Direct Mail for Doctors

Doctors and for doctors have used direct mail campaigns in the healthcare industry. Mail targeting in the first instance has been less effective than mail targeting. Most people who receive a message are quick to discard it as spam, or as something they don't want at that time, and so, as a result, it doesn't concern their concerns. The second case is where drug companies use mail advertising strategies to contact doctors with alternative drugs or medical instruments. There has been growing discontent among the medical community over the public circulation material that was essentially part a private and confidential consultation.

Direct mail campaigns that doctors use to reach wider audiences with the promise of personalized and specific medical care have not had much success. This has led to a rise in innovative and newer methods of targeting direct mail. However, direct mail campaigns that target doctors raise a lot of ethical questions healthcare mailing lists.

Direct mail communications from drug salespeople and drug reps are sent to doctors. Doctors are immediately made aware that the confidential subject of a private medical consultation is now in the public domain due to drug manufacturers colluding to obtain information that is not strictly private.

New Hampshire State was the first to prohibit the sale or use of prescriptions from doctors for marketing or commercial purposes. However, the state reserved the right to use the option for patient education, law enforcement, and research. Data mining companies argued that New Hampshire's law was unconstitutional because it restricted free speech. Finaly, New Hampshire's law was overturned by a federal district court. The court ruled that direct mail bans curbed "commercial speech" as well as restricted the exchange of truthful information between doctors and companies.

It also held that the State had no substantial interest in preventing truthful information from being spread, even if alternative methods were available. However, more than a dozen states have been considering similar legislation, and they are at different stages of the process.

Doctors contend that direct mail campaigns not only breach privacy but can also alter the patterns of drug prescription among doctors. They might be influenced by the prospect of prescribing more expensive drugs, which might not always provide better care than the less expensive. Direct mail is a way to further market an already highly commercialized area. It could be a disadvantage in a country with millions of people finding private healthcare too expensive and out of reach.