BC's new marketing standard for nine health professions: what changed on 1 April 2026

The College of Health and Care Professionals of BC was formed in June 2024 from several legacy colleges. It regulates audiologists, dietitians, hearing instrument practitioners, occupational therapists, opticians, optometrists, physical therapists, psychologists and speech language pathologists. Under the Health Professions and Occupations Act, its Ethics and Practice Standards took effect on 1 April 2026, and the legacy standards and codes were retired, except for complaints about events before that date.

Marketing now sits in a single practice standard, Marketing, Advertising, and Promotion, with no profession specific differences. That matters because search results still surface retired documents, including legacy dietitian and physical therapy marketing standards that banned testimonials and before and after photos. Those documents describe the old rules.

The standard applies to business names, advertising, public statements, websites, social media, directory listings and the use of testimonials. Registrants must avoid unreasonable expectations or guarantees about results, false, misleading, unsubstantiated or disparaging claims of superiority over other providers, and sensational, aggressive or fear based messaging. Advertising of health products must meet Health Canada's regulatory requirements, and any financial interest in a promoted product must be disclosed.

Free services get a specific rule: registrants must avoid advertising free health services or other inducements for unnecessary or inappropriate products or services. Titles follow the communications standard, used only as CHCPBC authorizes, with anyone using doctor stating that they are outside medical practice.

Testimonials are defined in the standard's glossary and fall within its scope, but the standard sets no blanket ban. They remain subject to the general rules on accuracy, expectations and superiority.

Two rules change how clinics work with outside help. Registrants are responsible for all marketing prepared on their behalf by a marketing agency or other third party, and must ensure by contract that the agency is fully informed of the requirements. A one line clause in the agency agreement, with the standard attached, meets that expectation.

Registrants must also monitor third party content, including online reviews and directory listings, and ask for correction or deletion where it breaches the standard. For a busy clinic that becomes a routine: one person checks Google, the main directories and review sites each month.

For the brand, the direction is the same as elsewhere in Canada. Precise descriptions of who the clinic serves, verifiable credentials and a clear first visit carry the trust that superiority claims and promises used to fake.