Do you actually understand the Ahpra advertising requirements?

As health professionals, we are familiar with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (Ahpra). Primarily, Ahpra with the 15 National Boards, regulate registered health professions to keep the public safe. The advertising guidelines are one aspect of Ahpra’s role in protecting the healthcare of an individual.

As a service industry, our focus is on clinical outcomes rather than self-promotion. Marketing or advertising is avoided partly due to the fear of Ahpra regulations & the potential for disciplinary action. We prefer to rely on word of mouth and the happy customer, as rapport building is the essence of who we are in healthcare.

Due to this discomfort with advertising, health services often outsource their marketing to agencies. However, many of these agencies are not aware of the limitations of health advertising. In this blog, we’ll cover some of the FAQ’s of health businesses and how you can safely market your skills to your client base.

Why is health advertising regulated?

Put simply, the core role of the National Boards and Ahpra is to protect the public. Advertising when not done correctly can result in misinformation and potentially cause harm to the individual. Ahpra outlines:

• False or misleading claims have the potential to cause confusion and poor outcomes
• Claims need to be supported by evidence and risks should be explained

As part of our health professional training, we are taught to comply with our board's competencies which closely align with these regulations. You shouldn’t find any of the Ahpra requirements outside of what you do in your day-to-day practice.

What is advertising?

Ahpra has clearly outlined advertising as:

Advertising Definition

• This includes all forms of verbal, printed and electronic communication that promotes and seeks to attract a person to a regulated health service provider and /or to attract a person to use the regulated health service.
• It is not a practitioner providing information about treatment or costs in a consultation, whether in person, by telephone or video or via other digital means.

What can a health regulated business advertise?

• Your qualifications, stated as they were given by the organisation. Further clarify if you hold a “Dr” title, as this can be misconstrued as a medical doctor, so explain your PhD.
• Health education and content that's based on acceptable evidence. But be mindful that the reader won’t be able to clarify whether a treatment is appropriate for them. Information should be general rather than individualised. An option for more specific resources may be a members-only or password-protected tab on your website.
• Your services and operating hours. If you offer Telehealth, include this as a service you offer with useful tips to reassure those unsure of a different service modality.
• Who you are, what your passions are (personal & professional) and why you entered your industry. Be human. This helps to make your clients feel safe and valued.

What can't you advertise?

As a regulated health business, Ahpra outlines that you can't:

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

Ahpra regulations & testimonials

Testimonials can be a contentious issue and are not always demonstrated well across all health websites. In the context of National Law, testimonials are positive statements or recommendations about the clinical aspects of a regulated health service (Ahpra Advertising Guidelines 2020).

Third-party sites, such as local social media group pages and external review sites are not within your control. Your social media accounts & website are under your control. Be mindful of who you hand over the responsibility of these sites to, as the regulated health service will be considered accountable. All social media accounts & your website need to be monitored closely (or simply consider disabling the review or testimonial function).

Acceptable Example – “Louise had a great manner with my child & the admin team were really helpful.”

Always check against the Ahpra guidelines before you post anything that may be considered a testimonial.

Note this applies to regulated health services. If you are a business to business (B2B) health care provider e.g. business coach, then Ahpra regulations do not apply.

Ahpra regulations and social media

By now you’ve probably realised the advertising guidelines extend to social media. As do the National Boards code of conduct, ethics and privacy rules. Social media should be and will continue to be part of your business plan, marketing & engagement with your clients. Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay.

But, you can make social media work for you, and many health providers are doing this in an entertaining, ethical & compliant way. Look at some of the pages of dermatologists, obstetricians and plastic surgeons in Australia. They’ve realised that to succeed in today’s world you need to have some form of presence where your target audience frequently engages.

Tips for social media:

• Maintain professional boundaries.
• Be careful with your images. Ensure nothing in the background could be considered a breach (e.g. patient identification on an x-ray).
• Show your personality and your team. You are in a caring profession for a reason, your existing clients keep coming back to see you!

Does your health marketing comply?

If you are practising clinically within your professional standards, you will likely complete your digital content in a similar framework. However, be cautious around some terminology.

• "Safe", "specialist", "cure", "best" need to be avoided. There should be no room for misinterpretation by the reader.
• Be honest about what you offer. Don’t use elaborate language that may confuse the reader.
• Check that your information is explained thoroughly & clearly. Don’t mislead your reader by leaving important information out of your content.
• Ensure you are compliant with National Board standards and Ahpra.
• Use the self-assessment tool located on the Ahpra web page.

Take time to read through the Ahpra information on their website. It is clear, easily read and has good examples of what is correct and incorrect. And if you still are unsure, check with your professional indemnity or legal adviser.

Ultimately, Ahpra advertising guidelines protect the public from misinformation. As Ahpra explains - Check, Correct & Comply. Then target your clients with the information that they need or the questions that you and your team are repeatedly answering. Safely marketing your services are generally at the heart of all health professional's business goals. Ahpra recognises that advertising can be a helpful and effective way to communicate services available to the public. Share your knowledge. Protect the future.

Useful links:

https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Publications/Advertising-hub/Advertising-guidelines-and-other-guidance/Advertising-guidelines.aspx.

https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Publications/Advertising-hub.aspx

https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Publications/Social-media-guidance.aspx