Spa Medical Directors, Marketing, And a Fish Sandwich

Lunch today was a fish sandwich and the July/August 2007 issue of Medesthetics Magazine. The sandwich was good, but Scott Blair's article covering medico-legal considerations for spa medical directors was juicier.

He's covered different aspects of this same topic in the past. I especially appreciate the practical approach he takes to outlining the issues as they affect doctors.

One aspect I have yet to see covered, although it is quite likely Mr. Blair has touched on this in past writings or one of his lectures, is the inherent risk and potential for disciplinary action with medical spa marketing.

I'm not a JD (nor do I play one on TV), but I do like playing at junior detective and harbinger for ethical approaches to medical marketing. The most common marketing violations we encounter, violations that we have seen trigger disciplinary action on unsuspecting physicians, are related to medical spa services.

If you own, or serve as medical director in a spa, keep in mind that it is your medical license on the line, and that most, if not all of the spa's marketing activities will be measured against your state's business and professions code.

So, following Mr. Blair's excellent example of actionable authoring, here are the issues as I see them:

1. Insist on the right to review and refuse
   Any unsolicited communication coming out of your medical spa, aka your marketing, is subject to the restrictions of your state's business and professions code, in addition to the codes set by any of your licensing boards and professional societies. Reserve the right to review all brochure content, web page text, and advertising to ensure clinical accuracy, absence of hyperbole, and adherence to your state's requirements as they relate to the display of testimonials, price based advertising, and the use of model photography.
   
   In general you will want to make sure that there are no false or misleading claims and that all price based advertising (offers of discount, etc) include all material facts about the offer (such as original price of the service, related costs, restrictions). Several states, such as NY prohibit the use of testimonials in advertising. Most states require you to disclose when an ad contains a model or stock photo.
   
2. Educate your staff
   Make sure that the medical spa manager and staff understand just how important it is that you review all marketing communications. Business managers and aestheticians may not appreciate the cost and consequence of disciplinary action if they act alone and distribute an advertisement that violates state law or another code to which you are subject.
   
3. Know the law
   I'm startled almost daily by how many of our physician clients know little to nothing about the restrictions set by their state on marketing communications. Mr. Blair said it best, "The burden is always on a physician to establish that his or her practice is compliant with applicable medical laws and regulations."
   
   And that does not just mean state code. You must understand what your medical boards and societies expect as well.
   
4. Market like the guy down the street was gunning for you
   I was surprised when I first started working in medical marketing how quick competing practices were to report one another to their state medical licensing board or societies. I have also been startled by painful demonstrations of societies singling out small groups of young doctors for even minor, unintentional marketing violations. I think you are safest to assume that your ad will end up in front of the medical board and then ask yourself, "Can I defend the design, content, claims and offers made in this piece?"

Thanks again to Scott Blair, JD, MIM, for his continuing coverage of medical spa legal issues.