"Prison Guards and Fibromyalgia" | Arthritis Information

 

A commentary on a marketing technique I've never heard of before:

http://distractible.org/2008/07/28/prison-guards-and-fibromyalgia/
Martha Stewart has Fibro?

Strange.  Very strange. This is a common marketing tactic.  The pharmaceutical company pays the pharmacy, benefits manager or other entity to send them out.  They can't send them directly to you, because HIPAA laws prevent the pharmacy/organization from giving them your personal information.  So they give the advertisements to the pharmacy/organization and they personalize them and send them to you.  I get such personalized refill reminders from Jewel for one (but not all) of my medications if I don't get my monthly refill.  It's a drug I don't take all the time, so I don't need to get refills every month.  I don't get those notices for the low-cost generics such as metoprolol (which could really pose a problem if I stopped taking it)... only for the name-brand RX.

It amazes and concerns me how far these pharmaceutical companies will go to promote their products.  This is just a little too bizarre for me.  [QUOTE=Jesse88]It amazes and concerns me how far these pharmaceutical companies will go to promote their products.  This is just a little too bizarre for me.  [/QUOTE]

If you use a grocery "club" card (such as the "Preferred Card" from Jewel/Osco in the Chicago area) you are receiving the same sort of targeted advertising sent to your house - for everything from tylenol to tequila, based on your purchase history.  At least the pharmaceutical companies do not have direct access to patient data.  Data from the club cards is freely shared with the manufacturers/marketers of all the crap you see in the grocery store, and there is a record of all the purchases you've made with that card.

Think long and hard about using that club card to save a buck on that case of beer and pack of smokes.Jas, I think you missed this.  This letter was sent to a physician, not a consumer. [QUOTE=Suzanne]Jas, I think you missed this.  This letter was sent to a physician, not a consumer. [/QUOTE]

Oops - my bad.

But it's the same sort of thing.  They get the info from the phamacy/union/whatever and target the physicians in the plan.  If they're doing that, they're also probably doing direct marketing to the employees participating in the health plan.
That was the doctor's question - if this union suddenly cares to contact him about their employees, why are they talking about fibro and not something that is surely more prevalent, like diabetes?

I agree with the other posters that it is strange.  And nothing like refill reminder, for a product you are already using.  (Those are probably in hopes of avoiding you using a coupon for a gift card to transfer it to another pharmacy!)
[QUOTE=Suzanne]That was the doctor's question - if this union suddenly cares to contact him about their employees, why are they talking about fibro and not something that is surely more prevalent, like diabetes?

I agree with the other posters that it is strange.  And nothing like refill reminder, for a product you are already using.  (Those are probably in hopes of avoiding you using a coupon for a gift card to transfer it to another pharmacy!)
[/QUOTE]

It's up to the individual companies how they choose to market their products.  The union is making money off of this deal.  They get paid for each advertisement sent out.

I don't see what the problem is with this mode of advertising - it is far less obtrusive than pharma reps taking up valuable office time and dispensing fun but useless trinkets, doughnuts, etc.  The doctor can choose to read it or recycle it.


It wouldn't shock me at all if a correctional officer developed FM. It's a very dangerous job--the stress is enormous under many situations. I doubt the writer is either familiar with FM or exactly what the average officer faces. The link between FM and PTSD is just beginning to be dealt with professionally. 


PTSD? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--common among law enforcement (including correction officers) who have to deal with violence. That show Prison Break is rather tame for all the crap that goes on in prisons.
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