| Sheakley Unicomp Employs Controversial "Sympathy Card" Marketing Technique in Ohio Workers Compensation Open Enrollment | ||
|
Sheakley UniComp, the fourth largest Managed Care Organization (MCO) in the State of Ohio, has employed a controversial sympathy card marketing campaign to gain employers during Ohio's highly competitive open enrollment period for workers compensation which extends from May 3 to May 21, 2004. In an effort to get the clients of other managed care organizations to switch to its managed care plan, Sheakley sent a sympathy card which stated on the cover: "Thinking of you during this time of despair." Inside the card, Sheakley states: "We would like to express our condolences on the minimal performance of your MCO over the past year." [Comment: At a time when many families with loved ones in Iraq are receiving sympathy cards for real, this marketing gimmick, however successful, seems amazingly insensitive. Occupational medicine can do better. William L. Newkirk, MD, FACPM] |
|