Advertising a regulated health service

Professional Codes & Guidelines

To protect consumers, the National Law includes provisions about advertising regulated health services.

Advertising is actions by people or businesses to draw attention to their services. The ways people and businesses can promote services are almost limitless and include all forms of printed and electronic media.

If you are advertising a regulated health service¹, your advertising must not:

be false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to be misleading or deceptive
offer a gift, discount or other inducement, unless the terms and conditions of the offer are also stated
use testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business
create an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment, or
directly or indirectly encourage the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services.

Check and correct your advertising

Not sure you are meeting your obligations? Have you been contacted by AHPRA about your advertising? Follow these steps to make sure you comply with your professional and legal obligations:

Check all your advertising against the requirements of the National Law and identify any content or claims that do not meet these requirements.
Correct any content that does not meet the National Law (explained in our advertising guidelines common to all National Boards).
Seek advice from your insurer and/or legal adviser if you’re still not sure that you comply with the National Law.

Resources to help you

This information is for guidance only and does not replace independent legal advice. All advertising resources can be found on the AHPRA website.

Further information

¹A regulated health service means a service provided by, or usually provided by, a health practitioner (as defined in the National Law).