Health System Sued Over Response to ‘COVID’ Promo Code

A Twitter post related to a ‘COVID’ promo code that Missouri health system CoxHealth promoted during the height of the pandemic has left the health system and its president and CEO, Steve Edwards, with a lawsuit on their hands.

According to the Springfield News-Leader, local resident, Samantha Cherry, contacted CoxHealth after her youngest son developed swimmer’s ear from a trip to the lake, the News-Leader reported. But Cherry was alarmed that the health system prompted her to enter its ‘COVID’ promo code to reduce the price of a telehealth visit from $30 to free. She then posted her concern on Facebook.

Cherry’s post led with the words: “COVID WARNING!! Cox just asked me to mark COVID next to my son’s name!!!” Cherry further wrote that she told a representative from CoxHealth that the prompt was “weird,” and that she “wasn’t associating the word COVID with her son anywhere!!!”

Along with a screenshot of Cherry’s post, Edwards tweeted the following in August: “In March, Cox decided to provide free COVID telemedicine to address the uninsured and reduce exposure risk. In the software, a coupon code had to be chosen instead of insurance field, ‘COVID.’ It was a public service. I regret anyone would think it is part of a conspiracy theory.”

In response, Cherry filed suit against Edwards and CoxHealth, claiming that the CEO’s tweets were libelous and defamatory, violated the medical privacy of her son, and damaged her business reputation, Becker’s reported. Cherry is seeking damages, attorney and court fees, and the removal of tweets that reference her.

CoxHealth and Edwards said in an emailed statement that they believe the case is without merit, and that “transparency during a pandemic can save lives.”

“We have worked to keep our community informed of what is happening on the ground, and how to keep people safe. Through this effort, social media has been a tool often used to share updates and dispel misinformation,” CoxHealth and Edwards said. “Clarifying the process to obtain free medical care during the pandemic or sharing information about COVID statistics has not been done to stigmatize anyone in our community.”

They added that, early in the pandemic, they focused on steering potential COVID patients to dedicated testing centers instead of emergency rooms to protect patients and staff from additional exposures and to help preserve PPE. The statement said they were concerned that financial barriers might cause some patients to go unnecessarily to an ER instead of testing centers.

“This reality led us to offer virtual visits for free, which also allowed a provider to guide patients to the dedicated testing facilities via telemedicine,” CoxHealth and Edwards said.

To make the telehealth appointments free, the software being used required a coupon code, and the marketing team at CoxHealth recommended ‘COVID’ to keep it simple. Though it was used by all patients, ‘COVID’ was “simply a coupon code and had nothing to do with diagnosis or how we reported COVID case numbers,” they added.

“Ms. Cherry’s statement on Facebook worried us that members of the community were wrongly suspicious that we were using the term COVID to falsely categorize patients,” CoxHealth and Edwards said. “We feared this could cause people to skip the telemedicine and dedicated testing process, and instead go to the emergency room, placing both our staff and patients at risk.”

They added that, in light of those concerns, Edwards shared Cherry’s Facebook post along with an earlier post he had made to clarify the health system’s testing procedures.

“Merely reposting her post is not a privacy violation,” CoxHealth and Edwards said.

The lawsuit remains ongoing as CoxHealth continues to see a surge in COVID cases that local public health officials have attributed to low vaccination rates and the rise of the Delta variant.

In recent days, Edwards has taken to Twitter to make an urgent plea for respiratory therapist (RT) reinforcements, and to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

On Monday, Edwards wrote on Twitter that the health system had some 125 Covid inpatients, and that it has been able to bring in 141 “‘traveling’” nurses and RTs. The day prior he tweeted: “Projections for the week of July 19 range from 153-178. This is likely well beyond our capability. Delta is so highly transmissible, if not vaccinated, you are at tremendous risk.”

In their statement in response to Cherry’s lawsuit, CoxHealth and Edwards referenced the latest wave of COVID overwhelming the local community.

“We will not allow this lawsuit to distract us from our mission to serve our community,” they said.

Cherry is being represented by attorney and former Springfield City Council member and mayoral candidate Kristi Fulnecky, who declined to comment on the litigation.

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