Doctors reject N.M. hospital's ad claim

Physicians object to being the centerpiece of an ad campaign, especially because they believe it's misleading and distracts from problems at local hospitals.

By Bob Cook, amednews staff. Sept. 10, 2001.

One hospital's advertising campaign that its physicians are "Number 1" is, to some doctors, a pretty loony claim to make.

After all, most of the same "Number 1" doctors affiliated with Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Albuquerque, N.M., also have privileges at the other, non-Presbyterian hospitals, although the ongoing billboard campaign leaves that part out.

We're not Number 1

"Are we to understand that [doctors] are 'Number 1' only when they are at Presbyterian?" Greater Albuquerque Medical Assn. President James Tryon, MD, asked in a July 20 letter to Presbyterian President and Chief Executive Officer James Hinton.

The Greater Albuquerque Medical Assn. is objecting to Presbyterian's campaign, which the hospital system says is based on a survey of patients.

While many hospital advertising campaigns focus on the quality of its doctors, it's rare when a campaign actually declares its physicians the best in town.

In GAMA's eyes, the "Number 1" designation for Presbyterian's doctors -- few of whom are employed there -- is only the start of the campaign's problems:

The campaign focuses on "an artificial distinction of Presbyterian doctors versus other doctors, a distinction that only serves to continue the sense of division among us," Dr. Tryon also wrote to Hinton.
The campaign violates American Hospital Assn. ethics on health care advertising, which states, in part, that "statements that might lead the uninformed to draw false conclusions about the health care facility, its competitors, or other health care providers are unacceptable and unethical."
Most important, in GAMA's eyes, is the fact that the ad campaign whitewashes over the problems Presbyterian and other hospitals are having with a lack of staffing, emergency department diversions, operating room delays and other problems. "Given this current state of disarray, no institution has the right to claim exceptional status," Dr. Tryon wrote.

"Our health system in this community is a mess, and Presbyterian is the messiest of the mess," Bill Fitzpatrick, MD, a family physician and president-elect of GAMA, said in an interview.

"We feel like Presbyterian is spending a lot of money to suggest that the doctors at Presbyterian are better, and at the same time it is overlooking the fact that Presbyterian is a large part of the problem," said Dr. Fitzpatrick, who was chief operating officer at Presbyterian from 1996 to 1998.

Dr. Fitzpatrick said GAMA would like to have a meeting with Presbyterian and other Albuquerque hospital systems -- Lovelace, St. Joseph Healthcare and University of New Mexico -- to talk about advertising campaigns as an entrée to discussing general hospital issues. As of yet, no meeting has been scheduled, and St. Joseph and Lovelace said GAMA had not yet contacted anyone there.

Hospital responds

But GAMA has gotten a response from Presbyterian. Hinton, on July 30, composed a letter to Dr. Tryon. His major points:

As for the best doctors claim, consumer rankings and polling are used all the time, and it so happens that studies conducted by an "independent, third-party" research firm over the last four years show that Albuquerque residents respond "Presbyterian" -- by a "substantial margin," Hinton wrote -- when asked which hospital has the best doctors. Hinton offered to make his pollster available to GAMA. Dr. Fitzpatrick said in an interview that GAMA had asked a representative of Research and Polling Inc., Presbyterian's pollster, to discuss how the firm gathered its information. The pollster's response, he said, was that the information was proprietary.
It wasn't Presbyterian's intent to imply that only the few doctors employed by the hospital system are the best doctors. "We believe that physicians built Presbyterian and should be recognized for that achievement," Hinton wrote.
He agreed that "every dollar spent on advertising is a dollar not spent on direct patient care." Therefore, Presbyterian has been reducing its ad budget since last year. However, Albuquerque is a competitive market, and "we, like the other health care systems in town, are required to keep our brand 'alive' in the minds of the consuming public," Hinton wrote.

Hinton said it was common for other hospitals to crow about rankings or surveys in their ads. For example, he said, Lovelace has touted it scored highest among local systems in a U.S. News & World Report survey ranking consumer preference.

And if "No. 1" doctors is misleading, Hinton asked, then what about St. Joseph Healthcare's "Healthcare you can have faith in" tagline? "Do you mean to imply that the public should not have faith in other physicians in town?" Hinton asked Dr. Tryon, who is a family physician at a St. Joseph clinic.

Campaign defended

That sort of question even sets off St. Joseph, which says that its ad campaign emphasizes its status as the only faith-based hospital in Albuquerque.

"It's not demeaning anybody," said spokeswoman Janet Blair of the campaign, which features a spokesnun -- actually an actor approved by the Sisters of Charity order that founded the hospital -- named Sister Rosalie. "It's not claiming No. 1 status."

Dr. Fitzpatrick is doubtful that Presbyterian will withdraw its ad campaign based on any pressure from doctors, but he said GAMA felt like it needed to speak out.

"We've never called [hospitals] out before -- as the president-elect of the association, this is a definite change in our position," Dr. Fitzpatrick said. "We're becoming more open, public, and offensive as opposed to defensive.

"There's plenty of physicians who believe we're making a tempest out of a teapot, which is true.

"The real issue is what's happening in this community. Our goal, I think -- personally I'm skeptical we'll achieve it -- if we can get the players at the table, we can get them to focus on the true issues rather than on this baloney advertising. Having been an executive at Presbyterian, that's wishful thinking."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

We're not Number 1

Excerpts from letters discussing the "Number 1" doctors advertising campaign of Presbyterian Healthcare Services of Albuquerque, N.M. Presbyterian based its campaign on a survey it sponsored in which local residents identified Presbyterian as having the best doctors:

"There are many physicians who practice at other city hospitals in addition to yours. Are we to understand that they are 'Number 1' only when they are at Presbyterian? Or, are you saying instead that Presbyterian is Number 1, even though the survey identified doctors? What's the real message?"
-- James Tryon, MD, president, Greater Albuquerque Medical Association

"It is not our intent to imply that only doctors 'employed' by Presbyterian are the ones creating that perception. ... We believe that physicians built Presbyterian and should be recognized for that achievement."
-- James Hinton, president and CEO, Presbyterian Healthcare Services