Become a member of AMSpa to see. Many doctors are interested in offering medical spa and cosmetic services to their patients. In addition to dermatologists and plastic surgeons, obstetrician gynecologists, pain doctors and even dentists have begun to offer cosmetic options. I hope this trend will grow in the future as doctors realize how lucrative these services can be.
Not surprisingly, many entrepreneurs and non-medical health professionals see an opportunity on the property of a medical spa, but they are not sure how to proceed. The fact of the matter is that in most US states. In the US, the services provided by medical spas are considered medical. According to a legal doctrine known as “corporate practice of medicine”, only a doctor or corporation owned by a doctor can own a medical facility.
In addition, only physicians or physician-owned corporations may charge patients' fees for the provision of medical services. Does a doctor need to be on site during laser and intense pulsed light (IPL) devices? Some medical spas are opened by nurses, believing that because you have a medical license you can do whatever you want. While some nurses may perform certain acts, as a rule, no medical spa should be opened without a doctor associated with it. Staff Emergency Physician, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Credit Valley Hospital, University of Toronto.
With the increase in medical spas, there have been more malpractice problems in the medical community with horrendous consequences of surgeries and failed results. Management fee cannot be a percentage of medical office bills, and a fixed fee structure is ideal; however, it can be difficult to assess the value of management services when office success is difficult to predict. Physicians who are offered payment to serve as “medical director of a spa” should consult with an attorney before accepting any such agreement. The objective of the doctrine is to provide patients with ethics-based care rather than for-profit care influenced by someone with no medical training.
So who can open a medical spa? In Ontario, aesthetic medical treatments, such as injections, lasers or other technologies to treat or improve the client's appearance, are subject to the regulations and legal requirements of Health Canada as a medical spa business owner. Usually, in the United States and the United Kingdom, there is a connection between a non-medical entrepreneur and a doctor whereby the non-medical entrepreneur will organize an MSO (Management Services Organization) that will partner with a doctor's company for the latter to provide medical services. Some entrepreneurs, whether they are unaware of the rules or are not willing to follow them, open medspas that violate the corporate practice of the doctrine of medicine. This is because restrictions involving the corporate practice of medicine dictate that only doctors or physician-owned corporations can receive payments for medical services that include many of the services provided by a medical spa.
Given the rapid growth of the medical spa industry, there is enormous variation from state to state in terms of the requirements of a medical spa in terms of ownership as well as who can perform the procedures. For spas attempting to circumvent these laws by asking a doctor to act as a symbolic “medical director”, or who is a co-owner of the spa, the risk is even more significant. The consequences of violating the Doctrine of Corporate Practice of Medicine include civil liability, administrative sanctions, and even criminal sanctions. .
