Glossary
Healthcare ad glossary of policy and tracking terms
Plain definitions of the platform, certification and privacy terms that decide whether a healthcare ad runs. Each one links to the rule's own page and to where we cover it in depth.
Checked October 5, 2026 against the platform, regulator and LegitScript page linked under each term.
0-9
- 503A pharmacy
- A state-licensed pharmacy, or a licensed physician, that compounds drugs under section 503A of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, for individual patients' prescriptions. What it makes is compounded, not FDA-approved.
- Source: FDA: FD&C Act provisions that apply to human drug compoundingGLP-1 telehealth ads
- 503B outsourcing facility
- A compounder registered with the FDA as an outsourcing facility under section 503B. It can make larger batches under FDA oversight and manufacturing standards, but its products are still compounded, not FDA-approved.
- Source: FDA: FD&C Act provisions that apply to human drug compoundingDoes a compounding pharmacy need LegitScript?
A
- Addiction Treatment Certification
- LegitScript's program for drug and alcohol treatment providers, priced per facility. As of October 2026 it costs $1,395 to $1,595 per facility to apply and $2,550 to $3,095 per facility a year, falling as the facility count rises; single-location practices with 1 to 3 providers pay $535 and $1,070.
- Source: LegitScript: Addiction Treatment CertificationLegitScript cost calculator
- Appeal
- A request asking a platform to look again at a decision on an ad, an asset or an account. Meta and Google each run their own flow. As of October 2026, Google decisions more than 6 months old can't be appealed in your account.
- Source: Google: Fix a disapproved ad or appeal a policy decisionAd Account Rescue
B
- Before-and-after imagery
- As of October 2026, Meta lets 18+ ads for cosmetic procedures show before-and-after transformation, and 18+ weight-loss ads show people using the product or service and its impact (a change made July 22, 2026). Statements of inferiority or negative self-perception, close-ups pinching fat and timed outcome promises without qualifiers are still prohibited. MedScale's own ads use no before-and-after at all; that is our choice, not Meta's rule.
- Source: Meta: Health and wellnessBefore-and-after imagery in GLP-1 ads
- Business associate agreement (BAA)
- The written contract a HIPAA covered entity needs before a vendor creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information on its behalf. HIPAA allows the sharing only with satisfactory assurance that the vendor will safeguard the information.
- Source: 45 CFR 164.502(e): Disclosures to business associatesTracking and reporting
- Business verification (Meta)
- Meta's check that ties a business portfolio to a real legal entity. Meta requires it to access certain advertising, developer, billing and spending features, and only someone with full control of the portfolio can start it.
- Source: Meta: How to verify your business in Meta Business SuiteAd Account Rescue
C
- Circumventing systems
- Google's policy against trying to trick or get around its ad review, such as cloaking a landing page or creating new accounts after a suspension. Google treats violations as egregious.
- Source: Google: Circumventing systemsAd Account Rescue
- Click-out
- An ad that sends people to your own landing page instead of a form inside the ad platform. The reviewer reads that page along with the ad, and it lets you measure every step from click to order.
- Landing pages
- Compounded drug
- A drug made by a pharmacy or outsourcing facility rather than a drug manufacturer. Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, and the FDA's warning letters to telehealth companies cite ads that imply sameness with FDA-approved products or hide who compounded the drug.
- Source: FDA: FDA warns 30 telehealth companies against illegal marketing of compounded GLP-1sGLP-1 telehealth ads
- Conversions API (CAPI)
- Meta's way to receive events from a business's server instead of from a pixel in the visitor's browser. Sending from a server lets you decide exactly what leaves your site: neutral event names, and no names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs.
- Source: Meta for Developers: Conversions APITracking and reporting
- Core setup and data restrictions (Meta)
- Meta's Business Tools Terms prohibit sending health information through its pixel or APIs. When Meta's systems detect it, Meta can restrict the data a pixel shares or place it in a core setup, which blocks custom parameters and anything in a URL after the domain.
- Source: Meta: About prohibited informationTracking and reporting
- Cost per order
- Ad spend divided by orders. Before ads run you can estimate it as cost per click divided by the share of visitors who order: $1.50 a click at a 2% visit-to-order rate is $75 an order.
- Telehealth ad budget calculator
D
- DEA telemedicine flexibilities
- Temporary federal rules that let DEA-registered practitioners prescribe Schedule II to V controlled medications by telemedicine. As of October 2026, the fourth extension (Federal Register document 2025-24123) runs from January 1 through December 31, 2026.
- Source: Federal Register: Fourth temporary extension of COVID-19 telemedicine flexibilitiesTRT telehealth ads
- Domain verification (Meta)
- Proof in Meta Business Suite that your business owns the domain your ads link to. It's free, done with a meta tag, an uploaded HTML file or a DNS TXT record, and it controls who can edit links to your content.
- Source: Meta: About domain verificationPaid ads
F
- FDA warning letter
- A formal FDA notice that a company's products or marketing break federal law. In its letters to 30 telehealth companies over compounded GLP-1s, the FDA cited claims implying sameness with FDA-approved products and branding that hid who compounded the drug.
- Source: FDA: FDA warns 30 telehealth companies against illegal marketing of compounded GLP-1sAdvertising compounded semaglutide
G
- Google healthcare certification
- Google's own approval to advertise prescription drug services, required for online pharmacies and telemedicine providers. You apply for the category that matches your business, and some categories need third-party accreditation such as LegitScript first.
- Source: Google: Prescription drug servicesLegitScript vs Google certification
H
- Health and wellness policy (Meta)
- Meta's rules for weight-loss, cosmetic and health products. Ads must target people 18 or older and must not contain statements of inferiority about appearance, close-ups pinching fat, or promises of results in a set time without qualifiers.
- Source: Meta: Health and wellnessMeta, Google and TikTok compared
L
- Learning limited (Meta)
- The status Meta shows when an ad set is unlikely to get about 50 optimization events in the week after its last significant edit. Meta's fixes include combining ad sets and campaigns, raising the budget, and choosing an optimization event that happens more often.
- Source: Meta: About learning limitedTelehealth ad budget calculator
- Learning phase (Meta)
- The period after you launch or significantly edit an ad set while Meta works out how to deliver it. Meta says ad sets usually exit it after about 50 results in the week after the last significant edit.
- Source: Meta: About the learning phaseTelehealth ad budget calculator
- LegitScript certification
- A private certification that ad platforms and card networks rely on to vet pharmacies, telehealth providers and addiction treatment providers. As of October 2026, Healthcare Merchant Certification costs $975 per website to apply and $2,150 per website a year. LegitScript says it does not guarantee advertising approval.
- Source: LegitScript: Healthcare Certification process and pricingLegitScript certification
O
- Optimization event
- The action you ask Meta to find more of, such as a purchase, a started checkout or a lead. Meta learns from how often it happens, so a campaign that can't reach about 50 a week can optimize for an earlier, more frequent step instead.
- Source: Meta: About learning limitedTelehealth ad budget calculator
P
- Personal attributes (Meta)
- Meta's rule that ads must not assert or imply personal attributes of the viewer, including medical information and physical or mental health. Write about the treatment or the service, never about the reader's body or condition.
- Source: Meta: Privacy violations and personal attributesMeta's personal attributes policy
- Prescription drug terms (Google)
- In the US since October 29, 2025, you don't need certification to use prescription drug terms in ads and landing pages, but you must be certified to keyword-target them. Online pharmacies, telemedicine providers and other listed business types still need certification before prescription-drug ads serve.
- Source: Google: Restricted drug termsCan you name Ozempic in ads?
- Prescription medicine ads (TikTok)
- As of October 2026, TikTok's US policy (last updated September 2026) says prescription medicine ads may be allowed with proof of FDA approval and certification, shown only to people 18 or older. Compounded and unapproved products can't qualify, and most other markets don't allow prescription ads, so compounded GLP-1 and peptide brands use TikTok for awareness or non-prescription offers only.
- Source: TikTok: Healthcare and pharmaceuticalsMeta, Google and TikTok compared
- Probationary certification (LegitScript)
- A LegitScript status for businesses that meet its standards but warrant heightened ongoing monitoring, which LegitScript decides during review. As of October 2026 the annual fee is $3,995 per website instead of $2,150.
- Source: LegitScript: Healthcare Certification process and pricingLegitScript cost calculator
- Protected health information (PHI)
- Under HIPAA, individually identifiable health information in any form: information about a person's health, care or payment for care that identifies them, or could reasonably be used to. A vendor that handles it for a covered entity needs a BAA first.
- Source: 45 CFR 160.103: DefinitionsTracking and reporting
R
- Restriction level
- How MedScale grades a vertical on each platform on its clinic and telehealth pages. Open runs on a standard account; certification required runs once a named certification is on file; restricted means clinic and consultation positioning runs but the product does not; closed means there is no compliant path.
- Clinic verticals
S
- Server-side tracking
- Sending conversion events from a server you control rather than from scripts in the visitor's browser. Done properly for a health brand, it runs under a BAA, uses neutral event names, and sends no names, emails, phone numbers, IP addresses or browser IDs to ad platforms.
- Source: Google: An introduction to server-side taggingTracking and reporting
- Standard events
- Event names Meta defines for common actions, such as Lead, Schedule, CompleteRegistration and Purchase. Using them instead of custom names that carry a drug or condition keeps health details out of what ad platforms receive.
- Source: Meta for Developers: Meta Pixel referenceTracking and reporting
- Strike (Google Ads)
- Google's penalty for repeat violations of a listed set of policies, such as unapproved substances and clickbait. The first violation is a warning; the first and second strikes put the account on hold for 3 and 7 days, and the third suspends it.
- Source: Google: About enforcement procedures for repeat violationsAd Account Rescue
W
- Washington My Health My Data Act
- Washington's consumer health data law. A business needs consent to collect consumer health data and separate consent to share it, unless it's necessary for a product or service the person asked for, so a pixel on a treatment page can fall under it.
- Source: RCW 19.373.030: Collection or sharing of consumer health dataTracking and reporting
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