Michael H. Cohen: Medical Spas – Legal Issues, Medical Board Issues

Medical spas are governed by several interlocking areas of state law. There are at least three areas that we need to be concerned with:

One: Corporate Practice in Medicine.

Two: Anti-Kickback and Fee Splitting; and-

Three: Professional Corporation Rules.

I’ll address each one in a bit more detail. One, corporate practice of medicine. Under the laws of some states, as a lay person, you cannot hire a medical doctor. You have to be extremely careful about the way you structure your agreements so that they don’t run afoul of the corporate practice of medicine.

Corporate practice of medicine is basically a rule that prohibits non-physicians from engaging in what could appear to be the unlicensed practice of medicine. If you run afoul of this tripwire, the medical board will investigate and potentially refer this to the FDA as a crime.