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Name, Image, and Likeness Agreements in Healthcare

Client Alert
November 14, 2025

Have you worked hard to cultivate your brand as a healthcare provider? If so, executing a Name, Image, and Likeness (“NIL”) agreement may be of interest to you. NIL agreements are contracts that allow an individual to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Specifically, these agreements protect an individual’s brand by defining how others can utilize their name, image, and likeness in advertisements, sponsorships, and endorsements, and the compensation the individual will receive as a result. NIL agreements are typically used in the context of athletics, such as enabling student-athletes to profit from their personal brand. However, NIL agreements have recently proved to be useful in other areas. For example, some healthcare providers have begun to utilize NIL agreements to promote the brand they have created through their healthcare practice.  Most recently, we have seen the most healthcare NIL activity with longevity and wellness providers, as well as orthopedics.  

Depending on who wishes to contract with a provider for NIL rights, there can be regulatory concerns.  Remember, healthcare is one of the most regulated industries in the United States!  If there is the potential to generate referrals for services that will be paid by a government health plan, NIL agreements must comply with applicable regulations that limit when and how a healthcare provider can accept payment for certain referrals, such as the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Physician Self-Referral Law, commonly known as the Stark Law. Conversely, if there are no third-party reimbursements possible (i.e. a contract with a sporting goods store), then the regulatory landscape looks different. In addition, any anecdotal information the healthcare provider chooses to share is subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), meaning that all identifying patient information must be removed.  

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) also has standards that healthcare providers must follow when advertising. Healthcare providers should ensure that any NIL agreements meet the FTC standard for medical advertising, and that any statements made by the healthcare provider are true, not materially misleading, and are supported with scientific evidence.       

We recommend engaging an attorney to draft or review your healthcare NIL agreement to ensure that it complies with the complex and changing regulations, and that it ultimately protects your interests.

To learn more about how healthcare NIL agreements could impact your practice, please contact BMD Member Jeana Singleton at jmsingleton@bmdllc.com or 330-253-2001.         

Health LawHealthcareNIL Contract
Client Alert

Laboratory Specimen Collection Arrangements with Contract Hospitals - OIG Advisory Opinion 22-09

May 3, 2022On April 28, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published an Advisory Opinion[1] in which it evaluated a proposed arrangement where a network of clinical laboratories (the “Requestor”) would compensate hospitals (each a “Contract Hospital”) for specimen collection, processing, and handling services (“Collection Services”) for laboratory tests furnished by the Requestor (the “Proposed Arrangement”). The OIG concluded that the Proposed Arrangement would generate prohibited remuneration under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) if the requisite intent were present. This is due to both the possibility that the proposed per-patient-encounter fee would be used to induce or reward referrals to Requestor and the associated risk of improperly steering patients to Requestor.Client Alert

Property Owner Protection from Tax Valuation Challenges

April 29, 2022New legislation provides significant new protections for commercial property owners against challenges to valuation primarily by local school boards and prohibiting side agreements to avoid tax valuation changes. The Ohio Legislature has approved House Bill 126 which will go into effect July 2022 but will effectively apply to the 2023 tax valuation year.Client Alert

No Surprises Act Update: The IDR Portal is Open

April 25, 2022The No Surprises Act (“NSA”) became effective January 1, 2022, and has been the subject of lawsuits and criticisms since its inception. The goals of the No Surprises Act are to shield patients from surprise medical bills, provide to uninsured and self-pay patients good faith estimates of charges, and create a process to resolve payment disputes over surprise bills, which arise most typically in emergency care settings. We have written about Part I and Part II of the NSA previously. This update concerns the Independent Dispute Resolution (“IDR”) procedure created by Part II but applicable to claims covered by Part I. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) finally opened the Portal for providers to submit disputes to the IDR process following some updated guidance regarding the arbitration process itself.Client Alert

Updated FAQs for the No Surprises Act - Good Faith Estimates

April 7, 2022The No Surprises Act (“NSA”) became effective January 1, 2022. Meant to protect consumers from surprise medical bills, the new law is good for consumers, but vexatious for health care providers and facilities. One particular source of frustration is the operationalization of the Good Faith Estimate (“GFE”) requirement, governed by Part II of the regulations that implement the NSA. The GFE requirements apply broadly to all healthcare providers and facilities that practice within the scope of their state-issued license.Client Alert

IMPORTANT PRF UPDATE! HRSA Allows Providers the Opportunity to Correct Missed Period 1 Reporting

April 7, 2022Late Wednesday, April 6, HRSA announced that it was going to allow providers with extenuating circumstances that prevented them from preventing a completed Period 1 Report to submit a Request to Report Late Due to Extenuating Circumstances.
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