What Medical Claims Can a Doctor Make in a Blog Post?

What medical claims can a doctor make in a blog post? The ones the practice can back up in public and that fit the product’s FDA status, because a practice blog is advertising. So I sort every sentence into three kinds: what something is, what research is looking at, and what it does for a patient. The third kind is where the evidence rules land.

TLDR: A blog on your practice website counts as advertising under the FTC’s guidance. So I sort medical claims into three kinds, and the third kind is a promise about what a treatment does for a patient. That one needs evidence you can show, and it has to fit the product’s FDA status. A softer word like “may” or “helps” doesn’t change it. Titles and subheadings count too. Keep reading to see the three kinds, and what the FTC and the FDA put in writing.

Important Note

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, medical, or regulatory advice. Marketing strategies discussed should be reviewed by qualified legal counsel before implementation, particularly regarding FDA, FTC, and state-specific advertising regulations. Regen Portal is a marketing and consulting company, not a law firm. Nothing here implies FDA approval of any product or any use. Most cell, tissue and exosome products marketed to patients are not FDA approved, and the few cell-based products the FDA has approved are approved only for specific labeled indications. Nothing here promises a marketing or business outcome. Regulations change and enforcement varies by state. Confirm current requirements with qualified legal and compliance counsel before you act on anything you read here.

What is PRP considered? I posted that question on LinkedIn. Then I asked about bone marrow, and then birth tissue and exosomes. The comments were full of confident answers, and they didn’t match the documents.

So I went and read the documents. Then I decided to teach it. That’s still how I answer a question.

So what medical claims can a doctor make in a blog post? I’m going to give you three kinds of claims and where each one lands, and then what the FTC and the FDA put in writing. And I mean the blog, the public page. What gets said in an exam room is a different question, and it’s not the one I’m answering here.

The Short Answer: Three Kinds of Medical Claims

A blog post makes three kinds of claims. It says what something is and how your practice does it, it says what research is looking at, or it promises what a treatment does for a patient. All three have to be true, and the third one needs evidence you can show.

Evidence is not the whole test, though. If the product isn’t FDA approved for that use, a treatment claim is a problem no matter how good the study is. That part goes to counsel.

So when I read a draft for medical claims, I ask one question about every sentence. Which kind is this?

Here’s the sort, with platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, in the first row.

What this means for your practice: Most of a good post lives in the first two rows. The last two are where I slow down.

The first kind is where a doctor has the most to say. How do you prepare it? Who’s in the room? That’s first-hand, and Google’s trust framework asks a clinic site for named authors and real experience.

The second kind is honest about where the field is. If a trial is underway, say that. Just don’t let a study stand in for a promise.

Why Is a Practice Blog Advertising?

Because that’s how I read the FTC’s own list. Its health products guidance lists what counts as advertising, and the list includes statements “on the internet and in other digital content.” Your blog is on the internet, and so the advertising rules reach it.

I know it doesn’t feel like an ad. You wrote it to teach, and nobody paid to run it. So what does the document say?

The FTC’s health products compliance guidance, published in December 2022, says “FTC advertising law applies to all products and claims.”

The FTC’s advertising basics page has the rule in one line. “Under the law, claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based.”

Translation: the medical claims in your blog are held to the same rule as the ones in your ads. And who answers for the post? The health products guidance puts it on “All parties who participate directly in marketing and promotion,” and on anyone with the authority to control it. So if you wrote it, or you had the say over what went up, it’s yours too.

What Evidence Do Medical Claims Need?

Medical claims about a health benefit need what the FTC calls “competent and reliable scientific evidence.” The guidance says that generally means “randomized, controlled human clinical testing.” That’s the bar for the third kind of claim.

The FTC defines it as “tests, analyses, research, or studies” that experts in that condition have “conducted and evaluated in an objective manner.” And they have to be “generally accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable results.”

So for a sentence of the third kind, I ask one thing. What’s the evidence?

We put that question to practices and to vendors. Vendor materials are what usually comes back. Sometimes a certificate of analysis comes back, or a clinical trial that’s public. And often there isn’t much at all.

The handout says so. But is a handout a study that experts ran and evaluated? And a certificate of analysis, is that a human clinical test?

That’s why claims are the first stop in a compliance review of a practice’s marketing. We go in order of exposure, and claims are at the top. And compliant marketing lines up with Google’s health content standards: the two ask for the same things.

Why “May” and “Helps” Do Not Fix a Claim

A softer word doesn’t change the kind of claim. The FTC’s guidance says “Vague qualifying terms are inadequate,” and the two examples it gives are “may” and “helps.” The sentence is still a promise about what something does for a patient.

I see why people reach for those words. They sound careful. Ad copy has the same problem, and word swaps for stem cell ads only hold up when the claim underneath changes too.

Then there’s what the post implies. The guidance says “a marketer is equally responsible for the accuracy of claims suggested or reasonably implied in advertising.” Equally responsible. So you can answer for a promise you never typed.

And an ad is judged by its “net impression.” That means all of it together: the text, the product name, the images. Your title is text. Your subheading is text.

I’ve run the audit myself, or sat in on it, for over 100 regenerative practice websites and service pages. We find exposure in a clinic’s marketing, and almost none of it got there on purpose.

One word changes at a time. First it says “being studied for.” Then “helps.” Then “treats.” Usually it’s up in a subheading, the line no one on the team counts as copy.

Let’s say the body of your post is careful, and it only says what researchers are studying. And then the subheading over it makes the promise. Which one does the reader walk away with?

How Does the FDA Read a Blog Post?

For cell and tissue products, the FDA’s rule reads advertising as a sign of what the product is intended for. Advertising is named in one of the four criteria that decide how the product is regulated. So what a company says in its marketing is part of how the product is classified.

The rule is 21 CFR 1271.10(a). It covers human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products, or HCT/Ps for short. An HCT/P is regulated solely under section 361 only if it meets all four criteria.

Look at number two. The product has to be “intended for homologous use only, as reflected by the labeling, advertising, or other indications of the manufacturer’s objective intent.”

Advertising. It’s in the rule by name. Homologous use is the rule’s term for using an HCT/P that “performs the same basic function or functions in the recipient as in the donor.” And a product that fails any one of the four is regulated as a drug or biological product, which needs premarket approval.

The rule says manufacturer. So where does a clinic’s blog fit? Counsel decides how this applies to a given product.

When a warning letter comes out, I read it. In most of the ones I read, the problem is the claims on the company’s own website or in its brochures. What the company said in its own marketing is being read as evidence. That’s the trap in stem cell marketing: the classification of your product is something the FDA can judge.

What About Patient Stories and State Rules?

A patient story in a blog post is an endorsement, and the claim inside it becomes your claim. The FTC says you need evidence for what the story implies. Your state adds its own layer, and that one goes to counsel.

The FTC’s endorsement questions page, modified July 15, 2025, defines the term. An endorsement is “an advertising message that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions or beliefs of someone other than the sponsoring advertiser.”

So your patient says, in their own words, what the treatment did for them. Whose claim is that now? The health products guidance says advertisers “must have appropriate scientific evidence to back up the underlying implied claim that the product is effective.” And it says a line like “Results not typical” doesn’t fix it.

The endorsement page covers disclosure too. A connection to you that readers wouldn’t expect “should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously.”

Part of the exposure we find sits outside the copy. Testimonials that went up with no material-connection disclosure are on that list. It’s the same thing I say about a clinic’s reputation: show the proof and skip the promise.

Then there’s your state. You hold a state license, and physician advertising has state rules of its own. And if you write about stem cells, know that some states now require a specific notice in ads. Each state words its notice differently.

I’m not going to guess at yours. Counsel decides.

Imagine a Practice Sorting Its Medical Claims

Imagine a practice with three physicians, eighteen months into its regenerative service line. One of them writes the blog, and a part-time coordinator who also runs the social accounts publishes it. This scenario is illustrative and does not describe any Regen Portal client.

The Challenge: The physician’s draft is careful. Then the coordinator adds a title and a few subheadings, and a patient quote at the end. Nobody reads the whole post again after that.

The Approach: The three physicians sit down with one printed post and sort its medical claims into the three kinds. Description stays. Each research sentence gets checked against the study it came from. And any promise about what a treatment does for a patient comes out.

The Compliance Check: The title and the subheadings get read with no body under them. Some of them make a promise the body never made, and so they get rewritten. The patient quote comes down until counsel looks at the claim inside it.

What Changed: The physician still writes, and still sounds like a physician. The coordinator knows which kind of sentence a heading is. And the legal questions go to counsel with the sentence attached.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Blog Post Considered Advertising?

Yes. The FTC’s health products guidance lists statements “on the internet and in other digital content” as advertising. A blog on your practice website fits that, and so the same rules apply.

Can a Doctor Share a Study in a Blog Post?

Yes, if the post stays true to what the study looked at and says how early the evidence is. Put the product’s FDA status right next to it. The trouble starts when a title or the next paragraph turns the study into a promise, because the FTC holds you to what’s implied too.

Can I Say a Treatment ‘May Help’?

Not as a fix for a claim you can’t back up. The FTC’s guidance says “Vague qualifying terms are inadequate,” and “may” and “helps” are the examples it uses. So ask what evidence sits under the sentence, with or without the soft word.

Can I Include a Patient Story?

Only with the same evidence you’d need to make the claim yourself, and I’d have counsel see it first. A patient story is an endorsement. And if your practice is a HIPAA covered entity, HHS says the rule requires written authorization, with limited exceptions, before protected health information is used for marketing.

Who Should Review a Blog Post Before It Publishes?

Two sets of eyes, at least, which is why we run content through two review passes. One pass is the compliance team I lead, reading for claim language and disclosures, accuracy and structure. The other is the practice’s own clinician, who has to sign off on anything clinical. Specific legal questions go to your counsel.

Key Takeaways

• A blog on a practice website is advertising under the FTC’s guidance.
• Sort your medical claims into three kinds before you publish.
• A promise about what a treatment does for a patient needs evidence you can show, and it has to fit the product’s FDA status.
• “May” and “helps” don’t change the kind of claim.
• Titles, subheadings and images all count toward the net impression.
• Patient stories and state rules go to counsel.

Ready to Grow?

If you have clarity on what you can and cannot say, then you know how to grow. On a blog, that clarity comes one sentence at a time.

When my team and I write content for a practice, nothing gets drafted until the practice has signed off on the content map. And once a piece is live, the practice owns it. So if one subheading on your blog worries you, email it to me and I’ll tell you which kind I think it is.

PS: Don’t take my word for any of this, and read the FTC’s guidance next to your own last post. Do your own research.

Email: hello@regenportal.com

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About Regen Portal

Regen Portal is a marketing and consulting company built for the regenerative medicine industry. We handle practice consulting, marketing compliance, search engine optimization, content creation, social media management, paid advertising, website development, branding, and AI and ops consulting for clinics, manufacturers, distributors, and independent providers. For more on me and how we work, visit Regen Portal and contact us.

About the Author

Oscar Tellez is the founder of Regen Portal, a marketing and consulting company built for the regenerative medicine industry. He has been in this industry since 2015. He started in medical sales and has worked with PRP since 2016. He has reached hundreds of practices and over 200 doctors through sales, teaching and marketing. He holds a B.S. in Exercise Science and Health Promotion from Florida Atlantic University.