Illinois Advertising Rules for Medical and Wellness Practices
This brief summarizes the Illinois statutes that govern advertising by physicians, chiropractic physicians, dentists, and the med spas they supervise. Every rule below was verified against the statutory text on ilga.gov or the IDFPR site on the date shown. It is an educational summary, not legal advice.
Verified against IDFPR, Illinois State Medical Board sources, 2026-07-02
Educational summary for practice owners. Not legal advice.
Permitted advertising content and license title in every ad
Section 26 of the Medical Practice Act limits advertising by licensees to an enumerated list: name, title, office hours, address and phone; areas of specialization including board certification or practice limitations; usual and customary fees for routine services, which must carry a notice that fees may be adjusted due to complications or unforeseen circumstances; opening, change, absence or return announcements; staff additions or deletions; and business or appointment cards. Subsection (4) states that a licensee shall include in every advertisement his or her title as it appears on the license or the authorized initials. Because chiropractic physicians are licensed under this same Act, these limits apply to them as well.
225 ILCS 60/26, Medical Practice Act of 1987 checked 2026-07-02
Superiority claims, fee comparisons, guarantees, and fear or vanity appeals
Section 26(2) makes it unlawful for any Medical Practice Act licensee to use claims of superior quality of care to entice the public, and unlawful to advertise fee comparisons with other licensees. Section 26(3) prohibits statements that are false, fraudulent, deceptive or misleading, guarantees of success, statements that play upon the vanity or fears of the public, and statements that promote or produce unfair competition. The same subsection states the Act does not authorize advertising professional services the offeror is not licensed to render.
225 ILCS 60/26(2)-(3) checked 2026-07-02
Advertising the waiver of copayments and deductibles
Section 27 makes it unlawful, and punishable under the Act's criminal provision, for a licensee to knowingly advertise that they will accept a third party payor's payment as payment in full if the effect is to give the impression of eliminating the patient's required deductible or copayment. The statute defines advertise broadly to include handbills, posters, circulars, radio, newspapers, television, or any other manner, so social posts and websites fall within the definition's catch-all.
225 ILCS 60/27 checked 2026-07-02
Dental advertising: specialty disclaimers, free services, sedation terms, ad retention
The Dental Practice Act's advertising section permits a defined list of content and adds dental-specific prohibitions: no claims of superior quality, no advertising to practice dentistry without causing pain, no paying a referral service unless its ads disclose that dentists pay for referrals, and no gifts as an inducement, though free exams and free services may be advertised so long as no new patient is charged for any service at the same visit. Ads announcing specialties such as orthodontics or oral surgery by a dentist not licensed in that specialty must include a disclaimer. The term sedation dentistry may not be used without a current Department permit under Section 8.1, and dentists must keep copies of all advertisements for 3 years with accurate date and place of publication.
225 ILCS 25/45, Illinois Dental Practice Act checked 2026-07-02
Med spa staffing claims: physician delegation and laser procedures
Illinois has no standalone med spa act; delegation is governed by Section 54.2 of the Medical Practice Act. A physician may delegate patient care tasks to an unlicensed person with appropriate training only within a physician-patient relationship and only when a licensed health care professional is on site, and any delegated task must be within the delegating physician's own scope, education, training, or experience. For non-ablative laser procedures, an on-site physician exam beforehand is not required only when the facility follows a physician delegation protocol, an APRN performs the exam, a trained RN or LPN performs the procedure, and a physician is promptly reachable by phone or electronic means. Advertising that implies a different staffing or supervision model than the one actually operating invites scrutiny under Section 26(3)'s misleading-statement bar.
225 ILCS 60/54.2, physician delegation of authority checked 2026-07-02
Corporate practice of medicine posture
Under the Medical Corporation Act, one or more persons licensed under the Medical Practice Act may form a corporation to own and operate an establishment for the diagnosis and treatment of human ailments, and medical or surgical treatment, consultation, or advice may be given by the corporation's shareholders, directors, officers, agents, and employees only if they are licensed under the Medical Practice Act. Marketing that presents a non-physician-owned entity as itself providing medical care sits in tension with this structure, and Section 26(3) separately states the Act does not authorize advertising services the offeror is not licensed to render.
805 ILCS 15/2, Medical Corporation Act checked 2026-07-02
What this means by practice type
Med spas
A med spa's public-facing claims should match the Section 54.2 delegation reality: injections and laser services marketed as physician-directed require an actual delegating physician whose own training covers the procedure, an on-site licensed professional when unlicensed staff perform tasks, and the specific four-condition protocol for non-ablative laser work. Every ad for regulated services should carry the supervising licensee's title as it appears on the license per Section 26(4), and superiority language such as best injectors in Chicago is unlawful under Section 26(2).(225 ILCS 60/54.2)
Dental
Dental marketing has the most granular Illinois rules of any vertical covered here: specialty announcements need a no-license-in-that-specialty disclaimer where applicable, the phrase sedation dentistry requires a Department anesthesia or sedation permit, free-exam promotions bar charging that new patient anything at the same visit, and the practice must archive every advertisement for 3 years with date and place of publication. Painless dentistry claims are flatly unlawful.(225 ILCS 25/45)
Chiropractic
Illinois licenses chiropractic physicians under the Medical Practice Act itself, defined as persons licensed to treat human ailments without drugs and without operative surgery, so the full Section 26 advertising regime applies: enumerated content only, license title in every ad, no superiority claims, no fee comparisons. Ads that suggest treatment outside that drug-free, non-surgical scope run into Section 26(3)'s bar on advertising services the offeror is not licensed to render.(225 ILCS 60/2, definitions)
Longevity and GLP-1
Weight-loss and longevity marketing collides directly with Section 26(3): guarantees of success are prohibited, as are statements that play upon the vanity or fears of the public, which is the natural reading a regulator would apply to dramatic transformation promises. GLP-1 programs offered through a clinic entity should also be checked against the Medical Corporation Act ownership structure and, if delivered remotely, the Telehealth Act's Illinois-licensure requirement.(225 ILCS 60/26(3))
Telehealth posture
The Illinois Telehealth Act states that a health care professional treating a patient located in Illinois through telehealth services must be licensed or authorized to practice in Illinois, with narrow temporary-permit exceptions. Section 15 permits telehealth only within the professional's existing scope of practice and consistent with the standards of care for in-person services, and expressly does not authorize delivering care in a manner not otherwise permitted by state law. Marketing statewide virtual GLP-1, hormone, or IV consult programs therefore presumes an Illinois-licensed prescriber behind every patient encounter.
225 ILCS 150/10 and 150/15, Telehealth Act checked 2026-07-02
Markets in Illinois
Common questions
Can an Illinois med spa or medical practice advertise discounts?
The Medical Practice Act limits advertising to an enumerated list that includes usual and customary fees for routine services, with a required notice that fees may be adjusted due to complications or unforeseen circumstances; the statute does not expressly address discount promotions, and fee comparisons with other licensees are unlawful. Section 27 separately makes it unlawful to advertise accepting insurance payment as payment in full where that implies waiving copays or deductibles. Dentists may advertise free exams or free services but may not charge that new patient for anything at the same visit and may not offer gifts as an inducement.
Are patient testimonials and before-and-after photos allowed in Illinois?
The board's published statutes do not address testimonials or before-and-after photos by name. Section 26 of the Medical Practice Act instead limits advertising to specific enumerated categories, and testimonials and photo galleries are not among them; the section also prohibits claims of superior quality, guarantees of success, and statements that play on vanity or fears, which is where testimonial and transformation content most often fails. A practice using this content should review it against those prohibitions with counsel rather than assume permission from silence.
Who can own a medical practice or med spa in Illinois?
Under the Medical Corporation Act, a corporation formed to operate an establishment for the diagnosis and treatment of human ailments is formed by persons licensed under the Medical Practice Act, and medical treatment, consultation, or advice may be given by its shareholders, directors, officers, agents, and employees only if they hold that license. Illinois is therefore treated as a corporate-practice-of-medicine state, and non-physician med spa owners typically structure around a licensed physician entity; the specific structure is a question for an Illinois healthcare attorney.
Marketing that survives your board
The free growth audit includes a compliance read of your current site and ads against your state's advertising rules.