Compliance

Advertising Rules for Health Professionals

(Ahpra - December 2020)

December 2020 Guidelines

Official Resources

TL;DR - Ahpra Advertising Guidelines

Under section 133 of the National Law, you must not advertise in a way that:

"(a) is false, misleading or deceptive... (b) offers a gift, discount or other inducement... unless the advertisement also states the terms and conditions... (c) uses testimonials... (d) creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment; or (e) directly or indirectly encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services." (p.21)

1. False or misleading: Claims must be accurate and supported by acceptable evidence (peer-reviewed research).
2. Title misuse: Only use "specialist" with registration. "Dr" must state profession if not a medical practitioner.
3. Gifts/discounts: Any inducement must clearly state conditions.
4. Testimonials: Cannot publish patient reviews about clinical outcomes on platforms you control. Third-party platforms (e.g. Google) are OK.
5. Unrealistic expectations: No "guaranteed results", "miracle cure", "risk-free", or misleading before/after images.
6. Unnecessary treatment: No artificial urgency or promoting treatment without clinical indication.

What this means for Health Professionals

You can:

Provide factual, evidence-based information
List qualifications accurately
Have third-party reviews you do not control
Offer discounts with clear terms
Invite patients to provide feedback or leave a review on independent third-party platforms, provided you do not publish, republish, edit or otherwise use testimonials in advertising you control

You cannot:

Use testimonials in advertising you control
Exaggerate outcomes
Imply specialist status without registration
Guarantee results
Create unnecessary urgency
Encourage treatment without clinical need

1. No False or Misleading Claims

"Advertisers... must be able to substantiate claims made in advertising." (p.10)

In practice:

Claims must be supported by acceptable evidence (generally peer-reviewed research).
No exaggeration of outcomes.
No selective or incomplete comparisons.
No implying skills, qualifications or registration you do not hold.
If you claim something works, you must be able to defend it scientifically.

2. Titles and Specialist Claims

You cannot claim to be a specialist unless you hold recognised specialist registration.

A practitioner may not "claim to be a 'specialist'... when they do not hold specialist registration." (p.11)

Using words like "specialist", "specialises in", or similar may mislead the public if you are not registered as such.

Use of "Dr"

If 'Dr' is used and does not refer to a registered medical practitioner, "the profession... should be made clear." (p.13)

Example

Dr Smith (Podiatrist)

3. Gifts and Discounts

You may advertise discounts or inducements only if:

"the advertisement also states the terms and conditions of the offer." (p.21)

Terms must be clear and accessible (p.14).

You cannot:

Advertise "free" if costs are recovered elsewhere.
Hide eligibility restrictions.
Create misleading offers.

4. Testimonials (Strict Rule)

You must not use testimonials in advertising.

You must not advertise in a way that "uses testimonials or purported testimonials..." (p.21)

A testimonial includes:

"positive statements about the clinical aspects of a regulated health service used in advertising." (p.15)

Clinical aspects include symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, or outcomes (p.15).

What this means:

You cannot:

Publish patient outcome reviews on your website
Share clinical "success stories"
Republish Google reviews
Use edited or selective reviews

Testimonials that are:

"selectively published or edited, or... fake" are prohibited (p.14).

Third-party sites

The prohibition:

"does not affect patients sharing information... posting reviews on review platforms." (p.15)

You are:

"not responsible for removing... testimonials published on platforms they do not control." (p.16)

Simple rule:
If you control the platform, you are responsible.
If you don't control it (e.g. Google), patients may post reviews.

5. No Unrealistic Expectations

You must not:

"create an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment." (p.21)

This includes:

"Guaranteed results"
"Miracle cure"
"Risk-free"
Before/after images implying typical outcomes

Patient stories may also create unreasonable expectations (p.17).

6. No Encouraging Unnecessary Treatment