Hospitals, Testing Companies Face Questions About Value Of Community Screenings

According to Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post, hospitals hoping to attract patients and build their brands are teaming up with medical-screening companies to promote tests aimed at consumers worried about potentially deadly heart disease or strokes.

What their promotions don't say is that an influential government panel recommends against using many of the tests on people without symptoms or risk factors. The panel says such screenings find too few problems to outweigh their drawbacks, which include false positive results, follow-up procedures and potentially unnecessary surgery. Other medical experts warn that the tests could needlessly raise health-care spending.

Inova Health System, one of the Washington, D.C., region’s largest hospital networks, is partnering with a screening company called HealthFair to blanket the region with direct mail and advertisements promoting a $139 package of what it describes as “five life-saving tests for heart disease and stroke.” The tests, which usually are not covered by insurance, are performed in specially equipped buses, operated by HealthFair, that carry the Inova logo and travel to different locations.

Such screenings can not only can raise health care costs, but also can lead to additional testing and procedures that could be harmful. But Inova and other hospitals say the screenings help raise awareness of heart disease and stroke and spur important discussions between patients and their doctors. Consultants say they are also a way to create community good will and draw new patients and revenue.