Medical Writer vs Copywriter: Which One Does Your Clinic Need?

Medical writer vs copywriter comes down to who reads the words. A medical writer writes for regulators, doctors and journals, in trial reports, study plans and consent forms. A copywriter writes for patients, in your service pages, your blog and your ads. If your clinic doesn't run trials, the copywriter is the one you need.

What does each one write?

The 2 jobs share a word, but they serve very different readers. This is how the work splits between them.

Both are skilled jobs, so the useful question is who you need to reach. If you want more patients to find you and book, you need the person who writes for patients.

Which one does your clinic need?

Start with what you're trying to do, then match it to a writer.

• You want more bookings from your website. You need a health copywriter for that job.
• You want your clinic to show up on Google and in ChatGPT. Hire a health copywriter who writes for search.
• You are rewriting pages to fix the ad rules. Hire a health copywriter who knows AHPRA's guidelines.
• Your clinic is a site in a drug or device trial. The trial's sponsor usually owns the trial papers, so ask them first.
• You want to publish a case report or a study. You need a medical writer for that one.
• You make a product the TGA must approve. Hire a medical writer for the dossier, and a copywriter for the ads.

Some clinics need both at different times, but they are 2 different hires. A writer who does one well may never have done the other.

What rules does a medical writer follow?

A medical writer works to set formats, and the main one is ICH E3. It's the global guide to writing up a clinical trial, and the TGA has adopted ICH E3 for Australia.

ICH E3 explains its own goal in one line: "The objective of this guideline is to allow the compilation of a single core clinical study report acceptable to all regulatory authorities of the ICH regions."

That means one report has to satisfy regulators in many countries at once. So every report follows the same order, in 16 numbered sections.

Even the summary has rules, because ICH E3 asks for "A brief synopsis (usually limited to 3 pages) that summarises the study". It adds: "The synopsis should include numerical data to illustrate results, not just text or p-values."

That tells you a lot about how a medical writer thinks. Every number and every result goes in, and nothing is there to persuade. The reader is a trained reviewer who will check each line, so precision matters most.

What rules does a health copywriter follow?

A health copywriter writes ads, even when they look like plain web pages. AHPRA is the body behind the health ad rules, and its advertising guidelines say advertising "includes all forms of verbal, printed and electronic communication that promotes and seeks to attract a person to a regulated health service provider".

That means your website counts, and so do your blog, your Google Business Profile and your social posts.

The guidelines also say why the rules exist: "The public are entitled to receive accurate, clear information about regulated health services."

So a health copywriter does 2 jobs at once. The page has to help a patient choose you, and it has to stay inside the rules while it does. In practice, that means 4 things for your pages.

• No patient reviews about how a treatment went. Section 133 of the National Law bans testimonials in health ads.
• No promising a result the patient may not get. A line that says a treatment will work can mislead.
• No pushing people to book straight away. The law bans ads that push people to use a health service they may not need.
• Medicines and devices bring in the TGA too. Its own code covers ads for medicines and devices.

None of this shows up in a trial report. A medical writer rarely meets these rules, because their reader is a regulator rather than a patient.

What happens if you hire the wrong one?

Each writer brings habits from their own job, and in the wrong job those habits show.

Take one fact and write it both ways, the way each writer would. I made up both lines for this guide, so they come from no clinic.

The first line is exact and right for a reviewer. On your service page, though, it talks past the person who is worried about their knee.

The opposite mistake tends to cost your clinic more. A general copywriter knows how to sell but may not know the health ad rules. They might write pain-free, add a 5-star review about a treatment, or promise a result. Each of those can break the rules, and it's your clinic that carries the risk.

So the safe hire for your website is a writer who does both halves. They write for patients, and they write to the rules.

What should you ask before you hire?

A few questions will sort out the right writer quickly. These are the ones to ask a copywriter.

• Which rules do you write to? You want to hear AHPRA's guidelines, and the TGA code if you sell medicines or devices.
• Can I see a page and how you checked it? A good answer names the rule behind each change.
• How do you write for search? Pages should answer what patients type into Google and ChatGPT.
• Who signs off before it goes live? You should, and a good writer builds that step in.

Ask a medical writer these instead.

• Which documents have you written? Trial reports, study plans and consent forms are each their own craft.
• Which formats do you follow? For a trial report, ICH E3 should be the first answer.

I write for clinics, so I sit on the copywriter side. You can see what that covers on my page as a medical copywriter for Australian clinics. Every page I write is checked by All Clear Audit, the 301-check tool I built.

Still deciding how to hire? Compare a freelance writer with a health writing agency. Then read how to hire a healthcare copywriter.

How did I put this guide together?

How I put this together. I read ICH E3, the trial report guideline the TGA has adopted, in the copy the European Medicines Agency hosts. I read AHPRA's advertising guidelines and section 133 of the National Law. Every quote is copied word for word from the source.

• This is a guide, not legal advice. Ask a lawyer about your own ads.
• Job titles overlap. Some writers use either title, so ask what they have written.
• The example lines in this guide are made up. They show style only, and come from no clinic.
• Trial roles vary from study to study. Who writes trial papers depends on the sponsor and the contract.

Related reading:

• Freelance writer vs health writing agency
• How to hire a healthcare copywriter
• In-house or freelance copywriter?
• Reviewing agency copy before it goes live
• View all services →