Legislature Considers Ban On Hospital Advertising

(Host)  The legislature is considering a ban on
hospital advertising as one way to control health care costs. 

The
ban is part of a larger bill introduced by Middlebury Representative Steve
Maier. 

Maier
says some estimates indicate that Vermont hospitals spend about $10 million annually on
advertising and marketing. 

He
says it’s a small, but not insignificant part of overall health care spending.  

Maier
says hospital advertising that attempts to draw patients away from other
hospitals underscores a basic flaw in the system.

(Maier) “The whole reason you
would advertise to bring patients your way is based on the way you pay our
hospitals and our doctors and we pay them based on volume or numbers or
procedures.”

(Host)
Maier says the ban would not prevent hospitals from advertising to fill job
openings. 

Bea
Grause of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Care Systems says the
idea raises a number of concerns.

She
says much of the advertising done by hospitals is not done to attract patients
away from other facilities.

(Grause) “The main reason that
I have heard back from my members is why they advertise is to mostly keep their
patients in their community, but also to let them know the services that they
have.”

(Host)  Grause also says border hospitals would be
put at a competitive disadvantage if they can’t advertise services that are
provided by facilities in New Hampshire or New
York. 

The
hospital advertising ban is part of a health care cost containment bill
currently being considered by a house committee.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/87477/