Hospital advertisements

I always get incensed when I see hospital advertisements, especially those that are wildly expensive, such as full-page ads in pricey publications. Hospitals shouldn’t be spending money on advertising! I shouldn’t be so naïve. We all know that hospitals are businesses and that businesses advertise.

During the last Super Bowl, NYU Langone Health aired a 30-second advertisement. It cost $8 million. Like me, Representative Greg Murphy, a urologist and Republican congressman from North Carolina, was incensed at this expenditure. He wrote a stern letter to NYU Langone’s chief executive, questioning the hospital’s stewardship of its money, especially given the fact that the hospital receives federal money. The letter also asked about the hospital’s overseas investments and whether the health system was exploiting legal loopholes to maximize profit.

Shortly after the letter was received, a private jet landed at the Greenville, N.C., airport, which is not far from where Murphy lives. The jet was registered to the investment firm founded by Kenneth G. Langone, the billionaire benefactor of NYU Langone and the chairman of the hospital’s board of directors. Langone is also a major Republican donor. Reporters know that someone, either Langone himself or his representative, visited Murphy. They don't know exactly what was said at the meeting, but two days after that visit, Murphy sent a second letter, changing his message from critic to booster, praising NYU Langone’s “world class patient outcomes,” and stating that “America would be much healthier if all hospitals could report these excellent numbers.”

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