Pennsylvania at a glance
| Rule | Pennsylvania | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| PSYPACT (psychologists) | Yes | 8 October 2026 |
| Counseling Compact (counselors) | Yes, not live yet | 8 October 2026 |
| Social Work Licensure Compact | No | 8 October 2026 |
| Health-data or health geofencing law | None | 30 September 2026 |
| Privacy law treating health data as sensitive | None | 30 September 2026 |
Pennsylvania licensing boards’ advertising rules
Ads, websites and directory profiles all count as advertising to a licensing board. These are the Pennsylvania 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.
Pennsylvania State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors
- Advertising must accurately represent the licensee's competencies, education, training and experience, and may not present services or credentials in a false, misleading, deceptive or fraudulent way, in any medium including the internet and directory listings. (49 Pa. Code 47.80, 48.80 and 49.80)
Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology (psychologists)
- Public statements may not be false or misleading, create unjustified expectations of favorable results, falsely imply unusual or unique abilities, play on a client's fears about going without the services offered, or compare a psychologist's services with another's in a way that can't be substantiated. (49 Pa. Code 41.61, Principle 4(f))
- Psychologists may not solicit clients face to face. (49 Pa. Code 41.61, Principle 4(p))
Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine (medical doctors)
- Unconditionally guaranteeing a cure, or advertising a medical business in a way that is intended to or tends to deceive the public, is unprofessional conduct. (49 Pa. Code 16.61(a)(4) and (5))
Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O. physicians)
- Ads in any medium are allowed if they aren't misleading, deceptive, untrue or fraudulent on their face or in effect, and ads, letterhead and publications must identify the licensee's school of practice as "D.O.", "doctor of osteopathy", "osteopathic physician" or "osteopathic physician and surgeon". (49 Pa. Code 25.212)
Telehealth across Pennsylvania's borders
Pennsylvania is a PSYPACT state. A psychologist whose home license is in Pennsylvania 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.
Pennsylvania 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.
For physicians, psychiatrists included, Pennsylvania 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. New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio each have their own page.
Health data, tracking and Pennsylvania law
Pennsylvania 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.
This is not legal advice.
How the states compare: state health-data laws.
What patients search for in Pennsylvania
Searches a month that name a Pennsylvania 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 1,000 $7.00 | 600 $5.00 | 100 $5.00 | 200 $7.00 | 150 $1.30 | 150 $1.70 | 100 $2.50 | 1,000 $2.00 |
| Pittsburgh | 500 $5.00 | 400 $2.00 | 100 $3.50 | 40 | 100 $2.50 | 150 $0.90 | 40 $0.90 | 700 $1.30 |
| Statewide | 150 $3.50 | 80 | 90 $3.50 | 200 $2.50 | 30 | – | – | – |
| Allentown | 70 $3.50 | 150 $2.50 | – | – | – | – | – | 70 |
| Lancaster | 100 $4.50 | 80 $3.00 | 10 | – | – | – | – | 60 $1.90 |
| Harrisburg | 90 $2.50 | – | 10 | – | – | – | – | – |
Of the cities measured, Philadelphia gets the most of these searches. Its biggest single search, “therapist philadelphia”, gets about 1,000 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, Pennsylvania patients look most for therapists (about 1,910 a month), then gastroenterologists (1,830). Philadelphia alone accounts for 51% of them. A click on a therapist search here costs about $5.73 on average, above the $4.00 median across the 306 therapist 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
- Pennsylvania State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors, checked 30 September 2026
- Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology (psychologists), checked 14 October 2026
- Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine (medical doctors), checked 14 October 2026
- Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O. physicians), checked 14 October 2026