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Health & Fitness

White Coat Camoflage

A white coat does not a doctor make! Hearing aids sales and seniors who fall prey to the unscrupulous salesperson wearing a doctor's jacket.


A few weeks ago, a 97 year old lady… (we’ll  call her Sally)…  living at a well-respected retirement community in the western Chicago suburbs, made a brave phone call to complain about medical services she received.  Her issue… the hearing aids she purchased 19 months ago don’t work. 

A little while after receiving her initial set of aids, Sally called the person who sold her the aids and told him she still wasn’t happy with her hearing, so he came back to her residence and sold her a “stronger” set of aids for an additional $1000.              Total cost for the aids: $2700

When we asked why she didn’t call the person back, Sally says,” I don’t trust him.”  Was this person who sold you the aids an Audiologist or a Dispenser?  Sally responded, “Well, he had a computer…”        

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A check of Sally’s aids and associated paperwork revealed that the salesperson sold Sally an aid from an unknown manufacturer.  A quick trip on Google provided a local phone number of the manufacturer. A call to Starkey, a nationally known repairer of many world-wide hearing aid brands, provided no additional knowledge about the “manufacturer”.  We called the Romeoville IL based manufacturer and received a “Hello!” from the other end.

The “manufacturer” stated that he repairs hearing aids in his home… and when we asked about “new” aids… he hesitantly said that they occasionally sell new aids only if the appointment is made for a “home” visit, (probably due to the fact that there is no retail or clinical office for patients to visit).  

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There are a host of questions regarding the business model and ethics of the “manufacturer” and the salesperson:    Were the “new” aids really new, or simply
repaired aids sold to an unwitting consumer?    If the aids are new, are they FDA
approved (as all medical devices must be)?   Does the manufacturer know that a salesperson , who does not work for the manufacturer, may be misrepresenting the product and maybe even ripping off seniors in the process?

Bottom line: Sally still has $2700 hearing aids that don’t work for her.

The lesson:   An audiologist is a licensed medical professional with a Master’s or Doctorate degree; knowledgeable about, hearing physiology & anatomy, disease, medications and their relationship to hearing.   An audiologist is recognized by Medicare as a medical professional. 

A dispenser is a person who has taken a class about hearing aids, in as little as 5 days, and is commonly used as a state licensed salesperson. Under current law, each can open a practice that does hearing evaluations and sells hearing aids. In practical application, an average person may not be able to tell the difference between the two…since they may both wear white medical lab coats…use a computer for hearing evaluations…and have other office items that suggest a  professional atmosphere.

In truth, a dispenser is often employed by Audiologists or Ear-Nose-Throat M.D.s… so I am not trying to disparage dispensers; but, as always, if there is money to made by selling hearing aids to a growing population of seniors who need them…there are those who care about the sale…and those care about the service they provide.   Which do you prefer?

Keep moving!

Mike

www.FallPreventionClinics.com

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