Oregon Advertising Rules for Med Spas and Healthcare Practices
A verified summary of Oregon's advertising standards for medical, dental, chiropractic, med spa, and longevity practices. Every rule below was read in the cited statute, administrative rule, or board publication. Nothing is included that could not be verified. Educational summary, not legal advice.
Verified against Oregon Medical Board sources, 2026-07-02
Educational summary for practice owners. Not legal advice.
False or misleading advertising by physicians, PAs, and acupuncturists
ORS 677.190 lists the grounds on which the Oregon Medical Board may discipline licensees. Subsection (12) covers using the licensee's name under a designation such as doctor, Dr., M.D., D.O., D.P.M., Acupuncturist, or P.A. in any form of advertising that is untruthful or is intended to deceive or mislead the public. Subsection (9) reaches statements the licensee knows, or with reasonable care should know, are false or misleading regarding skill or the efficacy or value of a medicine, treatment, or remedy, and subsection (3) prohibits representing that a manifestly incurable condition can be cured. Obtaining any fee by fraud or misrepresentation is a separate ground under subsection (4).
ORS 677.190 checked 2026-07-02
Dental advertising standard
ORS 679.140(2)(d) defines unprofessional conduct for dentists to include making use of any advertising statements of a character tending to deceive or mislead the public or that are untruthful. The statute gives the Oregon Board of Dentistry authority to discipline a licensee on that basis. The standard is broad and applies to the tendency of the statement, not only to proven falsity.
ORS 679.140(2)(d) checked 2026-07-02
Dental fees, discounts, rebates, and misrepresentation
The Board of Dentistry's unprofessional conduct rule prohibits attempting to obtain a fee by fraud or misrepresentation, offering or accepting rebates, split fees, or commissions for patient services from anyone other than a partner, employer, or employee, and misrepresenting facts to a patient concerning treatment or fees. The rule states that giving cash discounts without disclosing them to third party payers is not fraud or misrepresentation, and it separately requires licensees to present a treatment plan with estimated costs when a patient requests one. It also folds in unlawful trade practices as defined in ORS 646.605 to 646.608.
OAR 818-012-0030 checked 2026-07-02
Chiropractic advertising, success-rate claims, and credential claims
The Board of Chiropractic Examiners' advertising rule prohibits improper advertising, defined to include any communication containing a fact that would make it untruthful, misleading, or deceptive. The rule specifically bars statistical or other assertions of predicted rates of success of treatment, and claims of credentials, specialties, or diplomas that are false or nonexistent. Practice names may not misrepresent the identity of the practitioners in the practice, and use of the doctor designation must comply with Oregon's title requirements.
OAR 811-015-0045 checked 2026-07-02
Corporate practice of medicine and advertising under a non-medical brand (SB 951)
Senate Bill 951 (2025) codifies Oregon's corporate practice of medicine doctrine. A management services organization and its owners, officers, and employees may not own or control a majority of a professional medical entity they manage, and may not exercise de facto control over its operations. The bill's list of prohibited de facto control expressly includes advertising a professional medical entity's services under the name of an entity that is not a professional medical entity, along with setting prices for a licensee's services and controlling billing policies. It applies to MSO arrangements with physicians, physician associates, nurse practitioners, and naturopathic physicians; new arrangements are covered from January 1, 2026, and pre-existing structures have until January 1, 2029. Entities engaged solely in telemedicine as defined in ORS 677.494, with no physical Oregon clinical location, are exempt from certain ownership provisions.
SB 951 (2025), Enrolled checked 2026-07-02
Laser and IPL procedures: practice of medicine and delegation limits
The Oregon Medical Board's Statement of Philosophy on Medical Use of Lasers states that laser surgery, including revision, destruction, incision, or other structural alteration of human tissue using laser technology, is surgery and falls within the practice of medicine. Licensees may delegate non-ablative treatments, meaning those not expected to excise or burn skin, to other individuals when permitted by state law. The statement requires the licensee to examine each patient prior to any initial treatment and to use FDA-approved devices, and it points practitioners to the Board's guidance on use of unlicensed healthcare personnel and office-based surgery rules. Advertising that implies otherwise, for example that these are non-medical spa services, sits uneasily with this position.
OMB Statement of Philosophy: Medical Use of Lasers checked 2026-07-02
What this means by practice type
Med spas
Two Oregon-specific constraints shape med spa marketing. First, the Medical Board treats laser and IPL work as the practice of medicine, with delegation limited to non-ablative treatments and an examination required before initial treatment, so ads should not present these as non-medical services or omit the supervising licensee. Second, SB 951 makes advertising a medical entity's services under the name of a non-medical entity an indicator of prohibited MSO control, which matters for med spas operating under a consumer brand separate from the physician-owned entity.(SB 951 (2025), Enrolled)
Dental
Oregon dentists face a tendency-based standard: an ad that tends to deceive or mislead can be unprofessional conduct even without proven falsity under ORS 679.140(2)(d). Fee advertising has a specific safe harbor worth knowing: cash discounts are permitted and are not fraud even if undisclosed to third party payers, but misrepresenting treatment or fees, fee splitting, and rebates for referrals are prohibited under OAR 818-012-0030.(OAR 818-012-0030)
Chiropractic
Oregon is unusually explicit for chiropractors: OAR 811-015-0045 bans predicted success-rate claims outright, so copy like "90 percent of our patients report relief" is directly prohibited, not merely risky. Claimed specialties and diplomas must actually exist and be held, and the clinic name cannot misrepresent who practices there.(OAR 811-015-0045)
Longevity and GLP-1 clinics
Efficacy claims are the exposure point: ORS 677.190(9) reaches statements a licensee should know are false or misleading about the efficacy or value of a treatment, which covers weight-loss outcome promises, and subsection (3) bars representing that an incurable condition can be cured. Clinics prescribing via telehealth into Oregon need an Oregon license or the Board's telemedicine license, and telemedicine-only entities without an Oregon clinical location have a specific carve-out from parts of SB 951's ownership rules.(ORS 677.190)
Telehealth posture
The Oregon Medical Board treats telemedicine as a delivery tool, not a separate form of medicine, with the practice occurring at the patient's location and the same standard of care and disciplinary exposure as in-person care. Oregon-licensed physicians, PAs, and acupuncturists may provide telemedicine to Oregon patients; out-of-state providers practicing entirely from outside Oregon can obtain a separate telemedicine license under ORS 677.135 to 677.141 and OAR 847-025. No in-person visit is required to establish the provider-patient relationship, though the Board notes not all care can appropriately be delivered remotely.
OMB Telemedicine (ORS 677.135-677.141, OAR 847-025) checked 2026-07-02
Markets in Oregon
Common questions
Are patient testimonials allowed in Oregon healthcare advertising?
The sources reviewed for this brief do not address testimonials directly. What Oregon publishes instead is a general standard: physician advertising may not be untruthful or intended to deceive or mislead (ORS 677.190(12)), dental advertising may not tend to deceive or mislead (ORS 679.140(2)(d)), and chiropractic advertising may not be untruthful, misleading, or deceptive and may not assert predicted rates of treatment success (OAR 811-015-0045). A testimonial that implies a typical or guaranteed outcome would need to be evaluated against those standards.
Can a non-physician own a med spa or medical practice in Oregon?
Under SB 951 (2025) and the amended ORS 58.375, physicians licensed in Oregon must hold the majority of voting shares and a majority of directorships in a professional corporation organized to practice medicine, and a management services organization and its personnel may not own or control a majority of a professional medical entity they manage or exercise de facto control over its clinical or business operations. New MSO arrangements are covered from January 1, 2026; pre-existing arrangements have until January 1, 2029. A non-physician can operate a management company, but the boundaries on control are now statutory and specific.
Can Oregon practices advertise discounts or promotional pricing?
The medical and chiropractic rules reviewed here do not address discount advertising directly; the general prohibition on untruthful or misleading advertising would govern how an offer is presented. For dentists, OAR 818-012-0030 expressly states that giving cash discounts, even without disclosing them to third party payers, is not fraud or misrepresentation, while misrepresenting fees, splitting fees, and paying rebates for referrals are prohibited. Separately, SB 951 treats an outside management company setting the prices a medical entity charges as prohibited de facto control.
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.