Competition. Marketing your practice--how it can be ethical

The art of medicine is now being practiced and competition fueled by advertising, an abundance of physicians, and the presence of large corporations that provide health care. Mass advertising does not supply the kind of information a patient needs to choose a health care provider. Marketing strategies can, however, be applied- namely, attention to patient education, to price of peripheral test and treatment, to your office's air of courtesy and considerateness, and to the range of services you offer. Analysis of the basics of biomedical ethics leads one to conclude that efforts to nourish patient satisfaction can be ethical and, indeed, can foster the art of medicine.