Alaska good-faith exam for med spas

Good-faith examination in Alaska

AS 08.64.364 reaches the pre-treatment examination from the opposite direction to most states: rather than requiring an exam, it tells the Medical Board when it may NOT discipline a physician or physician assistant for prescribing without a physical examination. The safe harbor sets two conditions: the prescriber or another licensed provider in the practice must be available for follow-up care, and the prescriber must ask the person to consent to sending the encounter records to their primary care provider — and send them if the person consents — where the prescriber is not that provider. Two limits matter for a med spa: the drug must not be a controlled substance for the (a) safe harbor to apply on its own terms, and no PHYSICIAN OR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT may prescribe, dispense or administer in response to an INTERNET QUESTIONNAIRE or email to a person with whom they have no prior physician-patient relationship. The chapters quoted here scope that bar to physicians and physician assistants; they do not establish what binds other licensees.

• The board may not impose disciplinary sanctions on a physician or physician assistant for rendering a diagnosis, providing treatment, or prescribing, dispensing, or administering a prescription drug that is not a controlled substance to a person without conducting a physical examination if

  AS 08.64.364(a) (Prescription of drugs without physical examination) · verified Sep 5, 2026

• the physician, physician assistant, or another licensed health care provider in the medical practice is available to provide follow-up care; and

  AS 08.64.364(a)(1) (Follow-up care condition) · verified Sep 5, 2026

• the physician or physician assistant requests that the person consent to sending a copy of all records of the encounter to the person's primary care provider if the prescribing physician or physician assistant is not the person's primary care provider and, if the person consents, the physician or physician assistant sends the records to the person's primary care provider.

  AS 08.64.364(a)(2) (Records to the primary care provider) · verified Sep 5, 2026

• a physician or physician assistant may not prescribe, dispense, or administer a prescription drug in response to an Internet questionnaire or electronic mail message to a person with whom the physician or physician assistant does not have a prior physician-patient relationship.

  AS 08.64.364(c)(2) (No prescribing from an Internet questionnaire) · verified Sep 5, 2026

• The board may not impose disciplinary sanctions on a physician or physician assistant for rendering a diagnosis, providing treatment, or prescribing, dispensing, or administering a prescription drug that is not a controlled substance without conducting a physical examination, if the physician, physician assistant, or another licensed health care provider in the practice is available to provide follow-up care and the records are offered to the person's primary care provider; but a physician or physician assistant may not prescribe, dispense, or administer a prescription drug in response to an Internet questionnaire or electronic mail message to a person with whom there is no prior physician-patient relationship.

  AS 08.64.364(a), (c)(2) (Prescription of drugs without physical examination) · verified Sep 8, 2026

• ALASKA ANSWERS THIS AS A NON-DELEGATION RULE RATHER THAN AS AN EXAMINATION REQUIREMENT. “Duties that require the exercise of professional medical knowledge or judgment or complex medical skills may not be delegated.” The enumerated list opens with “the assessment of the patient’s medical condition, and referral and follow-up” and “formulation of the plan of medical care and evaluation of the patient’s response to the care provided”, so the pre-treatment evaluation stays with the delegating physician, podiatrist, osteopath, or physician assistant and cannot be handed to an unlicensed person.

  12 AAC 40.920(f) (duties that may not be delegated) · verified Sep 8, 2026