Alabama at a glance
| Rule | Alabama | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| PSYPACT (psychologists) | Yes | 8 October 2026 |
| Counseling Compact (counselors) | Yes, not live yet | 8 October 2026 |
| Social Work Licensure Compact | Enacted, not issuing licenses yet | 8 October 2026 |
| Health-data or health geofencing law | None | 30 September 2026 |
| Privacy law treating health data as sensitive | None | 30 September 2026 |
Alabama licensing boards’ advertising rules
Ads, websites and directory profiles all count as advertising to a licensing board. These are the Alabama rules we check copy against, with links to the official text. Boards update their rules, so read the current version before you rely on a summary.
Medical Licensure Commission of Alabama
- Physicians may not intentionally or knowingly make a false, deceptive or misleading statement in any advertisement or commercial solicitation for professional services, including statements about another physician or physician group. (Ala. Admin. Code r. 545-X-4-.06(7))
Alabama Board of Examiners in Psychology
- When psychological services are announced or advertised under the name of a professional corporation, group, clinic or similar entity, the name of at least one licensed psychologist or psychological technician must appear with that name. (Ala. Admin. Code r. 750-X-4-.03(4))
Alabama State Board of Social Work Examiners
- Social workers may not misrepresent their qualifications, competence, services or the results to be achieved in any advertising. (Ala. Admin. Code r. 850-X-9-.01(5)(a)6)
Telehealth across Alabama's borders
Alabama is a PSYPACT state. A psychologist whose home license is in Alabama can apply for PSYPACT's telepsychology authorization and then see clients by telehealth in the other PSYPACT states, so ads can reach clients there too.
Alabama has enacted the Counseling Compact, but it wasn't live here yet when we checked. Once it is, a licensed professional counselor based here can apply for privileges to practice in other member states instead of a separate license in each.
It has also enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact, which isn't issuing multistate licenses yet; the compact's commission expects its licensing system in 2027.
For physicians, psychiatrists included, Alabama is in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which speeds up getting a license in other member states but doesn't replace it.
Telehealth ads should only reach places where the clinician can legally treat: see PSYPACT and Counseling Compact states.
Practices near a state line often see clients from next door. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee each have their own page.
Health data, tracking and Alabama law
Alabama has no comprehensive consumer privacy law or consumer health data law in effect as of 30 September 2026. Federal rules and a practice's own HIPAA duties still apply.
The Alabama Personal Data Protection Act, already passed, takes effect on May 1, 2027 and will treat health data as sensitive data.
This is not legal advice.
How the states compare: state health-data laws.
What patients search for in Alabama
Searches a month that name an Alabama city, with the average cost per click, from Ahrefs (checked between 30 September and 5 October 2026). A dash means too few to measure; “near me” searches aren't counted. The Statewide row is searches that name the state.
| City | Therapist | Psychiatrist | Ketamine | IOP | Weight loss | Functional med. | Concierge | GI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | 300 $2.50 | 700 $2.50 | 60 $4.00 | 20 | 80 $1.60 | 50 $1.00 | 40 $1.60 | 400 $0.45 |
| Mobile | 150 $4.50 | 350 $3.00 | 20 $4.00 | – | 80 $2.50 | 20 | – | 200 $1.90 |
| Tuscaloosa | 150 $3.50 | 150 $3.00 | – | – | – | 20 | – | 30 $1.00 |
| Statewide | 70 $2.00 | 30 $1.20 | 200 $4.50 | – | 10 | 10 | – | 10 $0.60 |
| Huntsville | 200 $6.00 | 10 $3.00 | – | – | 30 | – | – | – |
| Montgomery | 200 $4.50 | – | – | – | 10 | – | – | – |
Of the cities measured, Birmingham gets the most of these searches. Its biggest single search, “psychiatrist birmingham al”, gets about 700 a month. To turn a cost per click into a cost per booked patient, put your own numbers into the patient acquisition cost calculator.
Across the searches measured here, Alabama patients look most for psychiatrists (about 1,240 a month), then therapists (1,070). Birmingham alone accounts for 46% of them. A click on a psychiatrist search here costs about $2.67 on average, below the $3.00 median across the 274 psychiatrist searches measured on our state pages.
Fill The Lobby is a remote US healthcare marketing agency; the ads and pages we write for practices are checked against rules like these. See how we handle compliance.
Sources
- PSYPACT, compact map, checked 8 October 2026
- Counseling Compact, member map, checked 8 October 2026
- Counseling Compact, 10 states now offering privileges, checked 8 October 2026
- Counseling Compact, Pennsylvania becomes the 40th member, checked 8 October 2026
- Social Work Licensure Compact, enacted in 35 states, checked 8 October 2026
- Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, participating states, checked 14 October 2026
- IAPP, US State Privacy Legislation Tracker, checked 30 September 2026
- Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US search volumes and cost per click, checked 30 September 2026
- Medical Licensure Commission of Alabama, checked 5 October 2026
- Alabama Board of Examiners in Psychology, checked 5 October 2026
- Alabama State Board of Social Work Examiners, checked 5 October 2026