NRS629.076. Standards for advertisements; provider of health care to display specific licensure or certification; penalties; definitions. [Effective January 1, 2014.]

      1.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3:

      (a) An advertisement for health care services that names a health care professional must identify the type of license or certificate held by the health care professional and must not contain any deceptive or misleading information. If an advertisement for health care services is in writing, the information concerning licensure and board certification that is required pursuant to this section must be prominently displayed in the advertisement using a font size and style to make the information readily apparent.

      (b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, a health care professional who provides health care services in this State shall affirmatively communicate his or her specific licensure or certification to all current and prospective patients. Such communication must include, without limitation, a written patient disclosure statement that is conspicuously displayed in the office of the health care professional and which clearly identifies the type of license or certificate held by the health care professional. The statement must be in a font size sufficient to make the information reasonably visible.

      (c) A health care professional shall, during the course of providing health care services other than sterile procedures in a health care facility, wear a name tag which indicates his or her specific licensure or certification.

      (d) A physician or osteopathic physician shall not hold himself or herself out to the public as board certified in a specialty or subspecialty, and an advertisement for health care services must not include a statement that a physician or osteopathic physician is board certified in a specialty or subspecialty, unless the physician or osteopathic physician discloses the full and correct name of the board by which he or she is certified, and the board:

             (1) Is a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties or the American Osteopathic Association; or

             (2) Requires for certification in a specialty or subspecialty:

                   (I) Successful completion of a postgraduate training program which is approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association and which provides complete training in the specialty or subspecialty;

                   (II) Prerequisite certification by the American Board of Medical Specialties or the American Osteopathic Association in the specialty or subspecialty; and

                   (III) Successful completion of an examination in the specialty or subspecialty.

      (e) A health care professional who violates any provision of this section is guilty of unprofessional conduct and is subject to disciplinary action by the board, agency or other entity in this State by which he or she is licensed, certified or regulated.

      2.  A health care professional who practices in more than one office shall comply with the requirements set forth in this section in each office in which he or she practices.

      3.  The provisions of this section do not apply to:

      (a) A veterinarian or other person licensed under chapter 638 of NRS.

      (b) A person who works in or is licensed to operate, conduct, issue a report from or maintain a medical laboratory under chapter 652 of NRS, unless the person provides services directly to a patient or the public.

      4.  The provisions of paragraph (b) of subsection 1 do not apply to a health care professional who provides health care services in a medical facility licensed pursuant to chapter 449 of NRS or a hospital established pursuant to chapter 450 of NRS.

      5.  As used in this section:

      (a) “Advertisement” means any printed, electronic or oral communication or statement that names a health care professional in relation to the practice, profession or institution in which the health care professional is employed, volunteers or otherwise provides health care services. The term includes, without limitation, any business card, letterhead, patient brochure, pamphlet, newsletter, telephone directory, electronic mail, Internet website, physician database, audio or video transmission, direct patient solicitation, billboard and any other communication or statement used in the course of business.

      (b) “Deceptive or misleading information” means any information that falsely describes or misrepresents the profession, skills, training, expertise, education, board certification or licensure of a health care professional.

      (c) “Health care facility” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 449.2414.

      (d) “Health care professional” means any person who engages in acts related to the treatment of human ailments or conditions and who is subject to licensure, certification or regulation by the provisions of this title.

      (e) “Medical laboratory” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 652.060.

      (f) “Osteopathic physician” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 633.091.

      (g) “Physician” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 630.014.

      (Added to NRS by 2013, 1484, effective January 1, 2014)