Truth in Advertising

The Academy strongly supports accurate information for patients about their health care and the individuals providing it. Health care provider advertisements, marketing materials, and self-identification should accurately and clearly convey providers' education, training, degree, licensure, and clinical expertise.

Where regulatory gaps allow ambiguous or misleading advertising that confuses patients, the Academy believes Congress and individual states should strengthen the law. Truthful communication between health care providers and patients — including in advertising — helps ensure patients can make informed and cost-conscious health care decisions.

State advocacy

For several years, the Academy has worked with the American Medical Association, and other physician groups to enact truth-in-advertising legislation at the state level. More than half of all states now have laws or regulations that prohibit false representations or place requirements on how non-physician providers may identify themselves in advertising and clinical settings — up from 20 states when this effort first gained significant momentum.

Federal advocacy

The Academy supports the enactment of federal truth-in-advertising legislation that would bar health care professionals from misrepresenting whether they are medical doctors and will continue to work with the AMA and other coalition partners on future efforts toward that goal.  

Monitoring legal developments

In September 2025, a federal court in the Central District of California upheld California's law restricting the use of the title "doctor" by non-physicians in clinical settings, finding it did not violate the First Amendment. The ruling relied on AMA survey research showing that 39% of patients wrongly believe that a person holding a doctorate in nursing practice is a physician. The Academy tracks such developments and engages where needed to protect patients' right to know who is treating them.

Patients are often confused about the level of education, training, and scope of practice of their health care providers. With a growing number of advanced degree programs conferring the title "doctor" on non-physician clinicians — including nurse practitioners, doctors of optometry, and others — the potential for patient confusion has grown substantially. AMA survey research has found that 45% of adults do not find it easy to identify who is or is not a licensed medical doctor from advertising materials, and that 39% of patients mistakenly believe that a person holding a doctorate in nursing practice is a physician.

This confusion extends to ophthalmology. As advocacy groups push to expand the scope of practice for non-physician eye care providers, the importance of clear, accurate communication about who is performing eye care — and what their training entails — has become increasingly urgent. Ophthalmologists complete four years of medical school, a one-year internship, and a minimum three-year residency in ophthalmology, often followed by additional fellowship training in a subspecialty. This level of training is distinct from that of optometrists and other non-physician eye care providers.

Truth-in-advertising laws address this issue by requiring health care professionals to clearly and accurately identify themselves in all advertisements, communications, and patient encounters — including disclosing what type of license they hold. More than half of all states now have some form of this protection in place. Efforts to enact similar protections at the federal level are ongoing.