If you’re running a medical spa, you probably wear a dozen hats before lunch, provider, HR, marketing, IT, therapist, and sometimes janitor. Somewhere on that list, you’re also expected to be a part time lawyer, or at least understand what your state expects from you in terms of medical spa laws and regulations.

That’s where AmSpa’s medical spa legal summaries come in.

These AmSpa legal summaries are one of the core benefits of AmSpa membership. They are designed to translate dense, scattered med spa regulations into something you can actually use in your day to day operations to stay compliant. This article explains what goes into an AmSpa legal summary so you can understand what you’re getting, how it supports med spa legal compliance, and how to make the most of it.

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What Is an AmSpa Med Spa Legal Summary?

Think of an AmSpa legal summary as a “how this actually works in your state” guide for running a compliant medical spa. Instead of you trying to read through statutes, board rules, and guidance from multiple agencies, the summary pulls the key information together and organizes it around the way a real med spa operates. It’s written for people like you, medical professionals and practice owners, who need clarity and practicality, not legal jargon.

An AmSpa legal summary is:

• State specific – tailored to the rules where you practice
• Med spa specific – focused on medical aesthetics and wellness services
• Operationally focused – structured around how you actually run your business day to day
• Member only – available as a benefit of AmSpa membership

You don’t have to become an amateur attorney to use it. You just need to understand what it covers and where to find the answers you need.

How AmSpa Creates State Legal Summaries

Behind each summary is a lot of work that you don’t see, but you benefit from every time you open it.

1. Partnering with Healthcare Law Attorneys

AmSpa works with attorneys who focus on healthcare and medical aesthetics. They:

• Review state statutes and regulations that touch medical practice, nursing, physician assistants, pharmacy, and sometimes cosmetology
• Look at guidance from medical, nursing, cosmetology, pharmacy and other boards
• Track relevant case law or enforcement trends when available

Get to know the American Med Spa Association's legal partner, national healthcare law firm ByrdAdatto.

2. Turning “Legalese” into Everyday Language

Legal text isn’t written for busy practice owners, it is written for courts and regulators. AmSpa’s role is to translate.
Instead of quoting a statute word for word, a summary might:

• Explain what the rule means in practical terms such as who can inject, who has to see the patient first, what supervision is required
• Clarify who it applies to, physicians, NPs, PAs, RNs, LPNs, estheticians, and others
• Point out what matters operationally, what has to happen in your intake process, in your chart, or in your supervision model

3. Organizing Based on How Med Spas Operate

Instead of forcing you to think like a lawyer, AmSpa organizes the summary around how a med spa business actually runs. That means grouping the rules into categories you recognize:

• Who can own the practice
• Who can do what treatment
• What the supervising provider has to do
• What patient intake needs to look like
• What is required for medications, charting, and records

When you have a specific question, such as “Can I have an RN do X?” or “Can my non physician partner own part of the business?,” there’s a place in the summary where that topic is addressed in a structured, predictable way.

Key Topics Covered in Your AmSpa Medical Spa Legal Summary

Each state has its own quirks, but most AmSpa legal summaries cover similar core areas. Here’s an overview of what you will find inside and why it matters to you.

1. Med Spa Ownership Laws and Corporate Structure

What these questions address:
•    Whether your state follows a corporate practice of medicine doctrine
•    Who can legally own or have a financial interest in a med spa
•    How non physicians, like business partners or investors, can be involved, if at all
•    The use of management services organizations (MSOs) or similar structures

This is the foundation. If your ownership or structure isn’t allowed under state rules, everything else is built on shaky ground. The summary helps you understand whether your current setup fits within your state’s model, where there may be gaps you should discuss with counsel, and how common med spa structures typically work in your state.

2. Scope of Practice, Who Can Do What in a Med Spa

What these questions address:

• Which professionals can perform which categories of services, such as
  • Injectables like neurotoxins and dermal fillers
  • Laser and energy based treatments
  • IV therapy and wellness infusions
  • Microneedling
  • PRP and PRF injections
  • Other medical aesthetic procedures
• What delegation rules look like, what physicians, NPs, or PAs can assign to RNs, LPNs, or unlicensed staff
• Supervision and collaboration requirements
  • Whether the supervising provider needs to be on site
  • What type of agreements are required
  • Whether there are limits on how many staff one provider can supervise

This is what the public is most concerned with when it comes to med spa law. “Who is allowed to do what, and under what conditions?” Your staffing model, scheduling, and even compensation can be affected by scope of practice. Your state legal summary gives you a clear picture of which roles are required for certain procedures, how to pair clinical responsibilities with the right licensure, and where you might be over or under reliant on certain staff types based on your state’s rules.

For a full look at who has the license to perform specific med spa procedures in your state, view your Treatment Delegation Table. It displays 21 treatment categories across six licenses to help you quickly identify who can perform thread lifts, neuromodulators, hyaluronic acid (HA) dermal fillers, body contouring, laser energy devices, IV therapy and more. Get the straight answers to the most pressing questions in med spa patient safety -- who has the license and appropriate training to stick a needle in someone's face in your state?

3. Role of the Medical Director or Supervising Provider

What these questions address:

• Whether a medical director is required and what their responsibilities are
• How physicians, NPs, or PAs must be involved in patient care
• Requirements for
  • Initial examinations and history and physicals, when required
  • Treatment planning and protocols
  • Ongoing oversight and chart review

If you’re a non physician owner working with a medical director, you need clarity on what that relationship has to look like on paper and in practice. Even if you are the physician owner, you still need to know what you’re expected to personally do, what can be delegated, and how to structure protocols and oversight so you and your non-healthcare personnel are not inadvertently out of bounds. Understand your states med spa supervision and oversight rules so you can build a relationship and workflow that satisfies both business needs and regulatory requirements.

4. Aesthetic Patient Safety, Initial Exams, and Standards of Care

What these questions address:

• Whether a medical exam or consultation (good faith exam) is required before certain treatments
• How telemedicine or remote consultations may fit into your state’s model, if at all
• Expectations for
  • Documentation and charting
  • Follow up and management of complications
  • Informed consent

Your state may have specific expectations clarifying who must see the patient before treatment begins, what must be documented, how emergencies should be handled, and other matters of patient safety. The summary helps you align your intake process, consent forms, and clinical workflows with those expectations.

5. Med Spa Treatments: Medications, Injectables, and IV Therapy

What these questions address:

• How your state regulates
  • Purchasing, storing, and dispensing medications
  • Injectables and other prescription products
  • IV solutions and additives 
• Which licenses or protocols are needed for
  • Ordering and stocking products
  • Compounded medications
  • Controlled substances, when applicable

Medications are a common hotspot for enforcement, as evidenced recently by the Ohio board of pharmacy. The summary helps clarify what license, physician, NP, PA, or pharmacy, may be needed to purchase and store certain products, what documentation should accompany medication use, and where states are especially sensitive, such as compounding, storage, or inventory tracking. This gives you a roadmap for conversations with your medical director, pharmacy partners, or legal counsel about how your current practices measure up. See this news summary for additional guidance on common med spa violations.

6. Business: Medical Spa Facility and Operational Compliance Requirements

What these questions address:

• Whether your med spa itself needs
  • A clinic or facility license
  • Registration with a specific agency
  • Special permits for lasers or radiologic devices
• Requirements around
  • HIPAA and privacy
  • OSHA and workplace safety
  • Handling sharps, biohazard waste, and sterilization

Even if your treatments are clinically sound, your physical space and operations must also meet state expectations. The summary gives you an understanding of which agencies you may need to register with, what policies and procedures need to exist beyond your clinical protocols, and how to align your operations, room setup, documentation, storage, and safety practices with regulatory expectations.

7. Marketing: Med Spa Advertising, Promotions, and Social Media

What these questions address:

• Rules on how you can market medical services, including
  • Use of terms such as “medical spa,” “board certified,” or “specialist”
  • Before and after photos and patient testimonials
  • Claims about results, risks, and benefits
• Requirements for including the name and credentials of the treating or supervising provider in ads and on display at the practice

Marketing is central to how you attract patients, but it is also a common place where regulators and boards look for problems. The summary helps you understand where you need to be very precise and how to avoid language or images that could be seen as misleading or unprofessional. For a modern medical spa, this includes not only your website but also your social media and online reviews.

How Med Spa Owners Use AmSpa Legal Summaries Day to Day

Understanding what’s inside a summary is helpful, but the real value is in how you use it. Here are common ways medical spa owners and leaders put AmSpa legal summaries to work:

1. Onboarding and Training Your Med Spa Team

When you bring on new staff, injectors, RNs, estheticians, front desk, or a new medical director, the summary provides a shared baseline of “this is how our state expects us to practice.”
You can:

• Walk through the relevant sections as part of onboarding
• Use it to explain why certain policies exist, “We do it this way because our state requires X”
• Reinforce roles and responsibilities across the clinical and non-clinical team

This reduces confusion and helps everyone pull in the same direction.

2. Auditing Your Medical Spa for Compliance Gaps

Owners often use the summary as a self check tool:

• Is our ownership structure aligned with our state’s model?
• Are we delegating procedures within the allowed scope of practice?
• Do our consent processes and exams line up with the expectations described?
• Are we handling medications, advertising, or supervision in a way that’s consistent with the rules?

You may not be able to fix everything overnight, but you can identify where you’re close to the mark and where you need more help.

3. Preparing for Legal Counsel or Consulting

An AmSpa legal summary is a starting point, not a replacement for legal counsel. But it makes your conversations with attorneys, consultants, or medical directors far more efficient.
Instead of paying an attorney to explain basic definitions or concepts, you can:

• Read the summary first to understand the landscape
• Come to the conversation with targeted questions about your specific structure, contracts, or plans
• Use the summary as a reference point when reviewing policies and agreements

This saves time and helps you focus your professional advice budget where it has the most impact.

4. Planning for New Med Spa Services and Growth

When you want to add a new service line, such as IV therapy, regenerative treatments, or new energy based devices, the summary helps you quickly understand:

• Which license types are needed to perform or oversee the service
• Whether a change in staffing or supervision is likely required
• Any special rules or sensitivities in your state around that particular offering

From there, you can layer in clinical training, business planning, and legal review with a clearer understanding of your state’s expectations.

Why Medical Spa Legal Compliance Matters for Safety and Growth

Regulatory compliance isn’t just about avoiding fines or board complaints. It is also about:

• Patient safety – Clear rules around scope of practice, exams, and supervision help ensure that patients receive appropriate care, from the right providers, at the right time.
• Team confidence – When your staff understands what they’re allowed to do and how oversight works, they can focus on delivering excellent care instead of worrying if they’re over the line.
• Brand credibility – A practice that operates visibly “by the book” is more attractive to patients, referring providers, and potential partners.
• Resilience – The more aligned you are with your state’s expectations, the better positioned you are when regulators or partners take a closer look at your operations.

AmSpa’s legal summaries are designed to support all of this. They’re not a substitute for legal advice, but they give you a structured, practical way to understand the rules that shape your business. 

How to Access AmSpa Legal Summaries

If you’re already an AmSpa member, your state legal summary is available in your member portal. There you can view the summary, review your compliance, and identify areas for improvement. AmSpa Plus Members will find their state's Treatment Delegation Table in their member portals.

Check periodically for updates, especially if you hear about rule changes or new enforcement activity.

If you’re not yet a member, legal summaries are one of the key reasons many practices join and stay. They’re part of a broader suite of legal, compliance, and business resources built specifically for medical spas and aesthetic practices. Become an AmSpa Member today!

Using Your AmSpa Legal Summary

Here’s a practical way to use your AmSpa legal summary without adding a huge task to your already full plate:

1. Set aside one hour this month.
2. Download your state’s summary from the member portal.
3. Focus on just three sections that matter most to your current priorities, such as:
   1. Ownership and structure
   2. Scope of practice and delegation
   3. Exams, consent, and supervision
4. Make a short list of:
   1. What you’re already doing that aligns with the summary.
   2. Two or three areas where you may need to tighten up policies, training, or documentation.
5. Decide what needs professional input and schedule time with your medical director, compliance team, or legal counsel to dig deeper.

You don’t have to fix everything at once. But by understanding what goes into an AmSpa legal summary, and using it intentionally, you can steadily move your med spa toward stronger compliance, safer care, and a more durable, scalable business.

Disclaimer: The information and answers contained in this article provide a general guide to certain laws that apply to "medical spas" in this particular state. The information on this site is for general reference only and accuracy cannot be guaranteed, as medical spa legalities and regulations change very frequently. This information is not intended to provide legal advice, and it should not be relied upon as legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Readers: You should not act upon this information without seeking knowledgeable legal counsel that takes the laws of your jurisdiction into account. All uses of the content of this site, other than personal uses, are prohibited. They are a list of commonly asked questions researched and prepared for easy use by a team of skilled lawyers at ByrdAdatto Law Firm.