Healthcare communications and marketing news and information

Over the July 4th weekend, expect to see fireworks in a town near you and on your television.  Today, a bill that was supposed to institute a 10.6% cut in Medicare payments for doctors was supposed to go into effect.  However, after significant opposition from physicians -- and  health plans (which oppose cuts in reimbursements for privately managed Medicare advantage plans) -- Congress is set to find a way to restore the cuts.  

However, both American Medical Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans plan to launch a series of advertisements opposing the bill that will air over the holiday break.  

While these moves by major advocacy organizations are expected, what’s more surprising is that physicians -- without official support from the American Medical Association –- have taken matters into their own hands.  Today, Sermo the physician-only social network announced what it is calling a historic campaign designed to raise “national awareness about the real healthcare issues” facing doctors.  

More than 5,000 physicians have signed an open letter that highlights the “challenges physicians face in delivering appropriate patient care.”  The letter targets three industry players physicians are saying keep them from delivering care to patients: insurance companies, government and malpractice lawyers.  You can read the full text of the letter here.

 

What’s most interesting is that the campaign was initiated by physicians using Sermo, not the social network.  On their Website, the physicians behind the campaign said they chose Sermo because it reduces the “fragmentation of our profession  . . . that has prevented them from influencing policy in the [US] health system.”  

This campaign certainly illustrates the power of the Internet in general and social networks in particular to organize large numbers of people around a common cause.  However, the question remains, will it matter?  The physicians behind the social network are competing against a range of interests, including the AMA in an effort to influence national health policymaking.  

It turns out that the physicians have already thought about this issue.  They plan to “establish a non-profit organization that will be focused on elevating the . . . campaign and . . . [affecting] change in healthcare."

All in all, this is an interesting campaign, which illustrates how the Internet and social networks are becoming powerful catalysts for group action -- especially in health.  Look for more from physicians behind the Open Letter campaign.  Once the letter is signed by 10,000 physicians Sermo plans to work with an as yet unnamed advertising agency, which will provide $1 million in pro-bono support to help promote the campaign.  

[Disclosure: I have spoken with Sermo executives about the company and issues related to social media marketing communications (most recently on the Digital Health Revolution).  However, we have not discussed, nor have I been asked to write about the Doctors Unite campaign.]