A new bill making its way through the House of Representative aims to eliminate the growing consumer confusion over who is a licensed medical doctor.
The bill is called the “Truth in Healthcare Marketing Act of 2013”, and its goal is to prevent healthcare professionals from making false or deceptive claims in regards to their training or licensing. The bill also applies to healthcare facilities that are comprised of a variety of different medical professionals. Providers must clearly state the licenses and degrees of its professionals, or they’ll be subject to penalties under the Federal Trade Commission Act, which protects consumers against corporations who profit from deceptive tactics.
“Patients…are understandably confused by the increasing ambiguity of healthcare provider-related advertisements and marketing,” said Matt Sturm, deputy director of government relations for the American Psychiatric Association.
Enlightening the Public
In the reasoning for considering the bill, representatives noted two recent surveys conducted by the American Medical Association. Each survey had 850 participants, and it highlighted the confusion among the general public of who is a licensed doctor. Some of the findings can be seen below:
- When asked if chiropractors were medical doctors, 38% of respondents said yes, 53% said no, and 9% were uncertain.
- When asked is psychologists were medical doctors, 49% said yes, 44% said no, and 7% were uncertain.
- In 2008, only 46% of people agreed with the statement “It is easy to identify who is a licensed [medical doctor] and who is not by reading what services they offer, their title and other licensing credentials in advertising or other marketing materials.” That number rose to 51% in 2010.
Why so confusing?
Perhaps the biggest reason why patients are confused is because there is a growing use of professional acronyms in the medical field. People see acronyms like MD, DDS, MS, DC, DPT and OD, and they can’t decipher who is a doctor and who isn’t. Sturm said he believes the bill will help make credentials clearer for patients.
“There is clear data that patients are confused about the level of training for health professionals. We simply think proper display of credentials in marketing and advertising, making licensure misrepresentation clearly illegal, and beefing up enforcement makes logical sense, said Sturm. “If you were looking for mental health treatment for yourself or a family member, services that are potentially sensitive and need to be carefully managed, wouldn’t you like to know a provider’s qualifications?”
The bill is expected to be voted on in the coming months.
Dr. Silverman comments
Sometimes things are black and white, and other times they are grey. One thing that is clear is people need to know with whom they are entrusting their health care.
The title “doctor” lacks a specific meaning since it applies to so many different professions. Psychologists, chiropractors, dentists and podiatrists are all doctors, yet the title has become diluted to the point that people have no idea of each doctor’s qualifications or training. The point of this bill is to make it so doctors need to tell you what kind of doctor they are when they market themselves.
Some allied health providers believe that this bill belittles their professions and takes for granted all the work that they do. Allied health providers do amazing work and make up a huge percentage of the healthcare workforce. They are the primary care providers and ancillary providers to thousands of patients around the US daily. They deserve respect for what they do, but the solution in every case of confusion is to provide the knowledge so that people can make educated choices.
The bill has merit and should be considered. Its goals, those of education not regulation, are noble. It does not attempt to limit any one providers’ scope. However, it is being painted negatively. Instead of embracing the spread of knowledge, some believe it will create prejudice. Nonsense. The solution to prejudice is knowledge.
Related source: Medscape
