October 25, 2011 
I saw a statistic today that said that the Domino Pizza’s stock price has gone up by 233% since they began acknowledging that they had a reputation of a low-quality product. Fascinating!
Would that work for health plans or PBMs or pharmaceutical manufacturers? If they acknowledged the perception that consumers have for them, would that engage consumers? Would consumers respond well to that?
Imagine messaging around prior authorization that sounded more like this…
“We’re calling to let you know that you need a prior authorization to get your [drug, service, device]. I know you think we’re just doing this to cut costs and override your physician’s decisions, but that’s not true. We care deeply about you, but our physician team determined that there’s a chance for overuse of this [drug, service, device]. All we’re asking is for your physician to answer a few questions to validate the proper use. We’ve even launched a web service so this can be done with minimal disruption.”
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
Where’s the brutal honesty? Brutal honesty IS “We (mostly) care about profits.” (By the way, I’m not saying that’s good or bad. Just factually accurate.)
Messages like this only work if they’re sincere and authentic – if they’re consistent with the consumer’s experience with the brand.
In this example, consumers wouldn’t even hear the last part of the message because they’d be rolling on the floor laughing themselves silly after the “we care deeply” part.
Leslie Nolen
The Radial Group
The health and wellness business experts
Sounds like a good idea, as long as messages are honest and specific.
More people also need to realize that their own employers are also responsible for many PA alerts.
“Your employer has decided that it will not pay for that particular drug / service unless there’s a good reason.”
I bet employers would love that. 😉