Telehealth Marketing in Australia: The Two Promises That Get Clinics Fined

Two separate rules limit what you can say when you market telehealth in Australia. The fastest-growing telehealth brands keep breaking both. First, you cannot name a prescription medicine to the public. The Therapeutic Goods Act bans it. In July 2024 the TGA issued 21 fines worth $319,260 for exactly that. It said some of them were online telehealth clinics. Second, the Medical Board of Australia has a view too. It says prescribing without a live consult is not good practice. That puts the "no appointment needed" promise out of bounds. Here is what each regulator covers, and what you can say instead.

Is a telehealth website advertising, or just a description of a service?

Your website counts as advertising, and the TGA's own actions prove it.

On 12 July 2024 the TGA issued 21 infringement notices (on-the-spot fines) worth $319,260 in total. They went to 4 businesses and 3 individuals. The TGA alleged these businesses broke the law. It said they advertised prescription medicines on their websites, mostly for weight loss. The TGA said the notices "were issued to businesses including online telehealth clinics and medical practices offering telehealth services".

Read that again. The regulator looked at websites, and ad campaigns were never the focus.

Here is the list from that action.

The TGA listed 4 things it alleged each business did. First, they pushed prescription medicines for weight loss and erectile problems, such as Ozempic, Saxenda and Viagra. Second, they pushed weight loss medicines for uses that were not approved. Third, they said some prescription medicines were TGA approved. Fourth, they said some health products were safe.

Three of those 4 are things a copywriter does without thinking. Naming the product feels normal. Saying it is approved sounds like reassurance. Saying it is safe sounds like care.

What did the TGA fine Midnight Health for?

If you run a telehealth brand, read the Midnight Health case. It is recent and big, and it names the brands.

On 29 September 2025 the TGA issued 10 infringement notices worth $198,000 in total to Midnight Health Pty Ltd. The TGA alleged the company broke the law by advertising prescription weight-loss medicines. The company paid them in September 2025.

The TGA says Midnight Health "operated telehealth platforms such as Youly, Stagger, and hub.health where it advertised prescription-only weight-loss medicines to the public between June 2024 and January 2025". It also says the websites "allegedly promoted the use and supply of Schedule 4 prescription-only medicines, including tirzepatide and semaglutide".

In short, the sites named prescription weight-loss medicines to the public.

There was a second problem on top of naming the medicines. The TGA says the ads "made unapproved references to the treatment of serious diseases or conditions, such as anxiety and stroke". The rules ban or restrict claims like these.

A fine is a number on a page. An undertaking means a year of someone checking your marketing.

The rule behind all of this is the same one in our guide to advertising prescription medicines in Australia. For weight loss in particular, see our guide on whether you can advertise weight loss medication.

Can you advertise a prescription without a phone call?

This is the second limit, and it comes from a different regulator.

The Medical Board of Australia has guidelines called Telehealth consultations with patients. One section is titled "Prescribing or providing healthcare if you have never had a real-time consultation with the patient". It opens like this:

Prescribing or providing healthcare for a patient without a real-time direct consultation, whether in-person, via video or telephone, is not good practice and is not supported by the Board.

Then it names the exact business model:

This includes asynchronous requests for medication communicated by text, email, live-chat or online that do not take place in the context of a real-time continuous consultation and are based on the patient completing a health questionnaire, when the practitioner has never spoken with the patient.

In plain words, a doctor should talk to the patient live before prescribing. Filling in a form is not enough.

Now hold that up against the marketing. Think of lines like "Answer a few questions and get your script.", "No appointment needed." and "Skip the waiting room." Those lines sell speed. The Board says that speed is not good practice when it cuts out the live consult.

The guidelines leave 2 doors open, and both matter. A doctor who prescribes this way "must be able to explain how the prescribing and the management of the patient was appropriate and necessary in the circumstances". The Board also accepts it may be fine in some cases. One is when the patient's own doctor prescribes without a consult. Another is when a doctor who can see their records does it.

Both doors depend on a doctor's judgement in one specific case. Neither one is a selling point you can put on a landing page.

Is telehealth allowed to market itself as a GP replacement?

You cannot sell it as a routine replacement. The Board says so in its own background section.

Telehealth provides great opportunities for access to, and delivery of healthcare. The Board supports the responsible and safe use of telehealth. However, it is not appropriate for all medical consultations and should not be considered as a routine substitute for in-person consultations.

Put simply, the Board likes telehealth. It just does not want it to stand in for seeing a doctor in person as a matter of routine.

It goes further. The Board says that "when practical, video consultations are preferable to telephone consultations". It also says telehealth "is generally most appropriate in the context of a continuing clinical relationship with a patient that also involves in-person consultations".

That is awkward for a brand whose whole pitch is that you never have to go anywhere.

Still, the Board is fine with telehealth. This is where many clinics go too far the other way. The Board says plainly that these guidelines "do not prevent or discourage one-off telehealth consultations". It names the cases it backs. These include one-off and emergency care, and rural and remote areas. They also cover patients who cannot travel or cannot see their usual doctor.

So there is a safe way to position yourself. Sell access, and leave replacement out of it.

What does the Medical Board require a patient to know before they book?

Nobody in marketing reads this part. Yet it writes your booking page for you.

The guidelines list what a doctor should check before a telehealth consult. The patient should know the other options besides telehealth. The billing should be explained, and the patient should agree to the cost. That includes whether they can get Medicare rebates and whether there is a gap to pay. The patient should know they can have support people with them, such as family, carers and interpreters. The patient should also know they may need to come in person if the doctor thinks telehealth alone is not right.

During the consult, the doctor should tell the patient who they are. They should explain their specialty, where they mainly practise and their role in the patient's care.

Each of those is a line you need to write. It just hides inside a rule for doctors. Most telehealth booking pages miss at least 3 of them. Price is the one most often missed. Say your page leads with a "from" price. It does not say whether Medicare applies, and it does not mention gap payments. Then your patient does not have what they need to agree to the cost.

What can a telehealth practice actually advertise?

You can advertise plenty. The limits are on naming medicines and promising shortcuts. You are free to describe your service.

Here is the swap, line by line.

The right column is a strong option in its own right. "You speak to an Australian-registered doctor in real time, without leaving the house" is a stronger promise than "answer a few questions". It is what your patients actually want, and it is the model the Board supports.

Be careful with timing words too. "Same day", "no wait" and "available now" are promises your business cannot always keep. If you promise people can always see a doctor right away, that can mislead them under Australian Consumer Law. That holds even if your page passes every other rule above. "Appointments are usually available within [X]" says the same thing and stays true on a bad week.

People forget the testimonial rule in the last row applies here at all. It comes from the national health law instead of the medicines Act. We cover it in our guide to the AHPRA advertising guidelines. Your social posts fall under both sets of rules at once. That is the subject of the TGA and your clinic's social media.

Which regulator owns which sentence on a telehealth page?

Three regulators cover your page at once, and they do not overlap neatly. Pin this map above the desk of whoever writes your copy.

Passing one does not mean you pass the others. A page can name no medicines and carry no testimonials. It can still promise a model of care the Medical Board does not support.

We cover the wider Code behind the first row in our breakdown of the TGA advertising code.

Where should a telehealth practice start?

Start by checking your pages before you plan any campaign.

Do 3 passes, in this order. First, search your own site for every medicine name, every "TGA approved" and every "safe". That is the TGA's area, and it is where the fines are.

Second, search for every promise of speed that skips a step. Look for "no appointment", "no consult", "answer a few questions" and "instant script". That is the Medical Board's area.

Third, check whether your booking page tells patients what the Board says they must know before they agree. That covers the other options, the billing, support people and the chance they may be asked to come in.

Most telehealth sites fail the first pass. Almost all of them fail the third.

None of this makes your marketing weaker. The record is clear about what got fined. None of it was "we will connect you with an Australian-registered doctor by video, without you leaving the house". That sentence was always open to these businesses. The businesses in the list above chose to name the medicine instead.

This article explains the rules. It is general information, not legal advice. If you are not sure which rules apply to you, ask a health lawyer or your professional body.