Does a hospital website also need medical advertising review?

What this document can and cannot answer

Medical advertising review follows the law and the review bodies' operating standards. You need to check the review bodies' own guidance for the scope of review, exemption conditions, processing time, fees and validity period. If we wrote numbers here, they would become wrong guidance when the standards change.

Instead, there are things we can say for certain as the people who build websites: which expressions often cause problems in review, how to catch those expressions in your text, and where on the website to display the approval number if you have been reviewed. Below we cover only those.

Expressions that often get flagged in review

Expressions that cause problems in review mostly fall into the five groups below. The WiSite editor checks whether such expressions appear when you save text such as notices, doctor profiles and condition pages, and shows a warning.

• Rankings and superlatives: words that assert superiority, such as 「최고」 (the best) or 「1위」 (No. 1)
• Definite claims of effect: words that promise a result, such as 「완치」 (complete cure) or 「부작용 없음」 (no side effects)
• Guarantees and prices: words that promise without conditions, such as 「보장」 (guaranteed) or 「최저가」 (lowest price)
• Firsts and only-ones: exclusive claims that are hard to verify, such as 「국내 최초」 (first in Korea) or 「유일」 (the only)
• Boasting authority: words that elevate without objective evidence, such as 「명의」 (renowned doctor) or 「독보적」 (unrivaled)

You can still save even if a warning appears

Because the check looks for words, it can also catch normal sentences. For example, 「최고」 (best) inside 「최고운영자」 (chief operating officer) gets caught. That is why it does not block saving and only leaves a warning. Judging the sentence is up to the hospital.

Conversely, not being caught does not mean you will pass review. This check is a tool that filters out frequently seen expressions, not a review decision.

Numbers are the most dangerous

Write numerical track records, such as numbers of surgeries or treatments, years of experience and awards, only when you have supporting evidence. A number added without evidence becomes an untrue sentence even before review.

If you have been reviewed, display it on the website

Site settings have a field for the review approval number. When entered, it appears automatically in the footer and on the hospital introduction page. If you have not been reviewed, leave it blank; entering a number you did not receive is a problem in itself.

There is also a separate field for the address of a prior-review notice page. Use it when you have advertising that has been reviewed.

Disclosing non-covered treatment fees is a separate matter

Separately from advertising review, Article 45 of the Medical Service Act requires you to disclose non-covered items and their fees. This applies to every hospital regardless of whether it is subject to review.

WiSite lets the hospital edit the non-covered fee table itself in the admin screen, and sends those values out together on the screen and in the structured data for search engines. Changing a fee in one place changes both.

The review body depends on the field of medicine

Medicine, dentistry and Korean medicine each have a different review body. Application methods and processing times also differ by body, so it is more accurate to check the guidance of the relevant association's medical advertising review committee directly.

• Medicine: Korean Medical Association, Medical Advertising Review Committee
• Dentistry: Korean Dental Association, Medical Advertising Review Committee
• Korean medicine: Association of Korean Medicine, Medical Advertising Review Committee