In Florida, there are no statutes specifically regulating medical spas. Likewise, there are no restrictions on who can own a med spa. Generally, anyone can own a medical spa that offers various medical and aesthetic services. The owner does not necessarily need to be a licensed physician.
But there are laws that directly impact med spas not owned by physicians.
Chapter 458.348, Florida Statutes establishes rules for supervising physicians at med spas where the providers are advance practice registered nurses (APRN’s) and physician assistants (PA’s) practicing aesthetic medicine without the onsite supervision of a physician. Florida med spa supervising physicians must meet the following criteria:
- The physician shall submit to the board the addresses of all offices where he or she is supervising an advanced practice registered nurse or a physician assistant which are not the physician’s primary practice location.
- The physician must be board certified or board eligible in dermatology or plastic surgery as recognized by the board pursuant to s. 458.3312.
- All such offices that are not the physician’s primary place of practice must be within 25 miles of the physician’s primary place of practice or in a county that is contiguous to the county of the physician’s primary place of practice. However, the distance between any of the offices may not exceed 75 miles.
- The physician may supervise only one office other than the physician’s primary place of practice.
Something to note is when it comes to laser or light-based hair removal services, Florida law specifically requires anyone other than a licensed physician performing the procedure to work under the “direct supervision and responsibility of a licensed physician. This is consistent with Chapter 479, Florida Statutes which requires all persons performing hair removal with an FDA-cleared device (including electrolysis and laser), who are not licensed physicians, to obtain an Electrologist license. The statute does not exempt Advance Practice Registered Nurses or Physician Assistants from this requirement.
