured patients pay for the cost of medical mistakes that they had no fault in committing. The health care workers make the mistakes and the patient gets to pay. Manufacturers want the same gravy train from financial responsibility. They make or import crappy products from third world factories and you, the consumer pays. It's just more pork for those already taking multi-million dollar bonuses while running the source of our pay checks right into the ground.

Does this make sense or is this illogical? Let's consider the evidence on hospital's advertising. Today let's focus on how hospitals could save money but choose otherwise. Let's examine how our health care dollars are being spent and you can ask yourself if it's a wise investment towards better more affordable health care.

I often wonder why hospitals advertise. With all this talk of tort reforms to save money an explanation is necessary as to why it's necessary that they advertise. Do the hospital CEO's think we need to be told that if we're having a heart attack that the hospital has an emergency room? I've never taken a poll but my guess is that most adults that can read the English language already know the hospital has an emergency room.

I opened up my latest version of Newton Magazine, a very nice local monthly publication edited by Jonathan Brickman that is targeted to one particular suburb of Boston. The ad on the inside cover is about an orthopaedic service offered by Newton Wellesley Hospital in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital. Page four has a full-page ad about diabetes from the Joslin Diabetes center. Page seven has a full page ad about heartburn and other digestive disease treatments at BIDMC. Then, of course, there are the smaller ads sprinkled through the magazine from practitioners in cosmetic dentistry, ophthalmic services, varicose veins, plastic surgery, concierge primary care, in-vitro fertilization, acupuncture, psychology, home care, assisted living, and cord blood banking. But for this post, let me focus on the hospital ads.

ON ADVERTISING, Running A Hospital Blog

I'm going to go out on a limb. If I had to guess hospitals advertising on billboards, in magazines and on television have to pay. What do you think? What do you believe; is it cheap or expensive to advertise? Is this a good use of tax and insurance dollars?

Who do you think pays for hospitals to advertise?

Nonprofit Hospitals Get Wealthy Fast, but Don't Share Much, BNET Healthcare, April 12, 2008

Last week, a page-one WSJ story revealed the dirty little secret of some nonprofit hospitals — they have grown very very wealthy, very very quickly. (The article itself, titled 'Nonprofit Hospitals, Once For the Poor, Strike It Rich,' is visible via this Google News link, but otherwise behind a paywall.) The 50 top nonprofit hospitals racked up net income of $4.6 billion in 2006 (no, that's not a typo), versus a little more than $500 million in 2001.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xPp2FYB2J0

Once again consider the policy of medical service providers wanting tort reform measures to save money. The policy is to make severely injured patients pay for the cost of medical mistakes while Fox is reaping the benefits of hospital advertising dollars. This policy doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Essentially we are asking those catastrophically injured to pay for hospitals to advertise. Is that the policy we wish to advance or is it simply a matter of a CEO's ego driving public policy?

Have you ever considered the competition between hospitals trying to encourage the same sick or injured patients to pick one hospital over another? They advertise with veiled innuendos about whey their hospital is the better one. Allow me to write the ad copy for what I consider to be a really good hospital ad under this current public policy.

The Top Ten Hospital Ads

1. 'Pick us! Pick us! We have sharper needles!'

2. 'When you're in the ambulance and it's time to choose where to go, pick Our Hospital because we don't kill as many patients.'

3. 'Have you ever seen the infection rates at Other Hospitals in town?'

4. 'Only the devil would choose XYX Hospital. We treat only saints.'

5. 'Our doctors can read and spell! Think of how nice your chart will look!'

6. 'If you die in our hospital you'll be closer to the funeral home.'

7. 'Our ambulances have air-conditioning and new shocks!'

8. 'Our ambulances hardly ever break down!'

9. 'Our hospital requires all ambulance drivers to have a license to drive!'

10. 'Most of our patients leave the hospital alive!'

Let's not forget hospitals and health insurance carriers go hand in hand to the ad agency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkcgJwirhoU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohpiB4_ezPg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPibcB1Rego

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a189xAYBRv8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R41MtBhKrbE

Here is how I feel about my tax dollars being used to pay Fox, CBS, NBC and all the others for hospital ads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFSEpm6_-dI

Here are some of the ads I'd create.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkyP6LEIvlY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPlqhw8AoQI

The UK spends $50 million on hospital chaplains.

Why does the ATRA and the Chamber of Commerce pick not on the waste in the system that can easily be eliminated, but on those injured by professional mistakes? From my standpoint this is disgracefully intended to line the pockets of CEO's who already are taking multi-million dollar unearned bonuses and huge pay checks to do very little. While they should be focusing on pork reforms they instead point the finger at those who are not responsible for the mistakes and shout the injured need to take responsibility. It's not the injured that need to take responsibility, it's those in charge. When the team consistently loses it's the coach who gets fired, not the fans. America is ill, we are easily lead to slaughter by the fox. Those paying for these ads are laughing at us for being so easily led astray. They reap huge financial windfalls and you get to pay for their mistakes.

Ask yourself, how gullible are you?

Let's pick on airports and the TSA next. I'll be in Frankfurt, Germany for a few more days but when I return let's begin to examine why we need 50 TSA employees standing around the airport screening booths. And again ask yourself why does the airport authority advertise? Don't you know where the local airport is located? I don't believe I need someone to tell me they have a runway and airplanes. That's a given.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on July 14, 2009 (boomark / email).