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Friday, May 24, 2013

Why Groupon and other social coupons are unethical in healthcare

By Deniza Gertzberg
www.kevinmd.com
Originally published on May 16, 2013

In addition to the possible legal pitfalls of advertising on Groupon-type websites, there are also ethical and practice management concerns to be weighed by healthcare practitioners before agreeing to such arrangements. Even with the recent announcement that companies such as Groupon and LivingSocial may be offering contracts to healthcare providers that take into consideration the prohibition against fee splitting, practitioners should nonetheless proceed with caution.

The concerns about social coupons in the healthcare context extend further than what is strictly legal as doctors also face the more basic question of whether such advertising practices are appropriate. It is not surprising that we find an increasing number of professional organizations speaking out about the ethical implications of providing social discounts to consumers. Several past presidents of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, for example, in 2011 spoke out strongly against the practice of advertising discounts for plastic surgeries online.

Similarly, in the United States, we are seeing professional societies discussing the legality and ethical implications of such arrangements. The American Dental Association (ADA) last year, for example, issued an advisory opinion prohibiting the use of social coupons if such an arrangement would constitute fee splitting.

The entire blog post is here.

Thanks to Ed Zuckerman for this lead.