Effective Monday 14th December, the revised Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service come into effect.
The National Boards and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), have noted that the revised guidelines, which are the result of a consultation process to which the ADA contributed, are intended to clearly explain how advertising for a regulated health service should be conducted.
Accompanying the new guidelines is an updated Advertising compliance and enforcement strategy for the National Scheme and an Evaluation snapshot, an overview of the evaluation of the strategy.
The ADA welcomes the revision, noting that they are an improvement on the existing information and that Ahpra has committed to working towards further improvements in this area.
Changes to the guidelines include:
– additional content about testimonials, titles and claims about registration, competence and qualifications
– new content about the evidence required for claims about effectiveness of a regulated health service and what is acceptable evidence
– re-structuring of the guidelines to reflect the sections of the National Law so that information is easier to find, and
– new flowcharts to help advertisers assess when advertising needs to be supported by acceptable evidence and whether a review is considered a testimonial.
Summary of changes to the strategy
Changes to the strategy include:
– recognition that false or misleading claims about a public health emergency such as COVID-19 may be identified as high risk (critical or major)
– revised education and engagement activities to support compliance
– introducing a new section to highlight our compliance and enforcement approach to the prohibition on using testimonials in advertising, and
– introducing the staged implementation of a new proactive approach to audit of declarations practitioners will make at renewal of registration about their compliance with the advertising requirements.
For copies of the guidelines and strategy and for further Ahpra advertising resources, go to Ahpra publications – resources
