AHPRA
WHAT IS AHPRA?
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is the national
organisation that supports and regulates 15 National Health Practitioner Boards.
Its main role is to protect the public by regulating health professionals registered in Australia.
They do this by setting standards and guidelines that all registered healthcare professionals must meet.
In addition, AHPRA’s guidelines are also there to:
- Give patients access to accurate and clear information to make medical decisions.
- Protect patients from false, misleading or deceptive health advertising. This is especially important given the trust patients have in their healthcare professionals.
- Make sure you understand how to sell your services without jeopardising your registration.
Dr Matthew Broadhead -
Orthopaedic Surgeon with the OMD Team
HOW DOES AHPRA DEFINE ADVERTISING?
According to AHPRA, advertising is any form of communication used to promote your services in order to attract people to your practice. It includes all forms of verbal, printed and electronic media including:
Any public
communication:
including television, radio, newspapers, billboards, books, lists, designs, mobile communications, or other displays.
Promotional printed or
electronic materials:
such as business cards, office signs, letterhead, telephone directory listings, professional lists, professional directory listings, and similar professional notices.
Social media:
such as social networking sites, professional networking sites, discussion forums, media sharing, content production, booking sites, and apps.
Professional websites:
internet advertising,
and directories.
However, speaking to a patient about a recommended treatment and its costs in a consultation,
whether in person, by telephone, video or via other digital means, is not considered advertising.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ADVERTISING?
An advertiser is any person, business or corporate entity that advertises a regulated
health service and must comply with the advertising requirements of the National Law.”
- AHPRA & National Boards
If you are advertising as a regulated health service (even if you are not a registered professional yourself), you must comply with AHPRA’s advertising guidelines. You are responsible for your advertising, even if it is produced by others, so it is vital to ensure that you are aware of your total advertising efforts, and if it is compliant.
If you are not compliant and do get caught or reported to AHPRA, you may be faced with the following; based on the risk you are posing to public safety:
- You may receive a letter advising that your advertising is in breach of the guidelines and showing you what you need to change within a given time-frame
- You can receive a significant fine if you are not compliant
- Your registration may be restricted which may impact your ability to continue practicing
- You may face disciplinary action that may threaten your continued registration if the breach poses a high enough risk to the public
WHICH PROFESSIONS DO THE FOLLOWING
GUIDELINES APPLY TO?
In general, if you provide a health service (even if you are not a registered professional yourself)
you should consider your profession as requiring you to follow AHPRA’s guidelines.
In general though, if you practice in any of the following areas
(listed alphabetically), these guidelines will apply.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners
- Chinese Medicine Practitioners
- Chiropractics
- Dental Practitioners
- Medical Practitioners (Including Plastic and Orthopaedic surgeons)
- Medical Radiation Practitioners
- Nurses
- Midwives
- Occupational Therapists
- Optometrists
- Osteopaths
- Paramedics
- Pharmacists
- Physiotherapists
- Podiatrists
Dr Siva Chandrasekaran -
Orthopaedic Surgeon & Owner of MOATI with Huyen Truong
COMPLIANT HEALTHCARE ADVERTISING
CHECKLIST
There are quite a lot of useful details in AHPRA’s guidelines, including tips and examples to make it easier to follow along and understand their intentions.
As a high-level summary, AHPRA states that registered health professionals must not advertise their services in any way that:
Is false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to be misleading or deceptive
Offers a gift, discount or other inducements, unless the terms and conditions of the offer are also stated
Uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business
Creates an unreasonable expectation of benefits of any treatment
Directly or indirectly encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated health services
To help simplify these AHPRA’s guidelines, we have created this
checklist for you to make sure your advertising is in line with
Download our FREE AHPRA Compliant
Advertising Checklist Now
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO NEXT?
REVIEW YOUR CONTENT AND ADVERTISING
Dr Geoff Cashion - Owner of Vasectomy Australia
with Huyen Truong and Steven Tait
After reading through our checklist, our recommended next step is to review your website, blogs, social media posts, digital ads and any other form of advertising you are currently
engaged in, to see how compliant your advertising is.
If you have identified any potential issues with your advertising, you should correct any breaches found as soon as possible to avoid future penalties.
BOOK YOUR AHPRA COMPLIANCE AUDIT
WITH ONLINE MARKETING FOR DOCTORS
We understand that like most health practitioners, you are probably busy looking after your patients and might not have time to check to ensure if your advertising is compliant.
This is where our expertise and over 10 years of AHPRA-compliant medical experience can help you. We can help you avoid any potential breaches and make sure you are on the right side of AHPRA guidelines, so you can focus on what you do best - treating your patients!
Simply enter your details below to get your FREE AHPRA
Compliant Advertising Checklist sent directly to your email
What
OUR CLIENTS SAY
“Over the last 12 months we have increased the web traffic by over 100% and also increased the conversion by over 100%.”
Dr Naveen Somia
MBBS, PhD, FRACS, Plastic Surgeon