Ichelon Consulting US · Glossary
US healthcare marketing glossary
40 terms US practices run into when they market: privacy and consent rules, ad platform health policies, AI search, and the numbers worth tracking. Each definition is written for practice owners, not lawyers, and links to the guide that goes deeper.
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1
10DLC registration
The carrier-required process of registering a business brand and its texting use case before sending application-to-person text messages from a standard 10-digit US phone...
A
AI Overview citation
A link to a web page that Google shows as a source inside an AI Overview, the AI-generated summary that appears at the top of some Google search results.
Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Optimizing content so search engines, voice assistants and AI tools can pull it directly as the answer to a question, in featured snippets, AI Overviews or chatbot replie...
B
Business Associate Agreement (BAA)
A HIPAA contract between a healthcare practice and a vendor that handles protected health information on its behalf, such as a marketing agency, CRM or call-tracking prov...
C
CAN-SPAM Act
The 2003 federal law that sets rules for commercial email, including honest headers and subject lines, a physical address, and a working opt-out honored within 10 busines...
Corporate practice of medicine
A legal doctrine in many US states that restricts companies owned by non-physicians from practicing medicine, employing physicians or controlling clinical decisions; stri...
Cost per booked appointment
Total marketing cost for a period divided by the number of appointments booked from that marketing, showing what a practice pays to fill a calendar slot.
Cost per lead
Marketing spend divided by the number of leads, such as calls, forms or messages, that the marketing produced in the same period.
E
Enhanced conversions
A Google Ads feature that sends hashed first-party data, such as email or phone from a conversion, to Google to improve matching of conversions to ad interactions.
Entity SEO
An SEO approach that helps search engines and AI systems clearly identify a business, its people and its services as distinct entities and understand how they relate.
F
FTC Endorsement Guides
The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on how advertisers may use endorsements, testimonials and reviews, including disclosure of material connections and truthful repre...
G
Generative engine optimization (GEO)
The practice of shaping content and online presence so generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, mention or cite a brand in thei...
Good faith estimate (No Surprises Act)
A written estimate of expected charges that US providers must give uninsured or self-pay patients who schedule care or ask for one, required by the No Surprises Act since...
Google Business Profile categories
The labels a business picks on its Google Business Profile, one primary plus optional extras, that tell Google what it is and shape which searches it appears for.
Google Consent Mode
A Google framework that adjusts how Google tags behave based on a visitor's consent choices, such as limiting ad and analytics cookies when consent is not given.
Google healthcare and medicines ads policy
Google Ads rules that restrict or require certification for some healthcare ads, such as prescription drugs, online pharmacies and addiction treatment, and limit health-b...
Google Local Services Ads
Google's pay-per-lead ad format that shows verified local businesses at the top of some searches, available for certain healthcare categories in some US markets.
H
HIPAA and tracking pixels
The HIPAA risk created when third-party tracking code on a practice's website or app sends identifiable visitor data to advertising or analytics companies without a BAA o...
HIPAA marketing authorization
A patient's signed, specific permission that HIPAA generally requires before a covered entity uses or discloses protected health information for marketing.
HIPAA-compliant call tracking
Call tracking set up so that patient call data, such as recordings, transcripts and caller details, is handled under a BAA with safeguards, limited sharing and correct re...
L
LegitScript certification
A third-party certification that verifies healthcare businesses such as addiction treatment providers and online pharmacies, and that Google, Meta and payment companies r...
llms.txt
A proposed plain-text file placed at a website's root that gives large language models a short, curated guide to the site's most important content, in Markdown.
Local pack
The map and short list of local businesses, usually three, that Google shows near the top of results for searches with local intent, such as "dermatologist near me".
M
Medical schema markup
Structured data using schema.org vocabulary, such as MedicalClinic, Physician and MedicalProcedure, that describes a healthcare practice, its providers and services in a...
Meta health and wellness targeting restrictions
Meta's limits on how health-related advertisers can target audiences, share website data and write ads, including removed health-condition targeting and bans on implying...
Multi-location SEO
Search optimization for practices with several locations, giving each location its own accurate Google Business Profile, location page, listings and reviews while keeping...
N
NAP consistency
Keeping a practice's name, address and phone number identical across its website, Google Business Profile, directories and other listings so search engines and patients t...
NPI number
A unique 10-digit identification number for US healthcare providers, issued by CMS through the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) under HIPAA.
O
Offline conversion import
Uploading conversions that happen outside the website, such as booked appointments recorded in a CRM, into an ad platform and matching them to the originating ad clicks.
P
Patient acquisition cost
The total marketing and sales cost a practice spends to gain one new patient who actually starts care, over a defined period.
Patient lifetime value
The total revenue or gross profit a practice can expect from one patient over the whole relationship, used to judge how much it can spend to acquire patients.
Patient reactivation
Marketing and outreach aimed at bringing back existing patients who have not visited in a while, such as overdue recalls, lapsed members or patients with unscheduled trea...
Practice growth funnel
The sequence of stages a prospective patient moves through, from awareness to enquiry, booking, attendance, treatment and retention, used to measure where a practice gain...
Protected health information (PHI) in marketing
Individually identifiable health information held by a HIPAA covered entity or business associate, which in marketing can include form fills, call recordings, patient lis...
Q
Query fan-out
A technique where an AI search system splits one question into several related sub-queries, runs them in parallel and combines the results into a single answer.
R
Review gating
Screening patients for satisfaction first and then asking only happy ones to post public reviews, a practice Google prohibits and the FTC treats as potentially deceptive.
S
Show rate
The percentage of booked appointments where the patient actually attends, calculated as attended appointments divided by booked appointments for a period.
Speed to lead
The time between a prospective patient's enquiry, such as a form, call or message, and the practice's first meaningful response.
State medical board advertising rules
Rules set by each state's medical, dental or other licensing board that govern how licensed professionals and practices may advertise, typically banning false, misleading...
T
TCPA consent
The permission the Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires before a business makes certain automated or prerecorded calls and texts, with prior express written consent...
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