Ethics and Marketing in SUD Treatment
OASAS licensed providers offer SUD treatment and support. In so doing, providers must adhere to the highest levels of professionalism and ethical conduct through the entire continuum and spectrum of clinical and business services, including development and marketing, admissions, clinical treatment services, management, human resources, and relationships with the public, press, and policy makers. To ensure that OASAS providers adhere to such responsibility and accountability, OASAS has developed the “Marketing” Manifesto which includes an assessment of predatory in practices as well as a Code of Standards for Ethics.
Business Dictionary Definition of Marketing Ethics
Basic principles and values that govern the business practices of those engaged in promoting products or services to consumers. Sound marketing ethics are typically those that result in or at least do not negatively impact consumer satisfaction with the goods and services being promoted or with the company producing them.
What is Ethical Marketing?
Ethical marketing is less of a marketing strategy and more of a philosophy that informs all marketing efforts. It seeks to promote honesty, fairness, and responsibility in all advertising. Ethics is a notoriously difficult subject because everyone has subjective judgements about what is “right” and what is “wrong”. For this reason, ethical marketing is not a hard and fast list of rules, but a general set of guidelines to assist companies as they evaluate new marketing strategies.
Principles of Ethical Marketing
- All marketing communications share the common standard of truth
- Marketing professionals abide by the highest standard of personal ethics
- Advertising is clearly distinguished from news and entertainment content
- Marketers should be transparent about who they are paying to endorse their services
- The privacy of the consumer should never be compromised
- Marketers must comply with regulations and standards established by government
There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to ethical marketing. Unethical advertising is often just as effective as it is unethical. And since unethical behavior is not necessarily against the law, there are many companies who use unethical advertising to gain a competitive advantage.
Many people buy diet pills even though they are rarely, if ever, effective. This is because some diet pill companies use exaggerated and manipulative claims to essentially trick customers into buying these products. If that same company committed to using ethical advertising they would probably go out of business. However sneaky their business model may be, it is not illegal and it is keeping their doors open.
Why are Ethics more important in SUD treatment?
First, do no harm. Health care professionals practice in an environment that is complex, with many regulations, laws and standards of practice. Working in the substance abuse treatment field presents dilemmas relating to personal beliefs, judgments, and values. The history of how society views persons with addictions is fraught with emotion, misperceptions, and biases that have affected the care of drug abusers and has allowed brokering to flourish. Therefore it is of utmost importance to have clear guidelines for all aspects of SUD services to protect patients and insure they get the most appropriate level of care needed to effectively treat their disease and put it into remission.
Deceptive Advertising or Marketing Practices:
- Facilities must not engage in false, deceptive, or misleading statements, advertising, or marketing practices, including but not limited to, predatory web practices, payment kickbacks, services, and license and accreditation misrepresentation. Facilities operating under a “Florida model” providing outpatient clinical services along with a housing component must label clearly their program as such, and distinguish themselves from licensed residential facilities
- Family members and patients frequently have no way of knowing that the “treatment center” they call is really a call center they got to by Googling “rehab”, and that the call center takes insuance information then brokers out the patient to the highest bidder. The call center gets paid for referring patients to the actual treatment center. They don’t know that a program that promises to “work with” health insurance knows full well the insurance will cover only a few days at the facility, and the rest will be to be paid out of pocket. There is no clinical assessment or triage when placing a patient. It is 100% based on highest bidder.
- Facilities must be transparent regarding their identity and services. Any facility offering addiction treatment to New York State residents must provide prominent information in all their advertising, on their websites, and in their collateral marketing materials about the type and model of services, corporate entity, treatment program brand, licensing, and accreditation, location of facility or facilities, and staff credentials.
Treatment center websites may not use fake pictures to falsely represent the facility, either interior or exterior, the neighborhood or the environment. There must be honesty and transparency in representing a facility and pictures must accurately document the treatment center.
- Facilities must not utilize any form of false or misleading advertising, must not exploit patients and or families, and must not engage in competitive practices that are predatory or destructive to a collaborative marketplace
- Web directories that use facilities images, names, logos, and trademarks that do not clearly identify that facility’s direct phone number and website are prohibited. Banners and borders on websites that utilize a web directory’s call center number, especially when conveying an appearance of being a consultant or independent specialist, are prohibited.
- Advertising must not include representations, including unsubstantiated representations, which are false or deceptive within the meaning of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
- Patient brokering is prohibited. No financial rewards, substantive gifts, or other remuneration may be offered for patient referrals. Facilities must not provide compensation for a patient referral. Facilities must not charge or receive compensation for providing a referral.
- Facilities may refer families or individuals to treatment or recovery support professionals, including interventionists, continuing care providers, monitoring agencies, and referral sources that offer services to patients prior to or after residential or outpatient treatment. Facilities must not compensate such individuals or organizations in exchange for referrals, either in the form of direct payment, consulting contracts, fee splitting, or other compensation.
- Facilities may not engage in the buying and selling of patient leads. Any collection or aggregation of leads for compensation is prohibited.
Questionable Practices engaged in by questionable treatment facilities
Here are the most common practices we heard about that are taking place in the addiction treatment industry, and that are considered unethical by leaders in the treatment industry and by government officials. Many of these practices, especially those involving kickbacks, are also illegal if performed by providers that are paid by taxpayer dollars:
- Using call centers to share patient prospect information with and between treatment providers
- Paying bounties for referrals
- Giving large gifts to interventionists with whom a program works
- Claiming to take a patient’s insurance, when in fact the anticipated reimbursement is very low
- Paying or receiving kickbacks to/from labs that are overcharging insurance companies for drug tests performed on a facility’s patients
- Promising a cure or quoting statistics that are not provable with data
- Using nutrient supplements that are proprietary and billing the patient
- Using brain scans and other unproven treatments and billing the patient
- Internet marketing scams
- Providing airline tickets to treatment
- Marketers “hanging out” in hospital ED to “scoop” patients into their programs
- Marketers trolling self help meetings looking for patients
Code of Standards for Ethical SUD “Marketing”
- Marketing is fundamentally about providing exposure for our programs and services to families, professionals, and prospective clients. We strive to accurately convey the clinical services, day-to-day activities and amenities of our treatment facility.
- We do not admit clients who are not clinically appropriate for our milieu. We recognize the limitations of our model of care and we consistently refer clients and families who are not appropriate to other programs.
- We encourage clients, families and referents to visit our program in person in order to see our facilities up close and to experience the treatment model and spirit of our facility for themselves. Simply put: The closer you look, the better we look.
- We do not make or receive any financial payments or remuneration for patient referrals. Further, we do not support or refer to any other programs which engage in these practices.
- We do not engage in any form of misleading or deceptive practices whether in online marketing, public relations, advertising, or collateral promotional materials. Further, we will not participate as an advertiser on “funnel” websites, bogus treatment directory sites, or so-called “rehab reviews” which misrepresent their objectivity to users or readers.
- We do not utilize inflated predatory pricing or add-on inappropriate testing. For people without insurance, we offer a sliding scale fee schedule.
