Virginia at a glance
| Rule | Virginia | 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 | SB 754 consent rule for reproductive and sexual health data | 30 September 2026 |
| Privacy law treating health data as sensitive | Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act | 30 September 2026 |
Virginia licensing boards’ advertising rules
Ads, websites and directory profiles all count as advertising to a licensing board. These are the Virginia 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.
Virginia Board of Medicine
- Board of Medicine licensees may not advertise false, misleading or deceptive information, and a solo practitioner is presumed responsible and accountable for the truthfulness of their ad's content. (18VAC85-20-30)
- Publishing an advertisement about one's practice that contains a claim of superiority, or that violates the Board of Medicine's advertising regulations, is unprofessional conduct. (Va. Code 54.1-2915(A)(15))
Virginia Board of Counseling
- Persons licensed or registered by the Board of Counseling must advertise their professional services fairly and accurately, in a manner that is not false, misleading or deceptive. (18VAC115-20-130(B)(13))
Telehealth across Virginia's borders
Virginia is a PSYPACT state. A psychologist whose home license is in Virginia 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.
Virginia 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.
Physicians, psychiatrists included, need a license in each state they treat patients in; the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact can speed that up where a state takes part.
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. Maryland, Washington, DC, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina each have their own page.
Health data, tracking and Virginia law
Virginia amended its Consumer Protection Act in 2025 to require consent before anyone obtains, discloses or sells a person's reproductive or sexual health information.
Virginia's Consumer Data Protection Act, in effect since January 2023, treats health data as sensitive data that needs opt-in consent before it is processed.
This is not legal advice.
How the states compare: state health-data laws.
What patients search for in Virginia
Searches a month that name a Virginia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach | 400 $6.00 | 350 $4.00 | 60 $4.50 | 10 | 30 $4.00 | 100 $1.60 | 50 $1.70 | 500 $1.10 |
| Alexandria | 200 $6.00 | 200 $5.00 | 20 | – | 100 $5.00 | 30 $3.50 | 40 $1.20 | 150 $1.20 |
| Statewide | 100 $7.00 | 100 $3.50 | 40 $3.00 | 100 $4.50 | 50 | 30 $1.10 | 10 | 50 $1.00 |
| Northern Virginia | 30 | 70 $2.50 | 10 | 60 | 30 | 50 | 150 $1.70 | 40 $1.10 |
| Charlottesville | 200 $5.00 | 150 $3.00 | 20 | – | 40 | 10 | – | 10 $1.70 |
| Richmond | 200 $9.00 | 20 $4.50 | – | – | 50 | 10 $1.20 | 100 $1.10 | 10 |
| Arlington | 100 $6.00 | 150 $4.00 | – | 10 | 40 | 10 $1.30 | – | 40 $1.70 |
| Norfolk | 90 $9.00 | 30 $3.50 | 10 | – | – | – | – | 60 |
| Chesapeake | 80 $7.00 | 10 | – | – | – | – | – | 20 |
Of the cities measured, Virginia Beach gets the most of these searches. Its biggest single search, “gastroenterologist virginia beach”, gets about 500 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, Virginia patients look most for therapists (about 1,400 a month), then psychiatrists (1,080). Virginia Beach alone accounts for 32% of them. A click on a therapist search here costs about $6.62 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
- Virginia LIS, SB 754 (2025), checked 30 September 2026
- Virginia Board of Medicine, checked 5 October 2026
- Virginia Board of Counseling, checked 5 October 2026