New Patient Specials: Checks to Run Before You Advertise One

Before a discounted or free first visit goes into an ad, run it through seven checks: who is eligible, what your payer contracts say, what your state board allows, whether good faith estimate rules apply, how the offer is worded, what the landing page says, and how the ads are targeted. Then have a healthcare attorney review the final version. This post isn't legal advice. It's the list of questions to bring to that attorney so the review goes faster.

Throughout, say the offer you have in mind is a $49 first visit that includes a consultation and an exam. Swap in your own numbers.

1. Who the offer is for

The first question is whether Medicare patients, or patients in other federal health programs, can use the offer. Federal rules restrict offering things of value that could influence those patients to choose a particular provider, and the government also has rules on payments for referrals. How those rules apply to a discounted first visit depends on the details, which is why this one goes to your attorney before anything else.

The HHS Office of Inspector General publishes compliance guidance for healthcare providers that is worth reading first, so your questions are specific. Whatever your attorney advises on eligibility, the ad and the landing page should state it in the same words.

2. What your payer contracts say

Some payer contracts include terms about the fees you charge and the discounts you offer, and a cash special for new patients can touch those terms. Pull the contracts for the plans you're in network with, or ask whoever handles your credentialing to check them. If a term is unclear, that's a question for the attorney too, not a guess.

3. What your state board allows

State chiropractic boards have their own advertising rules, and they vary from state to state. Some boards have specific rules about advertising free or discounted services, including what has to be disclosed alongside the offer. Read your board's current rules, not a copy someone saved years ago, and if the wording is ambiguous, call the board or ask your attorney. Keep a note of what you checked and when.

4. Whether good faith estimate rules apply

If the special is a cash price, think about the No Surprises Act. It requires good faith estimates of expected charges for patients who are uninsured or not using their insurance. CMS keeps its material for providers on its No Surprises Act pages. Ask your compliance adviser how the requirement fits a first-visit offer and what the front desk needs to hand the patient.

5. The wording

An offer ad is still a health ad, so the same limits apply as everywhere else on your site.

• Name what's included, plainly. "New patient consultation and exam, $49" says what the patient gets. A name that hints at a result does not.
• No outcome language. The FTC expects health claims to be backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence, and your board has its own rules on top. An offer doesn't need a claim to work.
• Conditions next to the price. If "free" or "$49" only applies to certain patients or certain days, say so right beside the number, not in small print at the bottom.
• No invented urgency. "Only 5 spots left this week" is only acceptable if it's true and stays true.
• One price everywhere. The ad, the landing page, the Business Profile, any directory listing and the front desk script should all say the same thing.

6. The landing page

Send the ad to a page built for the offer, not to your homepage. It should state, in this order:

1. What the offer includes, in plain words, as approved in step 5.
2. What it does not include. If imaging or any later visit isn't part of it, say so.
3. Who is eligible and who isn't, in the wording your attorney approved.
4. When the offer ends, if it does.
5. That any later visits are priced separately, and where to find those prices or who to ask.
6. How to book, with one clear button or form.

Keep the booking form short: name, contact details, preferred times. Health history belongs in your intake process, not in a marketing form. If the page carries tracking from an ad platform, talk to your compliance adviser first. HHS issued guidance on online tracking technologies, and in 2024 a federal court set part of it aside, so the current position is worth checking before you add any pixel to a page patients use.

7. How the ads are targeted

Target by place, not by health. Google's personalized advertising policy restricts targeting based on health conditions, and Meta removed detailed targeting options tied to health causes. A radius around the office, a list of nearby towns, and searches for a chiropractor in your area are targeting choices that don't depend on anyone's health.

Before it goes live

Once the seven checks are done, brief the front desk. They should be able to explain in one or two sentences what the offer includes, who can use it and what happens after the first visit, using the same words as the page. Add a way to tell which bookings came from the offer, so you know after a month or two whether it's worth running again.

A special is one tool among several in chiropractic advertising, and it carries more rules than most. A practice whose profile and website already answer the questions patients ask before booking may decide it can run fewer of them.

If you want to see how your search presence looks before you spend money on an offer, start with our free SEO review. It's a quick way to see whether patients can find you without a discount in front of them.