Illinois at a glance
| Rule | Illinois, as of 30 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| PSYPACT (psychologists) | Yes |
| Counseling Compact (counselors) | No |
| Social Work Licensure Compact | No |
| Health-data or health geofencing law | None |
| Privacy law treating health data as sensitive | None |
What patients search for in Illinois
Monthly Google searches in the US that name an Illinois city, from Ahrefs (checked 30 September 2026). Each cell is searches a month, then the average cost per click advertisers paid on Google. They are estimates, and a dash means too few searches to measure. Most people search “near me” instead of typing a city, so these are the visible part of the demand, not all of it. The Statewide row counts searches that name the state instead of a city.
| City | Therapist | Psychiatrist | Ketamine | IOP | Weight loss | Functional med. | Concierge | GI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | 1,100 $7.00 | 900 $6.00 | 200 $7.00 | 150 $4.50 | 90 $6.00 | 200 $3.00 | 90 $2.00 | 1,500 $2.00 |
| Statewide | 70 $2.50 | 100 $3.50 | 100 $4.00 | 10 $6.00 | 30 | 40 | – | 10 $1.80 |
The largest is Chicago, where “gastroenterologist chicago” gets about 1,500 searches a month. To turn a cost per click into a cost per booked patient, put your own numbers into the patient acquisition cost calculator.
Telehealth across Illinois's borders
Illinois is a PSYPACT state. A psychologist whose home license is in Illinois can apply for PSYPACT's telepsychology authorization and then see clients by telehealth in the other PSYPACT states, so ads can reach clients there too.
Illinois has not enacted the Counseling Compact, so a counselor licensed here needs a separate license for each other state.
For physicians, psychiatrists included, Illinois is in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which speeds up getting a license in other member states but doesn't replace it.
For marketing, that sets the map: an ad for online therapy or telepsychiatry should only run where the clinician can legally see the person who clicks it. Our guide to PSYPACT and Counseling Compact states lists every member state and how to set up ad targeting around them.
Practices near a state line often see clients from next door. Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky and Indiana each have their own page.
Health data, tracking and Illinois law
Illinois has no comprehensive consumer privacy law or consumer health data law in effect as of 30 September 2026. Federal rules and a practice's own HIPAA duties still apply.
Wherever the practice is, our rule is the same: no health information goes to ad platforms, and booking pages ask for nothing clinical. None of this is legal advice; your counsel decides what applies to your practice.
For how these laws compare across states, and the website setup that works under all of them, see our guide to the My Health My Data Act and other state health-data laws.
Your boards' advertising rules
Ads, websites and directory profiles all count as advertising to a licensing board. These are the Illinois rules we check copy against, with links to the official text. Boards update their rules, so read the current version before you rely on a summary.
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (clinical psychologists)
- A clinical psychologist must include their title as it appears on the license, or the initials the Act authorizes, in every advertisement for their services. (225 ILCS 15/26.5)
How we work with Illinois practices
We're a remote US healthcare marketing agency, so there's no Illinois office to visit. We work by video with practices across Illinois, including Chicago. The ads run in your own accounts, the booking page takes the appointment, and we count booked appointments, not clicks. Most practices start with the 30-day Proof Pilot, which opens with an audit.
Ads stop when the budget does, so we pair them with healthcare SEO: the work that gets a practice found when people in Chicago search, without paying for each click.
The specialties we run, each with its own page: mental and behavioral health, therapy and counseling, psychiatry, ketamine and Spravato, IOP and PHP, medical weight loss, functional medicine, concierge and DPC and gastroenterology.
Sources
- PSYPACT, compact map, checked 30 September 2026
- Counseling Compact, member map, checked 30 September 2026
- Counseling Compact, Pennsylvania becomes the 40th member, checked 30 September 2026
- Social Work Licensure Compact, enacted in 35 states, checked 30 September 2026
- Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, participating states, checked 30 September 2026
- IAPP, US State Privacy Legislation Tracker, checked 30 September 2026
- Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, US search volumes and cost per click, checked 30 September 2026
- Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (clinical psychologists), checked 30 September 2026