Promoting your practice: Understanding the risks

Judgments recently handed down by the Medical Council of Hong Kong have once again highlighted the potential risks practitioners face when promoting their practice. 

As medicine becomes increasingly competitive, many healthcare professionals are seeking new and innovative ways to promote their practice.

However, it is important to note that any practice promotion must be conducted in a way that is compliant with relevant guidance and regulation, which in this instance is the Medical Council of Hong Kong’s Code of Professional Conduct. If not, healthcare practitioners may find themselves sanctioned.

Recently, the Medical Council took disciplinary action against doctors for a variety of indiscretions when promoting their practice, which were found to be in breach of the Code. In these cases, the Medical Council found that the doctors involved had fallen below the standards expected of registered medical practitioners in Hong Kong.

In one such case, for example, a doctor was found to have revealed medical information about patients as part of practice promotion on social media. In another case, the Medical Council found that a doctor had claimed to have superior skills over others in the profession during a magazine interview.

Punishments for such breaches have been serious, with those found guilty of misconduct for breaching the Code having their names removed from the General Register for a period of time (although in recent cases operation of the removal order was suspended).

It is for this reason that doctors should be mindful of how they present themselves and their practice to the public.

What promotion is allowed?
The Medical Council’s Code of Professional Conduct provides good guidance on what is acceptable in terms of practice promotion.

According to section 5.2 of the Code, a doctor providing information to the public or their patients must ensure that the information is accurate, factual, objectively verifiable and presented in a balanced manner. These should include the advantages and disadvantages of any proposed treatment.

The Medical Council states that persons seeking advice on medical services for themselves or their families are particularly vulnerable to persuasive influence and should be protected from advertisements and practice promotion in an overly commercial manner.

It further states that practice promotion of doctors’ medical services as if the provision of medical care were no more than a commercial activity is “likely both to undermine public trust in the medical profession and, over time, to diminish the standard of medical care”. As such, section 5.2.1 of the Code is explicit, stating that practice promotion should not:

• Be exaggerated or misleading;
• Be comparative with or claim superiority over other doctors;
• Claim uniqueness without proper justifications for such claim;
• Aim to solicit or canvass for patients;
• Be used for commercial promotion of medical- and health related products and services (for the avoidance of doubt, recommendations in clinical consultations are not regarded as commercial promotion of products and services);
• Be sensational or unduly persuasive;
• Arouse unjustified public concern or distress;
• Generate unrealistic expectations; and
• Disparage other doctors (fair comments excepted). 

Dissemination of service information to the public and patients is also addressed within the Code, which describes in detail what may and may not be included in practice-based messaging, including social media posts, signboards, stationery, practice websites and messaging to the media, and how this should be presented.

Any healthcare practitioners with concerns or questions about how they promote their practice should contact Medical Protection or their indemnifier.

Medical Protection’s top tips

• Be vigilant about your social media presence. Ensure any information accessible online is accurate and complies with the Code of Professional Conduct.

• Check websites and other materials produced by any clinics and organizations you work with to ensure that the information they provide – including your specialist title and quotable qualifications – is accurate and complies with the relevant Medical Council guidelines.

• Consider any requests from organizations asking for your clinical input very carefully, especially if you will not have ultimate editorial control of the final publication or broadcast.

• Ensure any signage and any written materials relating to your practice comply with the stipulations set out in the Code.