Saturday, August 30, 2008
Group reprints story about Carilion
A health care coalition has bought ads in The Roanoke Times to reprint a Wall Street Journal story that suggests Carilion Clinic is gaining a monopoly.
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A group opposed to Carilion Clinic's transformation into a multispecialty medical practice is reigniting its two-year campaign -- and it is using a story published this week to light the fuse.
The Coalition for Responsible Healthcare is paying nearly $10,000 for advertisements showcasing its cause today and Sunday in The Roanoke Times, said Dr. Geoff Harter, president of the coalition and a Roanoke ear, nose and throat doctor.
In the full-page ads, the coalition is reprinting a Thursday Wall Street Journal story, based in part on information from coalition officials, that suggested Carilion is gaining a monopoly and is driving up health care costs in the region.
The advertisement, which required the coalition to pay about $400 for reprint rights, also includes the address of the coalition's Web site.
Local independent doctors formed the coalition in 2006 in response to Carilion's decision to convert the health system to a multispecialty group medical practice and invest in medical research facilities, expanded physician training and new doctors.
The coalition now has 75 members, which is one-third of what it had in 2006, Harter said. That's because some have moved out of the area, some now are working for Lewis-Gale Medical Center and some have joined Carilion, he said.
Independent health care services took another hit this week when Carilion announced its purchase of three formerly independent Roanoke facilities -- Consultants in Cardiology, the Center for Advanced Imaging and the Center for Surgical Excellence, Harter said. An elimination of independent physician practices is what the coalition has feared would happen since Carilion began its transformation.
Still, the coalition's purpose isn't to derail Carilion's plan entirely. Its main issues are cost and access to care.
They include tackling what the coalition believes are high costs charged by Carilion and bringing down perceived barriers on Carilion doctors to refer patients to outside physicians, Harter said.
The coalition hopes the advertisement will increase "circulation" of the Wall Street Journal article by John Carreyrou, in which Harter is quoted.
"The goals are that people would increase their level of concern, so that business people are aware of the fact that when they purchase health care, they are paying more than they should," Harter said.
A local doctor and member of the coalition, whose identity Harter would not disclose, initially reached out to Carreyrou with information about Carilion. That helped get the ball rolling on the article.
"We presented the information to him," Harter said. "He pursued it on his own.
"He did not write the article for us." Harter added.
Meanwhile, Carilion has outlined its response to the Wall Street Journal story on its Web site.
Ed Murphy, president and chief executive officer of Carilion, rebutted certain points of the story on Thursday in an e-mail that he sent to Carilion employees. He said Carilion is not the cause of rising health insurance premiums.
"It is misleading to infer that Carilion is the cause when the premium dollar -- set by insurance companies -- contains many factors outside of our control," he wrote.
In response to claims that Carilion forces doctors to only refer patients to Carilion physicians, the health system's Web site states that "our position all along has been to earn, not force, referrals to our physicians."
For readers who question Carilion, spokesman Eric Earnhart said: "People can read the Wall Street Journal article and view our responses inside the article, and they're welcome to look at our response on the Web site and make their own decision.
"We did our best to provide accurate information" to the Wall Street Journal, he said.
The advertisement may not be the last that the public sees of the coalition.
Harter hinted that there will be other "alternatives" for future advertisements broadcasting the coalition's views. He would not disclose details.
