No testimonials about clinical aspects in health service advertising

The rule

If you advertise a regulated health service (one provided by a registered health practitioner), your advertising can't use testimonials. Ahpra defines a testimonial as a positive statement about a clinical aspect:

• the symptom or reason for treatment;
• the diagnosis or treatment;
• the outcome, or the practitioner's skill.

What Ahpra's page says, in short

• Non-clinical comments are fine. Comments about customer service or communication style aren't testimonials and can be used.
• Social media is advertising. A clinic's business page can't include testimonials. If the platform won't let you remove them, Ahpra suggests turning the reviews function off.
• You're responsible for what you control: your website, your business social pages, and anything you publish or ask someone else to publish.
• Don't selectively edit reviews. Turning a mixed review into a positive one, or publishing only the good parts, can be misleading.
• Take care replying to reviews on third-party sites. Ahpra says engaging with them may count as using a testimonial to advertise.
• Reviews you don't control, on sites that don't advertise your service, aren't your responsibility to remove.

What it means for your clinic

• No "client stories" or results quotes in ads, posts, emails or texts.
• Thank-you replies to reviews stay general and never repeat the clinical detail.

Used in

Cosmetics lessons 05 and 10. Physio lessons 06, 08 and 10.