Six principles we work by.
- Every clinical statement is reviewed and approved by the doctor or organization it represents.
- No guarantees of outcomes, cures or results, and no claims that cannot be supported.
- No fake, purchased or filtered reviews or testimonials.
- Patient stories, images and data are used only with documented, informed consent.
- We avoid handling patient health information wherever possible, and never put it in marketing tools.
- Campaigns are planned around the rules of each country, professional regulator and advertising platform.
The rules we plan around.
Medical advertising is regulated differently in every country, and often by several bodies at once. These are examples of the frameworks we take into account. They are a starting point, not a complete list, and requirements change.
United States
The Federal Trade Commission's rules on truthful advertising, health claims and endorsements and reviews; the HIPAA Privacy Rule, including its limits on using protected health information for marketing; state medical board rules; and FDA rules where drugs or medical devices are promoted.
United Kingdom
The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising (CAP Code) enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority; General Medical Council guidance on how doctors share information about their services; the ban on advertising prescription-only medicines to the public; and UK GDPR.
India
The National Medical Commission's professional conduct regulations for registered medical practitioners, which restrict self-promotion; the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act; the Advertising Standards Council of India code; and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
United Arab Emirates and the Gulf
Health authority rules on medical advertising, which in many emirates and Gulf countries require approval before healthcare advertisements are published, alongside national data protection laws.
European Union and elsewhere
National medical advertising laws, professional council codes and the General Data Protection Regulation, plus local rules in each market we support, such as Canada, Australia and Singapore.
Advertising platform policies.
Google, Meta and other platforms have their own healthcare advertising policies, which can be stricter than the law. They restrict, for example, certain treatments, prescription medicines, before-and-after imagery, personal health targeting and some categories of services that require certification. We check every campaign against the current policy of each platform before launch.
Protecting patient privacy.
We design marketing so that patient health information is not needed. Tracking, analytics and advertising tools are configured to avoid capturing sensitive health data, especially on appointment and enquiry pages. Where a project genuinely requires access to patient information, we agree the safeguards, contracts and access limits with the client first, in line with the laws that apply.
Reviews and testimonials.
We help clients ask real patients for honest feedback, on the platforms patients already use. We never write, buy, incentivize or selectively filter reviews. Replies to reviews never confirm that someone is a patient or disclose any health information. Testimonials are used only with written consent and only where the applicable rules allow them.
Accurate content, human review.
Our team may use AI tools to help research and draft content. Every piece is edited by people and reviewed by the responsible doctor or client before publication, and clinical claims are checked against reliable sources. Illustrative AI images are never presented as real patients, clients or results.
A shared responsibility.
Doctors and healthcare organizations remain responsible for the claims made in their name and for meeting the rules of their regulators. We bring experience of how these rules apply to marketing, but this page is not legal advice. Where a question needs a legal opinion, we recommend involving a qualified lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction.
If you have a compliance question about your marketing, book a strategy call or email info@hospitalsuccess.com.