Originally posted to Diamond Accelerator
As a med spa owner, navigating the complex landscape of regulations and legalities is crucial to protecting your business and ensuring its long-term success.
Failing to comply with these rules can lead to severe consequences, including fines, legal action, and even the loss of your license to practice. This is why it’s very important to seek advise from a med spa consulting service.
To help shed light on this critical aspect of running a med spa, Diamond Accelerator interviewed Sara Shikhman, managing partner at Lengea Law. Sara specializes in helping medical spa practices across the country with their legal questions, structures, and growth strategies.
In this article, we’ll explore the top three legal mistakes med spas make and provide actionable advice to help you avoid them.
As a med spa owner, navigating the complex landscape of regulations and legalities is crucial to protecting your business and ensuring its long-term success.
Failing to comply with these rules can lead to severe consequences, including fines, legal action, and even the loss of your license to practice. This is why it’s very important to seek advise from a med spa consulting service.
To help shed light on this critical aspect of running a med spa, Diamond Accelerator interviewed Sara Shikhman, managing partner at Lengea Law. Sara specializes in helping medical spa practices across the country with their legal questions, structures, and growth strategies.
In this article, we’ll explore the top three legal mistakes med spas make and provide actionable advice to help you avoid them.
Mistake #1: Improper Legal Structure
One of the most common legal mistakes med spas make is how they’re legally structured. Sara emphasizes the importance of getting it right from the start:
“In different states, there are different rules around it, and they’re very particular. A lot of medical spas are not structured correctly, and that’s the number one mistake that we see and that’s one of the number one ways people get investigated.”
The ramifications of improper legal structure can be severe.
If your med spa is not set up correctly, you may not be protected if something goes wrong. Your insurance may not cover you, and you could face fines, legal action, and even jail time.
Sara advises:
“It pays to really hire some kind of med spa consultant to get you the right answer because it’s sort of a sophisticated legal analysis of who can own a medical spa and what treatments can be performed there and how exactly it has to be structured.”
To ensure your med spa is legally compliant, it’s crucial to consult with a legal expert who understands the specific regulations in your state. They can help you navigate the complexities of med spa ownership and protect your business from potential legal pitfalls.
Mistake #2: Scope of Practice Violations
Another common mistake med spas make is violating scope of practice regulations. Sara explains:
“The second most common mistake is scope of practice, and that’s the number one reason we see people get investigated. When we get called saying, ‘Oh, the board of nursing came in today, and they requested records for the last 100 patients,’ most of the time, they’re looking for a scope of practice issue.”
Scope of practice regulations dictate what procedures and treatments different healthcare professionals can perform.
Violating these regulations can result in severe consequences, including losing your license, hefty fines, and reputational damage.
Sara warns:
“Everyone in that system can get into a lot of trouble. You could lose your license. We’ve seen suspended licenses for years, huge reputational damage because a lot of it becomes public record.”
It’s essential to understand the specific regulations in your state. Just because you see other med spas delegating certain treatments to aestheticians or nurses doesn’t mean it’s allowed.
Always check with your state’s medical and nursing boards to ensure you’re operating within the legal boundaries.
Mistake #3 HIPAA Violations
The third most common legal mistake med spas make is violating HIPAA or state privacy rules.
Sara emphasizes the importance of having proper consent forms and privacy policies in place:
“Posting on social media and even communicating with clients are big areas where sometimes if you don’t have the right type of consent from the client and it’s not completely compliant with the law, there are these mandated penalties for these things, especially HIPAA.”
HIPAA violations can result in tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and jeopardize your license to practice.
To protect your med spa, Sara recommends having a comprehensive HIPAA privacy policy on your website and ensuring your staff is trained on proper privacy practices.
She also advises having detailed consent forms for posting client photos and treatment information on social media:
“If you want to post on social media, you have to make sure that in the consent they sign, they’re giving you the right to say which treatment they actually got, not just some blank consent.”
By taking proactive steps to protect client privacy, you can avoid costly HIPAA violations and maintain your med spa’s reputation.