Hospitals best tread lightly when dispatching doctors to solicit donations
Less than half the U.S. public is OK with physicians giving hospital patients’ names to hospital development departments—and that’s after the doctors ask the patients for permission.
Meanwhile only 9% of patients would greenlight names getting sent to fundraisers without patient permission sought by a familiar physician.
The findings are from a study conducted at the University of Michigan and published online in JAMA.
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, and colleagues drew responses from a 513-member, probability-based sample representative of the U.S. population.
Among the team’s other key findings:
- 83% of respondents believe physicians talking with their patients about donating may interfere with the patient-physician relationship.
- 80% consider it acceptable for physicians to talk to patients about donating if patients have brought it up.
- 14% say donor appeals are OK when patients have not brought it up.
- 10% feel it’s alright for hospital development staff to conduct wealth screening using publicly available data to identify patients capable of large donations.
Mulling a hypothetical patient who donates $1 million, half the respondents are fine with the hospital expressing its gratitude by providing that patient with nicer hospital rooms.
A quarter of respondents feel expedited appointments are appropriate rewards for such generosity, and 20% like the idea of supplying major donors with physicians’ cellphone numbers.
The researchers’ overall conclusion is that a substantial proportion of the U.S. population does not endorse “legally allowable approaches for identifying, engaging and thanking patient-donors.”
In Michigan Medicine’s own news coverage of the study, Jagsi suggests fundraising is an essential component in hospitals’ fiscal-fitness routines—up to a point.
“We cannot abandon philanthropy for hospitals and health systems, especially in the current environment,” says Jagsi, who heads the university’s Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine. “But we need to learn how best to do this both effectively and ethically.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.