Martiny (SB 167) Act No. 856
New law defines "advertisement" and "advertising" to mean any statement, oral or written,
requested and approved by a licensed dentist, disseminated to or displayed before the public
or any portion thereof with the intent of selling professional dental services, offering to
perform professional dental services, or inducing members of the public to enter into any
obligation relating to such professional dental services. This shall apply to an approved
statement of any nature regardless of whether it is in the form of paid advertising. In
addition, listing, identifying, or grouping of dentists by an insurance company on a website
or by any other means of disseminating information involving a dentist participating with an
insurance company and an associated affiliate shall not be deemed an advertisement or
advertising by the dentist. Neither the insurance company nor the associated affiliate shall
be deemed a referral company and a listed dentist shall not be considered to be advertising
through a referral service by participating with such company or affiliate.
New law excludes from the definition of "advertisement" and "advertising" any
communication, oral or written, by a nonprofit entity that meets the statutory, regulatory, and
program requirements for grantees supported under federal law.
Prior law defined "unprofessional conduct" to include if one does not include in an
advertisement the name which appears on the license or renewal certificate of the dentist or
which is authorized by law, relative to professional dental corporations or the use in
advertisements of any name other than that which appears on the license or renewal
certificate of the dentist or which is authorized under Chapter 11 of Title 12 of the LRS,
relative to professional dental corporations.
New law retains prior law and provides that not including the dentist's commonly used name
may constitute unprofessional conduct.
Prior law further defined "unprofessional conduct" to mean advertising of dental services in
any medium which has not been approved by the licensed dentist and which does not contain
the dentist's full name, address, and telephone number.
New law amends prior law to define "unprofessional conduct" to mean advertising of dental
services in any medium that does not contain the dentist's full name as it appears on the
license or renewal certificate issued by the board or the dentist's commonly used name,
address, and telephone number.
New law adds that"unprofessional conduct" shall mean:
(1)Intentionally releasing inaccurate or misleading information by a dentist to any
source that promotes dissemination of inaccurate or misleading information about the
dentist by, from, or through such source.
(2)Failing to take immediate steps to request the correction of inaccurate or misleading
information that has been released by a source pursuant to the source's relationship
with the dentist.
(3)Engaging or hiring an advertising agency or any other agency or person to prepare
material to promote the dentist's professional dental services, and thereafter failing
to review and approve the material before publication or release, unless the dentist
can show the failure to review and approve the material was caused by the failure of
the agency or person and not his own.
Prior law provided when it is required that an advertisement include the name of the
advertising dentist as it appears on the license or renewal certificate of the dentist or the
specialties of all dentists practicing within or under the name of a corporation, company,
association, limited liability company, or trade name be disclosed in the advertisement, such
requirement shall be deemed to be sufficiently satisfied if the names and specialties of all
dentists practicing in, with or under the said corporation, company, association, limited
liability company, or trade name are made available on an Internet website fully disclosed
in the advertisement, or are provided without delay to any individual requesting such
information by contacting the advertiser at a telephone number also disclosed in the
advertisement. New law provides that when it is required that an advertisement include the name of the
advertising dentist, either as it appears on the license or renewal certificate of the dentist or
the dentist's commonly used name, or the specialties of all dentists practicing within or under
the name of a corporation, company, association, limited liability company, or trade name
be disclosed in the advertisement, and address and telephone number of the dentist, such
requirement shall be deemed to be sufficiently satisfied if the names and specialties of all
dentists practicing in, with or under the said corporation, company, association, limited
liability company, or trade name and the address and the telephone number are made
available on an Internet website fully disclosed in the advertisement, or are provided without
delay to any individual requesting such information by contacting the advertiser at a
telephone number also disclosed in the advertisement.
Prior law provided that whether the advertisement is run by the corporation, company,
association, limited liability company, or trade name, or any individual member practicing
therein, all dentists practicing in, with or under the corporation, company, association,
limited liability company, or trade name shall be responsible for the content of the
advertisement.
New law provides that whenever any advertisement is run by or on behalf of a corporation,
company, association, limited liability company, or trade name, each dentist practicing in,
with or under the corporation, company, association, limited liability company, or trade name
shall be responsible for the content of the advertisement unless an individual dentist
practicing in, with or under the corporation, company, association, limited liability company,
or trade name, advises the board in writing prior to the time the board takes any action
regarding the advertisement that he assumes sole responsibility for the advertisement. If an
individual dentist assumes sole responsibility for the advertisement, no other dentist shall be
responsible for such advertisement.
New law provides that whenever the board determines that an advertisement constitutes a
violation of law, before taking any further action, the board shall notify the advertising
dentist by mail of its determination and the specific portion of the advertisement that
constitutes a violation. The dentist shall have 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice
by the dentist to correct the portions of the advertisement in violation and submit to the board
proof of such correction. If the advertisement is corrected to remove the violation within 30
days, the board shall take no further action against the advertising dentist for unprofessional
conduct with regard to such advertisement. In the event an advertisement cannot be
corrected within the 30 days, it shall be deemed sufficient if the dentist submits proof to the
board within 30 days that he has directed that the correction be made at the next publication
date.
New law further provides that a dentist shall have this right to correct an advertisement
deemed by the board to be in violation of certain provisions of law only the first two times
notified of such violation; there shall be no right to correct a third or any subsequent
violation, whether for the same advertisement or for a subsequent advertisement. If an
advertisement is run by or on behalf of a corporation, company, association, limited liability
company, or trade name, the aforementioned right to correct shall be limited to two times,
regardless of the number of dentists in or associated with the corporation, association, limited
liability company, or trade name.
Prior law provided for penalties. New law provides that each advertisement found by the
committee to be in violation of law shall be considered a single violation, regardless of the
actual number of violations occurring in the advertisement or the number of dentists included
in the advertisement.
New law further provides that any fine imposed for an advertising violation shall be not less
than $500 nor more than $5,000 for the first offense, and the maximum allowable amount
of such fine shall increase incrementally by $5,000 for each subsequent offense.
Effective upon signature of the governor (June 23, 2014).
(Amends R.S. 37:751(A), 775(A)(2) and (9) and (B), and 776(A)(14); adds R.S.
37:780(B)(5))