Response to “American Osteopathic Association Slams Pathologists and Laboratories”

Last Friday I published a post on a recent ad campaign put out by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) that many felt in response was “tone deaf”, “misguided”, “inappropriate” and “awkward” with a call from many for the AOA to pull the ads, including from several DO pathologists and other DO physicians. Some questioned “What was the American Osteopathic Association thinking” and shared not the concept of “I DO” but “WE DO” and the value of collaboration as healthcare is a team sport as a repeated theme in response to the post and other comments.

As of this writing over the past few days there were over 500 shares of the post on Facebook, more than 55 on LinkedIn and numerous ‘likes’, ‘retweets’ and ‘favorites’ on Twitter.  It appeared to galvanize both MD and DO pathologists as well as many allied health professionals beyond any post on this site beyond those related to patient advocacy and patient stories.

Earlier today I came across an American Society of Clinical Pathologist blog entitled “Lab Team Feedback Leads to Doctors That DO Campaign Changes” written by Julianne Wyrick that stated:

“Over the past month, several members have reached out to ASCP with concerns regarding the way the medical laboratory is portrayed in the American Osteopathic Association’s Doctors That DO campaign. While the AOA’s intent was to promote the visibility of osteopathic medicine rather than diminish the role of the lab team, the lab-related ads will be discontinued after March 2016. The AOA also plans to re-evaluate the entire campaign in May 2016. Going forward, ASCP and the AOA plan to explore ways the organizations can collaborate toward our shared goal of improving patient care.”

This is obviously good news that there was recognition by the AOA that despite their intentions to promote their visibility, it offended many in the laboratory community and they will pull their ads by the end of this month along with re-evaluating their entire campaign going forward.

Kudos to the ASCP for taking a lead in this and exploring ways to collaborate our shared goals of improving patient care.

On a lighter note, some folks referred me to other marketing ideas that the AOA could potentially consider:

American Osteopathic Association Slams Pathologists and Laboratories