Health-care firms on lookout for Michael Moore

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http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=200

 

September 30th, 2004 8:43 pm

Health-care firms on lookout for Michael Moore

 

By Bruce Japsen / Chicago Tribune

 

The latest buzz in the health-care industry has nothing to do with new

drugs or medical treatments.

 

It's all about moviemaker Michael Moore and where he's lurking these days.

 

Some of the nation's biggest drug manufacturers and health insurance

plans confirm they have issued warnings to their sales representatives

and other employees in recent weeks, telling them to be on the lookout

for the shaggy filmmaker in his trademark baseball cap. And, under no

circumstances, are they to talk to Moore.

 

The industry's red alert was prompted by word that Moore plans to aim

his camera lens at the health-care industry, much as he did with other

targets, most recently President Bush in " Fahrenheit 9/11. "

 

The $100 million box office documentary-style film presented Bush's

war on terror as ill-advised and corrupt, angering the president's

supporters while drawing cheers from Bush foes.

 

The planned movie, tentatively titled " Sicko, " is expected to focus on

health-care industry business practices, specifically those of the

managed-care and pharmaceutical industries, which have both been

mentioned in Moore's recent speeches and interviews, his spokesman said.

 

Health-care companies are hardly enthused.

 

" What our society really needs is a serious debate about overall

health care based on facts, not just another one-sided

micro-mockumentary, " said Court Rosen, spokesman with the drug

industry's Washington lobby, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers

of America.

 

But Moore's people seemed amused by the industry's call to arms,

saying health-care companies obviously have reason to be concerned if

they feel the need to put their employees on guard. Moore

representatives say there isn't even a timetable for production to

begin, and financing has yet to be finalized.

 

" Everything he does is well-documented, so I can understand why they

would be so worried, " said Moore spokesman Mark Benoit.

 

Industry observers don't think it will be difficult for Moore to find

real-life examples, since the business practices of HMOs and certain

other health plan business practices that encourage low-cost medical

care have long been criticized as short-changing patients.

 

Practices targeted

 

Meanwhile, drug industry marketing practices have been a target of

prosecutors and lawmakers who say they can lead to unnecessary

prescriptions by doctors or to higher health-care costs.

 

The industry's gift-giving practices, intended to win physician

loyalty to certain drugs, have been of particular concern in a climate

of growing consumer outrage over drug costs, which have risen at an

annual rate of 15 percent during each of the last four years, far

exceeding inflation.

 

" We would welcome any public disclosure on the way this

multibillion-dollar industry works, " said Lynda DeLaforgue,

co-director of consumer group Citizen Action Illinois. " They would

certainly have reason to be concerned about any group looking into

their business practices, looking into the amount of money that they

use to influence the political and legislative process. These are

obviously the typical things Mr. Moore delves into deeper. "

 

If industry reports on Moore sightings are to be believed, the

filmmaker himself is taking a page out of drugmakers' handbooks to do

his movie by offering medical professionals payments for access to

their offices.

 

Companies have warned their sales representatives to be on the lookout

for camera phones and reports of Moore representatives offering

$50,000 to doctors' offices to place hidden cameras or $5,000 to sales

representatives willing to be filmed, according to a representative of

one drugmaker, who asked not to be identified.

 

Moore's spokesman would not comment on any production activity or

allegations of payments to drug company employees.

 

Miramax, which has been mentioned in published reports as financing

and distributing Moore's film on the health-care industry, said a deal

is in the works but it has " yet to be finalized, " a Miramax spokesman

said. Miramax would not comment on Moore's plans for the film, and

Moore was unavailable for comment.

 

In the Chicago area, the Moore film has been a topic of discussion in

the public relations and marketing departments at both Abbott

Laboratories of North Chicago and TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. of

Lake Forest.

 

" We have communicated a reminder of our media policy, " said Abbott

spokeswoman Laureen Cassidy.

 

" If Abbott representatives are directly approached by media, we have

provided them with some helpful reminders for interacting with the

media, " she added. " This information is shared at routine training

meetings held throughout the year. We also share this information when

individuals are staffing an Abbott booth at medical meetings. "

 

Education on ethics

 

Even before it was reported that Moore was thinking about a movie on

the health-care industry, Abbott and TAP took exhaustive measures to

educate their sales forces on ethical business practices.

 

In 2001, TAP--a joint venture of Abbott and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

of Japan--pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring with doctors in the

mid-1990s to bill government insurers for free samples of the prostate

cancer drug Lupron and paid an industry record $885 million to settle

allegations of wrongdoing.

 

In July, 11 current and former TAP sales representatives not covered

by the 2001 settlement were either acquitted or had charges against

them dismissed. The trial in federal court in Boston involved charges

of illegal marketing practices.

 

Neither TAP nor Abbott would comment on the Moore movie. They said

they do not believe they are a focus of it.

 

A pharmaceutical professionals' Web site, Cafepharma, has been abuzz

in recent weeks about Moore sightings and rumors the famed film

producer is trying to recruit pharmaceutical sales representatives for

his documentary.

 

Health plans, too, say they are aware of the film but are not going to

let it distract them from providing patient care for their rs.

 

" Michael Moore is a major Hollywood entertainer and while we have

heard through the Hollywood press that he has signed a deal for his

next movie, our industry is much more focused on the needs of the

American people advancing a positive policy agenda in Washington and

across the country to make high-quality health care affordable for

millions of Americans, " said Mohit Ghose, spokesman for America's

Health Insurance Plans.