Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1) The Board
permits the dissemination to the public of legitimate information, in
accordance with the Board's rules, regarding the practice of medicine and where
and from whom medical services may be obtained, so long as such information is
in no way false, deceptive, or misleading.
(2) No physician shall disseminate or cause
the dissemination of any advertisement or advertising which is in any way
false, deceptive, or misleading. Any advertisement or advertising shall be
deemed by the Board to be false, deceptive, or misleading if it:
(a) Contains a misrepresentation of facts,
or
(b) Makes only a partial
disclosure of relevant facts, or
(c) Creates false or unjustified expectations
of beneficial assistance, or
(d)
Contains any representation or claims, as to which the physician, referred to
in the advertising, does not expect to perform, or
(e) Contains any other representation,
statement, or claim which misleads or deceives, or
(f) States or implies that the physician has
received formal recognition as a specialist in any aspect of the practice of
medicine unless the physician has in fact received such recognition and such
recognizing agency is approved by the Board. However, a physician may use on
letterhead or in advertising a reference to the physician's specialty
recognition received from a recognizing agency that has not been approved by
the Board only if the letterhead or advertising also contains in the same print
size or volume the statement that "The specialty recognition identified herein
has been received from a private organization not affiliated with or recognized
by the Florida Board of Medicine." For purposes of this rule, the Board
approves the specialty boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties
(ABMS) as recognizing agencies, and such other recognizing agencies as may
request and receive future approval by the Board based upon the following
criteria:
1. The recognizing agency must be an
independent body that certifies members as having advanced qualifications in a
particular allopathic medical specialty through peer-reviewed demonstrations of
competence in the specialty being recognized.
2. Specialty recognition must require
completion of an allopathic medical residency program approved by either the
Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or the Royal
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada that includes substantial and
identifiable training in the allopathic specialty being recognized.
3. Specialty recognition must require
successful completion of a comprehensive examination administered by the
recognizing agency pursuant to written procedures that ensure adequate security
and appropriate grading standards.
4. The recognizing agency must have been
determined by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States to be a
legitimate not for profit entity pursuant to Section
501(c) of the
Internal Revenue Code.
5. The
recognizing agency must have full time administrative staff, housed in
dedicated office space which is appropriate for the agency's program and
sufficient for responding to consumer or regulatory inquiries.
6. The recognizing agency must have written
by-laws, and a code of ethics to guide the practice of its members and an
internal review and control process including budgetary practices, to ensure
effective utilization of resources. However, a physician may indicate the
services offered and may state that practice is limited to one or more types of
services when this is in fact the case, or
(g) Represents that professional services can
or will be competently performed for a stated fee when this is not the case, or
makes representations with respect to fees for professional services that do
not disclose all variables affecting the fees that will in fact be charged,
or
(h) Conveys the impression that
the physician disseminating the advertising or referred to therein possesses
qualifications, skills, or other attributes, which are superior to other
physicians, other than a simple listing of earned professional post-doctoral or
other professional achievements recognized by the Board, or
(i) Fails to conspicuously identify the
physician by name in the advertisement, or
(j) Includes reference to specialty
certification without identifying the name of the specialty board that has
awarded specialty certification, or
(k) Implies specialty or sub-specialty for
which the physician has not received specialty recognition.
(3) As used in the rules of this Board, the
terms "advertisement" and "advertising" shall mean any statements, oral or
written, disseminated to or before the public or any portion thereof, with the
intent of furthering the purpose, either directly or indirectly, of selling
professional services, or offering to perform professional services, or
inducing members of the public to enter into any obligation relating to such
professional services.
(4) It shall
be the responsibility of any duly licensed physician who utilizes the
electronic media for the purpose of advertising to insure that an exact copy of
the audio tape and/or video tape is maintained and preserved for a period of at
least six months from the date that the actual advertisement is aired or shown
through the electronic media.
(5)
Any duly licensed physician who solicits patients personally or through an
agent shall be responsible for any advertising used to solicit such patients.
For purposes of this rule and section
458.331(1)(l),
F.S., soliciting patients through an agent shall include accepting patients who
are referred by a corporate or business entity with whom the licensee has an
employment or contractual relationship to perform medical services or to
perform medical diagnosis, but does not include accepting patient pursuant to
managed care plans, licensed or certified by the Florida Department of
Insurance.
(6) Any physician who
advertises by, through or with a referral service shall be held responsible for
the content of such advertising and all such advertisements shall comply with
this rule and contain the following:
(a) A
statement that the advertisement is for a medical referral service and is in
the behalf of the physician members of the referral service.
(b) A statement that the referral service
refers only to those physicians who have paid or been otherwise selected for
membership in the referral service.
(c) A statement that membership in the
referral service is limited by the referral agency.
(d) A statement that physicians who receive
referrals from the referral service charge no more than their usual and
customary professional fees for service.
(e) These required statements shall be
present in reasonably recognizable print or volume equivalent to the size or
volume of other information in the advertisement.
(7) No person licensed pursuant to chapter
458, F.S., shall disseminate or cause the dissemination of any advertisement or
advertising that contains the licensee's name without clearly identifying the
licensee as either a medical doctor (M.D.), physician assistant (P.A.), or
anesthesiologist assistant (A.A.).
(8) The recognizing agencies currently
approved by the Board of Medicine include:
(a)
American Board of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Inc. (Approved
February 1997).
(b) American Board
of Pain Medicine (Approved August 1999).
(c) American Association of Physician
Specialists, Inc./American Board of Physician Specialties (Approved February
2002).
(d) American Board of
Interventional Pain Physicians (Approved June 2010).
(e) American Board of Vascular Medicine
(Approved December 2014).
(f)
United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (Approved April 2017).
(g) American Board of Electrodiagnositic
Medicine (Approved October 2017).
Rulemaking Authority
458.309 FS. Law Implemented
456.072(1)(t),
458.331(1)(d), (l), (n),
(o),
458.3312
FS.
New 3-31-80, Formerly 21M-24.01, Amended 11-15-88, Formerly
21M-24.001, Amended 12-5-93, Formerly 61F6-24.001, Amended 4-3-95, 4-16-96,
5-29-97, 5-7-97, Formerly 59R-11.001, Amended 1-31-01, 9-1-02, 1-16-07,
10-17-10, 11-20-12, 3-2-15, 9-4-17, 2-26-18,
11-16-20.
