Hiring an obgyn marketing agency is mostly a privacy decision dressed up as a marketing one. The biggest risks in women's health marketing aren't weak ads; they're a pixel on a pregnancy page or a form that sends reproductive-health details to an ad platform. Few practices search for this help by name: about 40 US searches a month for "obgyn marketing agency" and 140 for "ob gyn marketing" (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026). The numbers are small; the decision isn't. This checklist puts privacy and policy questions first, then reporting and ownership, then compares an agency with a software platform.
What OB-GYN practices need from marketing help
Start by writing down what you actually need, because "marketing" covers very different jobs:
- Steady new obstetric patients at the hospitals where you deliver.
- Filled gynecology schedules for specific services, such as IUDs, well visits or menopause care, especially for newer clinicians.
- A website that answers patient questions: delivery hospitals, on-call coverage, insurance, new-patient status. Our guide to OB-GYN websites lists the pages.
- Privacy that holds up across the website, forms, analytics and ads.
- Clear reporting you can read in five minutes.
Your practice may be full in some service lines and short in others. An agency that pitches "more leads" without asking which schedule has room is selling the wrong thing. Our overview of OB-GYN marketing covers the life-stage plan an agency should be able to execute.
Privacy questions to ask before anything else
Ask these in writing and keep the answers. What a good answer sounds like follows each one.
- "Which tracking tags will you put on our site, and on which pages?" HHS's Office for Civil Rights issued a bulletin in December 2022, revised March 18, 2024, warning that tracking technologies on health websites can disclose protected health information. A federal court vacated one part of it in American Hospital Association v. Becerra (opens in a new tab) on June 20, 2024, but said the rest stands. Good answer: no ad pixels or session replay on forms, portals, appointment requests or pregnancy, fertility and abortion-related pages.
- "Will any patient data reach Google or Meta?" That includes form fields, emails and phone numbers sent through enhanced conversions or server-side APIs, and patient lists uploaded for targeting. The FTC says (opens in a new tab) the FTC Act applies to HIPAA-covered entities too, and cites its BetterHelp, GoodRx and Premom cases on sharing health data for advertising. Good answer: no, never.
- "How do you handle state consumer-health-data laws?" Washington's My Health My Data Act (opens in a new tab) covers reproductive and sexual health data outside HIPAA, requires separate consent to share it, and bans geofences within 2,000 feet of in-person health care facilities used to track visitors or send them ads. Good answer: the agency knows your state's rules and never proposes geofencing clinics.
- "Will you sign a BAA, and who are your subcontractors?" See the ownership section below.
- "Where will our leads be stored, and who can see them?" Good answer: in a system covered by a BAA, with role-based access and a log of who viewed what.
- "Do you put our data into AI tools?" Good answer: only tools covered by a BAA, and never patient details in consumer chatbots.
Our list of questions to ask an agency covers the general ones; the six above are the OB-GYN-specific core.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor.
Ad-policy experience with reproductive-health services
Reproductive-health ads fail in specific, predictable ways. Ask the agency to explain each of these rules, as they stood on October 22, 2026, in its own words:
| Rule | What the agency should know |
|---|---|
| Google abortion certification | In the US, UK and Ireland, advertisers must be certified (opens in a new tab) as providing or not providing abortions before ads run on abortion-related queries; Google adds a disclosure to the ad |
| Google sensitive categories | Health and birth control are sensitive categories (opens in a new tab): no customer match, remarketing or lookalike audiences |
| Meta personal attributes | Ads can't assert or imply (opens in a new tab) a viewer's health or medical condition, so "Pregnant?" or "Struggling to conceive?" headlines are out |
| Meta age rule | Sexual and reproductive health ads (opens in a new tab), including family planning clinics and IVF, must target people 18 or older |
Then ask for proof: three ads the agency has run for women's health services that passed review, with the copy. Ask how it handles a disapproval and whether every change to your ad account is logged. If it can't name these rules unprompted, it will learn them on your budget. Our guide to OB-GYN advertising shows compliant copy side by side with copy that gets rejected.
Reporting by service line
A women's health practice runs several businesses under one roof, and a single "leads" number hides which one is working. Ask for monthly reports that break out:
| Service line | What to count |
|---|---|
| Obstetrics | New obstetric patients booked, by source and delivering hospital |
| Gynecology | New gynecology patients booked, by clinician with open slots |
| Contraception | IUD and other contraception visits booked |
| Menopause | Menopause consults booked |
| Fertility | Fertility evaluations booked, and referrals out |
For paid campaigns, add cost per booked patient by service, the search terms you paid for and any policy disapprovals. For organic search, add Google listing actions (calls, direction requests, website clicks) and whether AI assistants name the practice.
Red flags in a report: impressions and clicks presented as results; "leads" that include spam and job seekers; and patient names or health details in an emailed report. Reports should use aggregate numbers only.
Ownership, contracts and BAAs
Under HIPAA, a business associate is anyone who creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information on behalf of a covered entity, and the definition (opens in a new tab) extends to their subcontractors. An agency handling your forms, call recordings, patient lists or a patient CRM is almost certainly one. The required contract terms (opens in a new tab) include making subcontractors accept the same restrictions and returning or destroying patient information when the contract ends, if feasible. Our guide to business associate agreements explains the rest.
Ownership checklist before you sign:
- Your domain is registered in your practice's name, in an account you control.
- Google Ads, Meta ad accounts, Google Analytics, Search Console and your Business Profile are owned by the practice; the agency gets user access.
- You own the website content, photos and code, or can export them.
- Any tracking phone numbers can be ported to you if you leave.
- The BAA is signed before any patient data flows, and covers subcontractors.
- Notice period, minimum term and auto-renewal terms are written down.
On cost, compare models rather than headline numbers. Agencies typically charge a monthly retainer, a percentage of ad spend, a project fee for a website, or a mix. Per-lead pricing rewards volume over quality, and the lead records themselves may contain patient information. Ask whether ad spend is billed separately and whether it's marked up.
Agency vs platform for an OB-GYN practice
| Item | Full-service agency | Software platform such as Medfy |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | A team assigned to your account | Software, with you approving key decisions |
| Range of services | Can include social posting, events, PR, video, call tracking | Defined features; check the list |
| Cost model | Retainer, percentage of spend or project fees | Fixed monthly subscription |
| Privacy setup | Depends on the agency; verify with the questions above | Built into the product; verify the same way |
| Ownership | Negotiated in the contract | Should be stated up front |
An agency is the better fit if you want someone to run organic social media, plan community events, produce video, manage multiple locations or track calls. Our overview of healthcare marketing agencies covers that path.
Medfy is the software option. The base plan is $349/month: your website rebuilt and hosted on your own domain with a page per service and HIPAA-compliant forms, weekly SEO articles you approve, weekly AI visibility tracking, first-party analytics, Google reporting, an AI CMO dashboard and a patient CRM and inbox. Add-ons are Google Ads management ($199/month), Meta ads + AI creatives ($199/month) and a HIPAA AI chat widget ($49/month). Medfy signs a BAA with every practice before any patient data flows, stores patient information in separate, encrypted HIPAA databases in the US or Canada, and ad platforms never receive patient data. Medfy doesn't post to social media, send email or text campaigns, run review requests or track calls. See Medfy pricing for details.
Whichever you choose, get a baseline first. A free audit before you hire scores your website, SEO, local listing, AI visibility, social and ads, and flags privacy risks such as pixels on patient forms, so you can judge any proposal against real numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Does an OB-GYN marketing agency need to sign a BAA?
If it creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information for your practice, yes. That includes agencies that handle form submissions, call recordings, patient lists, a patient CRM or a website where patients enter health details. An agency that only sees aggregate, non-identifying numbers may not need one. Ask in writing what patient data the agency and its subcontractors will touch, and get the BAA signed before any of it flows.
How much does an OB-GYN marketing agency cost?
It depends on the pricing model and scope. Agencies typically charge a monthly retainer, a percentage of ad spend, a project fee for a website, or a mix, and some offer per-lead pricing. Ask whether ad spend is billed separately and marked up, what minimum term applies, and what happens to your accounts if you leave. Compare quotes on identical scope, not on the headline number.
What should an agency report for a women's health practice?
Booked appointments by service line and source: new obstetric patients, new gynecology patients, contraception and IUD visits, menopause and fertility consults. Add cost per booked patient for paid campaigns, the search terms you paid for, Google listing actions and policy issues. Reports should use aggregate numbers only, never patient names or details, and should never count impressions or clicks as results.