Meta and Google for sleep telehealth
Sleep
Insomnia care and sleep apnea care, which look like one category and are two. One sells a visit and sometimes a prescription. The other sells a home sleep test and a device on a resupply plan.
How it is sold
The model, before the rules.
Insomnia programs run a visit and either CBT-I (structured behavioural treatment delivered through an app or a clinician) or a prescription such as trazodone, doxepin or a Z-drug like zolpidem, which is Schedule IV. Apnea programs sell a home sleep test, a diagnosis read by a sleep physician, and then a CPAP or oral appliance on a monthly resupply subscription, often billed through insurance as durable medical equipment. Both sit under a prescriber; only one ends in a drug.
How it gets restricted
Insomnia ads fail for personal-attribute hooks ("can't sleep?") and for naming a prescription sleep aid without certification, and a Z-drug is a controlled substance with its own flag. Apnea ads fail for cure claims and for the pixel: a sleep-test order or a results page can leak a diagnosis into an event name or URL and move the account into Meta's restricted health tier. Supplement add-ons carry Google's unapproved-supplements rule if they claim drug-like effects.
Paid outlookCertification first
Policy by platform
Where a platform asks for LegitScript, it means LegitScript certification: the third-party check Meta and Google require before a telehealth business can name a prescription drug in an ad. It certifies the business, its prescribers and its pharmacies. It does not change what a drug is.
- Meta
- Sleep services and sleep tests run under the health and wellness rules with 18+ targeting and no personal-attribute framing. Naming a prescription sleep medication requires LegitScript certification and written authorization. Sensitive-health classification, triggered by what the pixel sends, limits conversion optimization.
- Google Ads
- A telehealth service that prescribes sleep medication is prescription drug services and requires certification to serve ads and bid on drug terms. Supplements with pharmaceutical or dangerous ingredients are prohibited. Sleep-test, apnea-treatment and insomnia-care intent is open.
- TikTok
- Prescription medicine is not allowed as an ad subject in the US and over-the-counter medicines are restricted to 18+ with approval. Sleep-test and device awareness can run; provider and program content is the reliable format.
Policy pages read 2026-08-30. Meta: Drugs and pharmaceuticals · Meta: Health and wellness · Meta: Personal attributes · Google: Healthcare and medicines · Google: Prescription drug services certification. Full policy tracker
What we run
The plan for sleep.
- Channels
- Google Search on apnea-test and insomnia-care intent, split into separate campaigns because the buyers differ. Meta on the home-test offer and clinician-led insomnia creative. Email and SMS carry resupply, which is where apnea revenue lives.
- Creative that passes
- The test arrives at your door, a sleep physician reads it, treatment starts within days. Providers to camera. Symptoms named as things the program treats, no "you", no cure language, no bedroom-misery imagery.
- Landing page
- Two pages, not one: apnea test-and-device, and insomnia care. Insurance handled up front for the device path. Medication named on the insomnia page only, with controlled-substance rules stated.
- Tracking
- Server-side events with generic names (lead, qualified, booked, purchase) and only hashed identifiers. The ad click ID rides a bridge token into the intake platform, so the consult and the prescription land on the campaign that produced them even though the visitor left our page to book.
What we measure
- CPQL
- Cost per qualified lead: test ordered or insomnia intake completed and eligible.
- Consult booked
- Physician review scheduled or results consult booked, attributed to the campaign.
- Rx issued
- Device or medication prescribed after review, reported from the platform.
- 90-day retention
- Patients on resupply or in care at month three, by path.
Reported weekly by campaign from the tracking installed in the first two weeks. We publish the definitions, not a benchmark, because the number depends on your price, your states and your pharmacy.
Commitments
What is done by which day.
Policy read with the insomnia and apnea paths mapped separately
Server-side tracking live with no test result or diagnosis forwarded
Home-test and insomnia-care campaigns live on Google and Meta
Weekly report on CPQL through resupply retention by path
Days count from kickoff. Certification timelines belong to LegitScript and the platforms, so campaigns that need drug terms start on program intent and add them when approval lands.
Sleep questions
What brands in this category ask first.
Do we need certification to advertise a home sleep test?
No. The test, the physician read and the device are services and equipment, not prescription drugs. Certification enters when the program also prescribes sleep medication, at which point Google treats it as prescription drug services and Meta requires LegitScript before a drug is named.
Can we advertise zolpidem or Ambien?
Zolpidem is a Schedule IV controlled substance. Even with certification, controlled-substance promotion is flagged separately and draws account-level review. We advertise insomnia care and CBT-I and leave medication to the page and the prescriber.
Why did our apnea account lose its conversion events?
The pixel, usually. A results page URL or an event named after the diagnosis moves the account into Meta's restricted health tier and cuts off optimization. Server-side delivery with generic event names is the fix.
What should the apnea funnel measure?
Test ordered, test returned, physician review completed, device shipped, and resupply at ninety days. The first two are cheap to buy and the last two are the business, so the report shows all five by campaign.
Next step
Start with the audit.
We read your live ads, landing pages and pixel against the rules on this page and send back the flags and the plan. If the account is already restricted, the rescue is the faster door.
Growth audit
See where your growth is leaking.
We audit the funnel, the tracking, and the compliance posture, then hand you the roadmap. The people writing it have run the same funnel from the inside. You keep it whether or not we work together.
- Reviewed
- Funnel, tracking, and compliance posture
- Discussed
- One 30-minute call with the operator on your account
- Delivered
- A written roadmap within 5 business days