Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

HCA Postcards Promote ER

HCA Healthcare is sending postcards to Pinellas County residents telling them to ask emergency medical services to take them to HCA if they’re having a heart attack, the Tampa Bay Times reports. The hospital chain is the largest for-profit group in the nation and is known for its bold marketing campaigns, including billboards on major highways advertising ER wait times.

 
The postcards are raising concern for some medical professionals, who believe the tactics could delay emergency care, since other hospitals may be closer than HCA facilities, the Times reports. 
 

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.