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Cancer center advertising expenditures more than triple since 2005
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Cancer treatment centers in the United States spent $173 million on advertising in the year 2014, according to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Twenty centers accounted for 86% of these spending figures.
Laura B. Vater
“Spending on cancer center advertising has more than tripled since 2005, and a small percent of cancer centers are responsible for the majority of spending,” Laura B. Vater, MPH, a fourth-year medical student at Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Patients should be aware that cancer centers that spend the most on advertising may not necessarily provide the highest quality of cancer care.”
Vater and colleagues accessed advertising expenditure data from 890 U.S. cancer centers through Kantar Media, an agency that tracks the content and number of advertisements across major media channels.
Expenditure data were available for the period from Jan. 1, 2005, through Dec. 31, 2014.
The researchers classified advertisers as cancer treatment centers if their names contained the words “cancer,” “oncology,” “radiation” or any other cancer therapy, such as proton therapy.
Media outlets represented in the study included television, magazines, radio, newspapers, billboards and the internet. The researchers categorized internet advertisements as display advertising — displayed across the bottom or side of a website — or search advertising, such when an advertisement for a cancer center appears in response to a patient or seeker query in an internet search engine.
The researchers used the Consumer Price Index to adjust advertising expenditures into 2014 U.S. dollars.
Inflation-adjusted advertising expenditures increased for all media markets during the study period. Internet display advertisement represented the greatest relative growth, rising from less than 1% of total advertising spending in 2005 ($302,030 of $54,229,849) to 5% ($8,633,000 of $173,510,900) in 2014.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America — a for-profit network of five hospitals — accounted for the largest advertising expenditure in 2014 ($101.7 million; 59%). The hospital spent $57.8 million in national advertising, $24.2 million in local advertising and $18.7 in internet advertising.
Only two other hospitals spent more than $9 million on advertising in 2014: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center ($13.9 million) and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center ($9.1 million).
The top five highest spending cancer centers also included Fox Chase Cancer Center ($3.5 million) and Texas Oncology ($3.4 million), which comprises four treatment centers.
Of the 20 highest advertisers, 75% (n = 15) were nonprofit cancer centers, and 85% (n = 17) were Commission on Cancer–accredited.
Of 60 NCI–designated cancer centers, 58% (n = 35) advertised in 2014, including 45% (n = 9) of the top 20 highest spending hospitals.
“More work is needed to understand the effects of cancer center advertising on the web, as more and more people search for health information online,” Yael Schenker, MD, assistant professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a press release. “One concern is that when advertisements are listed at the top of internet search results, patients may have trouble finding and recognizing good information.”
Cancer advertisement may do more harm than good in certain instances, Lisa M. Schwartz, MD, MS, and Steven Woloshin, MD, MS, both professors of medicine at Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Dartmouth College, wrote in a related editorial.
“Potentially misleading advertisements are a problem when they generate false hope; increase the use of new, expensive high-technology treatments that are unproven (and possibly inferior to proven treatments); or lure vulnerable patients to leave their home, family and other support systems in their communities by the illusion of receiving better care,” Schwartz and Woloshin wrote.
Schwartz and Woloshin offered solutions to curb potentially misleading advertisements.
“The Federal Trade Commission could make such advertisements a priority area, for example, by disseminating guidance to help centers design better campaigns and educate the public to see through potentially misleading messages,” Schwartz and Woloshin wrote. “State attorneys general could also be more aggressive about taking actions against deceptive nonprofit center advertisements, just as they have taken action against deceptive advertising and off-label drug promotion by pharmaceutical companies.” – by Cameron Kelsall
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures. Schwartz and Woloshin report that they are cofounders of Informulary Inc., a company that provides data about the benefits, harms and uncertainties around prescription drugs.
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