Consumer advocacy group launches campaign to shame 20 health systems into ending bus screenings for heart conditions

Lena Kauffman | June 20, 2014 | Health Exec | Precision Medicine

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that claims more than 300,000 members and supporters, on Thursday shared letters it had sent to 20 hospitals and health systems in eight states asking them to end their relationships with HealthFair, a Winter Park, Florida-based company that provides cardiovascular health screenings on buses.

According to HealthFair’s website, mobile screening services are convenient and can uncover potentially serious health problems early enough to save lives. They partner with employers with wellness programs to provide on-site screening in company parking lots and also with hospital and health systems that want to offer the service to their surrounding communities.

However, Public Citizen notes that screening the broad general population for heart health issues is not only unnecessary, it can be potentially harmful and costly when the tests produce false positives or uncover harmless irregularities that do not require treatment.

It furthermore alleges that the hospitals and health systems that partner with HealthFair are doing so for a self serving reason and not for the good of their communities. When the screenings uncover problems, patients typically first turn to the provider that partnered with HealthFair on the screenings to get any follow-up testing and treatment. This generates income for the hospital or health system.

“It is exploitative to promote and provide medically non-beneficial testing through the use of misleading and fearmongering advertisements in order to generate medically unnecessary but profitable referrals to the institutions partnered with HealthFair,” stated Michael Carome, M.D., director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group. “Consumers are being misled to believe that these screening packages are beneficial when in reality, many will undergo additional unnecessary testing, likely putting them at greater risk, not saving them any money and adding unneeded anxiety.”

The letters were sent to the following providers:

Arizona