PROPOSED REGULATION FOR ADVERTISING
1. For the purpose of this regulation, an advertisement is defined as any oral, written or visual promotion, in any medium, directed towards the general public.
2.
(1) An advertisement with respect to a member’s practice must not contain:
a) anything that is false or misleading;
b) anything that, because of its nature, cannot be verified;
c) a reference to specialization in any area of practice or in any procedure or treatment unless the member holds a specialist certificate issued by the College, although nothing herein shall prohibit an advertisement that contains a reference to the member’s scope of practice, or statement that the member has additional training in a particular area of practice, or a statement that the member’s practice is restricted to a particular area of practice;
d) an endorsement by an organization that does not have expertise relevant to the subject matter of the endorsement;
e) a testimonial by a patient or client or former patient or client or by a friend or relative of a patient or client; or former patient or client;
f) a reference to a drug or to a particular brand of equipment used to provide services; or
g) anything that is distasteful, undignified, unethical or unprofessional.
(2) An advertisement must be readily comprehensible to the persons to whom it is directed.
3.
(1) A member shall not contact or communicate with, or cause or allow any persons to contact or communicate with, potential patients or clients either in person or by telephone in an attempt to solicit business.
(2) Subsection (1) shall not prevent a member from:
a) reminding a person who has made an appointment or for whom a subsequent appointment has been recommended, of the appointment; or
b) communicating with his or her regular patients or clients
(i) to inform them about treatment maintenance procedures that are due to be carried out;
(ii) to inform them about communication issues, preventative programs, and recent developments in assessments or therapy; or
(iii) to inform them of a possible benefit from a change in therapy.
(3) In subsection (2), "regular patient or client" means a person who uses the professional services of the member regularly and with reasonable frequency and who has not requested the transfer of his or her records to another practitioner.
4.
(1) A member shall not appear in, or permit the use of the member’s name in, an advertisement that implies, or reasonably could be interpreted to imply, that the professional expertise of the member is relevant to the subject matter of the advertisement when in fact it is not.
(2) Subsection (1) shall not prevent a member from appearing in, or permitting the use of the member’s name in, an advertisement by a non-profit organization if the member receives no consideration for his or her appearance or the use of his or her name.