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Referrals to doctors

by van80
14 replies
Hi everyone

We have a couple of successful sites focuses on alternative health. We have already published ebooks and done some affiliate business, so now we are looking to monetize our email list even more effectively.

We would like to explore referrals to American integrative doctors or naturopaths. Basically we would refer a visitor to the doctor/naturopath, and he/she would pay us a commission (say 10-20%) for each consultation.

Would there be any legal issues with doing this? All feedback would be really appreciated!

Thx
Van
#doctors #referrals
  • Profile picture of the author TheRealRazzy
    There's no legal issues that I can think of.

    If you can find a doctor who is willing to take leads from you then he/she will probably just pay you per lead and not give you a percentage of what they make off of that client.
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  • Profile picture of the author SuperKC
    Lots of legal issues.. you cant refer patients to doctors and take commissions... same thing with lawyers.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRealRazzy
      Originally Posted by SuperKC View Post

      Lots of legal issues.. you cant refer patients to doctors and take commissions... same thing with lawyers.
      There's definitely loop holes.
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  • Profile picture of the author SuperKC
    No loopholes.. here is why.. guy goes to medical school for 10 years and $500k because he is afraid of being an entrepreneur.. he isn't going to risk losing all of that to help someone he doesnt know off the Internet to make a fast buck.. plus he wouldn't know how to hide the $ as marketing expenses even if he did. Doctors are not businessmen.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRealRazzy
      Originally Posted by SuperKC View Post

      No loopholes.. here is why.. guy goes to medical school for 10 years and $500k because he is afraid of being an entrepreneur.. he isn't going to risk losing all of that to help someone he doesnt know off the Internet to make a fast buck.. plus he wouldn't know how to hide the $ as marketing expenses even if he did. Doctors are not businessmen.
      You can always set up a website that has a contact form and have all form fill outs go to the doctor himself. This way they're opt in emails and legal.

      And the doctor isn't chasing down the people and sending them mail or spam emails etc.

      You set up a tracking script or just use wufoo to know who fills out forms and who doesn't.

      Or have him pay you for a PPC campaign for 1 month and send his website traffic. Should be pretty cheap if you target certain towns around his area. This way you get paid up front and he gets all the traffic to his website and all he has to do is answer emails of people who are looking for what he can do.
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  • Profile picture of the author SuperKC
    You can do that but you cant take commissions based on the patients spending.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRealRazzy
      Originally Posted by SuperKC View Post

      You can do that but you cant take commissions based on the patients spending.
      Exactly, that's why I said the doctor will only pay your for leads and not a percentage.
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  • Profile picture of the author Superstar88
    Hi van80!

    I don't see any problem in getting a commission for every patient you refer to the Doctor. However, a Doctor will not pay for a percentage of every treatment they make. Rather they would just give you a fixed rate for every patient referred by you who paid for their service or consultation.
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  • Profile picture of the author DeborahDera
    The problem you face is that there are a lot of ethical rules for doctors (and lawyers) in advertising. I found this article - you may want to take a glance.

    There is a reason you don't see a ton of commercials on TV or the web for specific doctors as much as you see them for the overlying companies and groups...

    Plan to advertise? Be mindful of ethical, legal rules - amednews.com
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    • Profile picture of the author van80
      Thanks everyone, those are some great answers!

      How about this for a plan...

      - We send the referrals to a naturopath (who is far less regulated than an MD).
      - Referrals will be on a pay-per-lead basis.
      - All marketing will be done online and via email lists.
      - The marketing will be done by a company based in Canada, in which the naturopath will not have any ownership or control.

      I will probably consult a lawyer on this too, but I think this should be OK. Anyone think otherwise?
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  • Profile picture of the author SuperKC
    You can manipulate the papertrail all day and make it look legal on paper but fundamentally the issue is simple: doctors have strong laws on sharing any revenues from their patience iwth marketing companies, and if they are caught.. they lose their license.. something those guys spent a ton of money for. No decent doctor is going to put their license at risk even the slightest for a possible boost in business. If your just doing one local area then you can arrange something and get awy with it.. but mass signing up doctors to do it.. they won't take the risks and you will end up barking up the wrong tree.
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    • Profile picture of the author van80
      Originally Posted by SuperKC View Post

      You can manipulate the papertrail all day and make it look legal on paper but fundamentally the issue is simple: doctors have strong laws on sharing any revenues from their patience iwth marketing companies, and if they are caught.. they lose their license.. something those guys spent a ton of money for. No decent doctor is going to put their license at risk even the slightest for a possible boost in business. If your just doing one local area then you can arrange something and get awy with it.. but mass signing up doctors to do it.. they won't take the risks and you will end up barking up the wrong tree.
      Actually I have no desire to manipulate any paper trail. Choosing a single naturopath (not an MD) and referring business to him on a pay-per-lead basis is quite different from what you're talking about.
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  • Profile picture of the author 10kaday
    Contact local doctors
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  • Profile picture of the author BradVert2013
    I'd tread really carefully here. Naturopaths are regulated differently in each state. Some states are more heavily regulated than others.

    Best to get a good lawyer in whatever state/s the naturopaths are located in and make sure your Ts are crossed and Is are dotted.
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