# What Should a Healthcare Ad Agency Case Study Show?

Reviewed October 24, 2026 · By Michael Borgia, MedScale Health

## Short answer

As of October 2026, a healthcare ad agency case study should show the baseline, the timeframe, the spend band, the platform, who ran the account and what was measured and how, so a buyer can tell a repeatable result from a lucky month. MedScale Health, a paid ads agency for US telehealth brands and clinics, publishes anonymised results on its results page, each labelled with its category, the platform where one is named and the note that it was measured on MedScale's tracking.

## What should a buyer look for in a healthcare ad agency case study?

- A baseline: what the number was before, measured the same way.
- A timeframe and a spend band, so a result can be scaled against your own budget.
- The platform and the offer type, because a Meta result for a consultation offer says little about Google for a prescription program.
- Who did what: whether the agency ran the ads, made the creative, built the pages or measured the result.
- The metric and its source: leads, booked appointments or patients who started care, counted by the platform or by the business's own records.

As of October 2026, a case study is often the first proof a buyer sees from a healthcare ad agency, and its headline number is easy to read and hard to check. MedScale Health wrote this as a reading guide: the six things that make a case study checkable, and the claims that should make a buyer cautious. The guide sits beside the tests for choosing an agency, and it applies to MedScale's own results as much as anyone's. This page is marketing guidance, not legal advice; check the sources at the end before acting on a rule.

## Which numbers make a healthcare case study checkable?

A result is only as useful as its context. A cost per lead that halved means little without the starting figure, the weeks it covers and roughly what was spent, because a small test budget and a large account behave differently. Google's guide for advertisers working with agencies puts the test plainly: unless the goal is branding, the most important aspect of advertising is how many new customers it brings in, so measure each month what goes in and what comes out.

In healthcare, the unit matters as much as the number. A lead is a form or a call, a booked appointment is on the schedule, and a patient has started care. A strong case study names which one it counts and how far down that chain it goes. MedScale's Monday report keeps the same distinction, with results by campaign and patients who started care, reconciled to the client's booking tool.

## How can you tell who ran the account in a case study?

Agencies do different jobs on the same account: running the ads, making the creative, building landing pages or measuring results. A case study should say which of those it describes, because a result produced by a new landing page or a measurement fix is real but is not proof of media buying. Ask the agency to say plainly which part of the result was its work.

The account itself can confirm the rest. Google requires agencies to give clients their Google Ads customer IDs on request and, where its terms call for monthly reports, to report cost, clicks and impressions at the account level with Google's charge shown apart from fees. An agency can show a reference account's platform reporting with names removed, or describe who held access and for how long. MedScale labels every item on its results page "on MedScale's tracking", so a reader knows what measured it.

## What was measured, and by whose count?

Platform numbers and business numbers are different counts. Meta's standard attribution settings credit events within 1 or 7 days after a link click, 1 day after an impression, or 1 day after a non-link engagement, depending on the setting chosen. Meta warns that results can't be compared across ad sets using different attribution models, and that when an external analytics tool is in use, performance should be evaluated there. A case study that mixes windows, or compares a platform's count before with a booking system's count after, isn't comparing like with like.

The strongest healthcare results are matched to the business's own records: appointments in the scheduling system, patients who started care, orders that weren't refunded. MedScale reconciles its reports to the client's booking tool rather than the platform's own count, and a case study from any agency should say which count it used.

## Can an anonymised healthcare case study still be trusted?

Anonymised healthcare case studies can be trusted if they stay checkable. Withholding the client's name still leaves room to state the category, the platform, the timeframe, the spend band, the metric and how it was counted. What an anonymised result can't do is ask a buyer to take a number on trust with none of those attached. MedScale's results page withholds names, says results vary by brand, offer and budget, and gives each item its category and, where it applies, the platform.

Named or not, a case study is advertising for the agency. Where it relates a client's experience, the FTC's Endorsement Guides say an ad relating consumers' experience on a key attribute will likely be read as representing what consumers generally achieve, so an advertiser without proof that the result is representative should clearly disclose the generally expected performance. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials treats it as a violation for a business to create a testimonial that misrepresents whether the person exists, used the service or had the experience described, or to disseminate one about itself that it knew or should have known did.

## Which case study claims should make a buyer cautious?

- A result with no baseline, timeframe or spend, so it can't be scaled to your budget.
- Platform-reported leads presented as patients, with no link to bookings or started care.
- A best month or a best ad presented as the account's normal result.
- A promise that you will see the same numbers. Google's third-party policy bars agencies from suggesting results that are improbable or cannot be guaranteed, even if they are technically possible but not typical.
- A result from a different category offered as proof for yours, such as a dental result shown to a prescribing telehealth brand.

MedScale's results page withholds client names, states that each result ran on MedScale's tracking, and promises no number to a new client. A guaranteed patient count is also one of the red flags when hiring an agency.

## Where are MedScale's results, and how are they measured?

MedScale's results page lists anonymised results from telehealth brands and clinics on MedScale's tracking, grouped by category: men's health, GLP-1, a multi-location clinic group and a national health brand. Names are withheld, results vary by brand, offer and budget, and each item states its category and, where it applies, the platform. For a read of your own numbers, the free growth audit reviews your ads, landing pages and tracking and returns a written roadmap in five business days, whether or not you hire MedScale.

## Next step

**Planning a launch?** The budget calculator turns your price and target cost per patient into a starting budget for the first 90 days.

- [Open the ad budget calculator](https://medscale.health/tools/telehealth-ad-budget-calculator)
- [Plan a launch with us](https://medscale.health/build)
- [Telehealth marketing agency](https://medscale.health/telehealth)
- [Get a free Growth Audit](https://medscale.health/audit): a written read of your ads, pages and eligibility, with a plan

## FAQ

**What should a healthcare ad agency case study include?**

The baseline, the timeframe, the spend band, the platform, who ran the account and what was measured and how. With those six, a buyer can tell whether a result could repeat on their own budget; without them, a headline number can't be checked.

**Can an anonymised healthcare case study be trusted?**

Yes, if it stays checkable. Withholding the client's name still leaves room to state the category, platform, timeframe, spend band, metric and how it was counted. Ask to see the platform's own reporting for the period with names removed.

**Is cost per lead enough to judge a healthcare ad agency's results?**

No. A lead is a form or a call, not a patient. Look for booked appointments or patients who started care, matched to the business's own records, because platform counts depend on attribution settings and can't always be compared.

**Can an agency promise the results shown in its case studies?**

No. Google's third-party policy bars agencies from suggesting results that are improbable or cannot be guaranteed, even if technically possible but not typical, and the FTC says a testimonial about a key result is likely to be read as a claim about what people generally achieve.

**Where can I see MedScale's results?**

On medscale.health/results, which lists anonymised results from telehealth brands and clinics on MedScale's tracking, grouped by category. Names are withheld, each item states its category and, where it applies, the platform, and results vary by brand, offer and budget.

## Sources

- [Google Ads policy: Advertiser guide, working with third parties](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/9457109?hl=en) (checked October 23, 2026)
- [Google Ads policy: Transparency requirements for third parties](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/16489093?hl=en) (checked October 23, 2026)
- [Google Ads policy: Third-party false, misleading, or unrealistic claims](https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6086777?hl=en) (checked October 23, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About attribution models and attribution settings](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2198119873776795) (checked October 23, 2026)
- [16 CFR 255.2: consumer endorsements, FTC Endorsement Guides (eCFR)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-255/section-255.2) (checked October 23, 2026)
- [16 CFR 465.2: fake or false consumer reviews and testimonials (eCFR)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-465/section-465.2) (checked October 23, 2026)

## Related

- [How Do You Choose a Telehealth Ad Agency?](https://medscale.health/answers/how-to-choose-a-telehealth-ad-agency)
- [What Are the Red Flags When Hiring a Healthcare Ad Agency?](https://medscale.health/answers/healthcare-ad-agency-red-flags)
- [What Does a Telehealth Growth Audit Include?](https://medscale.health/answers/what-a-telehealth-growth-audit-includes)
- [What Does a New Telehealth Patient Cost on Paid Ads, and How Do You Bring It Down?](https://medscale.health/answers/telehealth-cost-per-patient-and-launch-budget)

Canonical page: https://medscale.health/answers/what-a-healthcare-ad-agency-case-study-should-show