844 IAC 5-2-13 Advertising

Sec. 13. (a) A practitioner shall not, on behalf of himself/herself, a partner, associate, shareholder in a professional corporation, or any other practitioner or specific health care provider affiliated with the practitioner, use, or participate in the use of, any form of public communication containing a false, fraudulent, misleading, deceptive, or unfair statement or claim. (b) Subject to the requirements of subsection (a), and in order to facilitate the process of informed selection of a practitioner by the public, a practitioner may advertise services through the public media including, but not limited to, a telephone directory, physicians' or osteopaths' directory, newspaper or other periodical, radio or television, or through written communication not involving personal contact, provided that the advertisement is dignified and confines itself to the existence, scope, nature, and field of practice of the practitioner. (c) If the advertisement is communicated to the public by radio, cable, or television, it shall be prerecorded, approved for broadcast by the practitioner, and a recording and transcript of the actual transmission shall be retained by the practitioner for a period of five (5) years from the last date of broadcast. (d) If a practitioner advertises a fee for a service, treatment, consultation, examination, radiographic study, or other procedure, the practitioner must render that service or procedure for no more than the fee advertised. (e) Unless otherwise specified in the advertisement, if a practitioner publishes or communicates any fee information in a publication that is published more frequently than one (1) time per month, the practitioner shall be bound by any representation made therein for a period of thirty (30) days after the publication date. If a practitioner publishes or communicates any fee information in a publication that is published once a month or less frequently, the practitioner shall be bound by any representation made therein until the publication of the succeeding issue. If a practitioner publishes or communicates any fee information in a publication which has no fixed date for publication of a succeeding issue, the practitioner shall be bound by any representation made therein for one (1) year. (f) Unless otherwise specified, if a practitioner broadcasts any fee information by radio, cable, or television, the practitioner shall be bound by any representation made therein for a period of ninety (90) days after such broadcast. (g) Except as otherwise specified in this article, a practitioner shall not contact or solicit individual members of the public personally or through an agent in order to offer services to such person or persons unless that individual initiated contact with the practitioner for the purpose of engaging that practitioner's professional services.