Research & open data
The rules, state by state.
How you may advertise a clinic or a contracting business differs more between California, New York and Florida than most agencies realize. Here it is in one table, with a source on every cell. Where we haven't verified something, it says so rather than guessing.
| Rule | California | New York | Florida |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate practice of medicine barClinicsRead more | YesCorporations have no professional rights, privileges or powers.Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 2400 | Yes — strictest of the threeOnly individuals may be licensed to practice medicine.NY Education Law Art. 131 (NYSED) | No statuteOwnership of the business is not restricted to physicians.Florida CPOM guide (Permit Health) |
| Who may own the clinical entityClinicsRead more | Physician-majority professional corporationAt least 51% California-licensed physicians; the rest limited to listed allied professionals.Medical Board of California — Medical Spas | Licensed physicians onlyMedical PC, PLLC or LLP; shares and memberships restricted to Article 131 physicians.NY Education Law Art. 131 (NYSED) | AnyoneIncluding non-clinical investors. A licensed physician must still act as medical director.Florida CPOM guide (Permit Health) |
| State clinic license triggerClinicsRead more | Not yet verified | Not yet verified | AHCA Health Care Clinic LicenseGenerally required where the practice is not wholly physician-owned and bills insurance.Florida AHCA — Health Care Clinic licensure |
| Law governing healthcare advertisingClinicsRead more | Profession-specific: B&P § 651Images must show actual, unaltered results; a model must be labeled as a model, prominently; each price clearly identifiable. A misdemeanor.Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 651 | General consumer law: GBL § 349Expanded by the FAIR Business Practices Act, effective Feb 17 2026, to cover unfair and abusive practices as well as deceptive ones.FAIR Business Practices Act (Arnold & Porter summary) | General consumer law: FDUTPAProhibits unfair methods of competition and unconscionable, unfair or deceptive acts.Fla. Stat. § 501.204 |
| Can a customer sue over a deceptive ad?EveryoneRead more | Not yet verified | Yes — deception onlyActual damages or $50; trebled up to $1,000 if wilful; fees to a prevailing plaintiff. Unfair and abusive prongs are enforced by the Attorney General alone.NY Gen. Bus. Law § 349 | YesActual damages; the court may award fees to the prevailing party — either side.Fla. Stat. § 501.2105 |
| State privacy law covering health dataClinicsRead more | CCPA / CPRA — above thresholdsHealth data is sensitive personal information. Applies above $26.625M revenue, or 100,000+ California consumers, households or devices a year.California Privacy Protection Agency — monetary thresholds | None in forceThe Health Information Privacy Act was vetoed on Dec 19 2025; a revised bill was introduced in 2026.NY Health Information Privacy Act veto (HIPAA Journal) | Not yet verified |
| Contractor license number required in adsContractorsRead more | Yes — every ad, every mediumIncluding vehicles, directories, yard signs and online ads.Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7030.5 (CSLB) | Not yet verified | Yes — regardless of mediumBoard rule 61G4-12.011 extends it to websites, email and social posts. First offense: notice of noncompliance.Fla. Stat. § 489.119 |
This is a marketer's summary for orientation, not legal advice. For decisions about your structure, talk to a healthcare or construction attorney licensed in your state.
Across every state
The OCR pixel guidance for public webpages was vacated
In June 2024 a federal court held HHS exceeded its authority in applying HIPAA to tracking on unauthenticated pages, and vacated that part of the guidance. Guidance for patient portals stands, as does HIPAA itself, FTC authority and state law.
Meta rejects ads that imply knowledge of the viewer's health
The Personal Attributes policy prohibits asserting or implying that someone has a medical condition. In practice, second-person health copy is the most common rejection in the category.
The FTC found HomeAdvisor misrepresented its leads
Its final order, approved April 2023, followed allegations that HomeAdvisor overstated lead quality and conversion rates and sent leads outside a contractor's services or area. Up to $7.2 million.
What we've measured
Real accounts, published with the client's permission. Volumes and conversion rates only — see the note on method below.
Padgett Medical Center
Weight loss clinic · Ocala & Tampa, FL · First 30 days after relaunch
- Leads
- 150
- 80 paid, 70 organic search
- Appointments booked
- 54
- New patients
- 36
- 36% leads → appointments booked
- 67% appointments booked → new patients
Before: 20 leads across six months; none closed.
Method
- Legal entries are checked against the statute, the regulator, or a named law-firm summary, and re-checked at least twice a year. The date above is the last full check.
- Client figures reconcile against the reporting sheets, and are published only with permission.
- We don't publish cost-per-lead or cost-per-patient for clients on older pricing — it would understate what a new client should expect.
- A vertical-and-market benchmark goes up only once at least 3 accounts sit behind it. One account is an anecdote.
- We don't repeat vendor “industry average” figures. The companies publishing them usually sell the thing being measured.
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