Yes. Physicians and practices may advertise as long as the ad is truthful and not misleading. The details come from three places: the AMA's ethics opinion, a handful of federal rules, and the medical board in each state where the physician is licensed.
Verified
Rules
AMA ethics
Federal rules
State boards
Are doctors allowed to advertise at all?
They are. The limits that remain are about deception, not about advertising itself: physicians advertise on the same footing as other professionals, and the rules ask that what they say be true and complete.
The AMA's Code of Medical Ethics puts the principle plainly: there are no restrictions on physician advertising except those needed to protect the public from deceptive practices. A physician may advertise in any medium, provided the ad leaves out nothing a patient needs to avoid being misled and contains nothing false.
Which federal rules apply to physician ads?
The AMA's opinion is ethics guidance, not law. The laws come from federal agencies and state boards. At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission polices deceptive advertising, including health claims, testimonials and reviews; HHS sets the privacy rules for using patient information in marketing; the Federal Communications Commission sets the consent rules for texts and calls; and HHS's inspector general enforces the rules against paying for referrals. Each rule below links to the agency's own page.
What do state medical boards add?
Every state licenses physicians through a medical board, and the board can discipline a physician for false or misleading advertising. Boards may go further, with rules on patient testimonials, before-and-after photos, how a physician may describe a specialty, what an ad must say about fees, and who must be named in an ad. The rules differ from state to state, and a practice licensed in several states has to meet each one.
Board certification claims are a frequent subject of those rules. Naming the certifying body, such as a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, and checking your board's wording before the ad runs is the safe course. The state medical board index links each board so you can check its rules directly.
How can a practice check an ad before it runs?
Most advertising problems can be caught by reading the ad as a skeptical patient would, and by asking where each claim came from. Keep a short record for each campaign of who wrote it, what each claim rests on and who approved it; it is the record a board or agency would ask for.
For the rules particular to each specialty, from photo consent in dermatology to referral rules in cardiology, see the marketing guide for the specialty.
Questions to ask
Is every statement true, and could a patient read anything into it that is not?
Does any testimonial or photo show results most patients will not get?
Did every patient shown or quoted sign a written authorization for this use?
Does the ad name the certifying board behind any claim of board certification?
Does it offer anything free, or waive any cost, for Medicare or Medicaid patients?
Have you checked the state board's advertising rule in every state the ad reaches?
Questions people ask.
Can doctors advertise their prices?
Yes. The AMA's opinion allows ads to state how fees are set and what specific services cost. Prices must be accurate and complete, and patients who pay themselves are generally owed a written good faith estimate when they schedule care, so the advertised price and the estimate should agree.
Can doctors use patient testimonials in ads?
Federally, yes, with the patient's written HIPAA authorization and only when the testimonial reflects typical results or the ad says what patients generally experience. State boards may restrict testimonials further, so check the state board index.
Can a doctor say they are board certified in an ad?
Yes, if it is true, and it is best to name the board, such as the specific member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties. State boards may set rules on how the phrase is used.
Sources
Every rule and figure on this page was read on the source’s own page on the date shown. The guide was last checked on .