Can private equity invest in a med spa in Colorado?
Ownership · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Not directly — PC shares may be held only by board-licensed physicians actively practicing in its offices (PAs as a minority); the rules don't settle whether outside capital may back a management company, only that lay officers can't direct clinical judgment.
⚠️ shareholders must be licensed, and must actually work there. All shareholders are persons licensed by the board “who at all times own their shares in their own right” — except that physician assistants may hold shares “as long as the physician shareholders maintain majority ownership.” Shareholders must be “actively engaged in the practice of medicine … in the offices of the corporation”, allowing only for illness, accident, armed service, vacations and leave of up to a year. A passive licensed investor does not qualify.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-138(1)(d)(I) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Colorado rules
⚠️ the sharpest line for an investor-backed med spa: “lay directors, officers, and heirs of deceased shareholders shall not exercise any authority whatsoever over the independent medical judgment of persons licensed by the board to practice medicine in this state.” “Any authority whatsoever” leaves no room for a management-services agreement that reaches clinical decisions. The president must also be a shareholder and a director.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-138(1)(f) · verified Sep 2, 2026
It is unprofessional conduct to practice medicine “as the partner, agent, or employee of, or in joint venture with, any person who does not hold a license to practice medicine within this state”, or as an employee of or in joint venture with “any corporation other than a professional service corporation for the practice of medicine as described in section 12-240-138.” The general-business-corporation med spa employing its own physician is the arrangement this forecloses.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-121(1)(g)(I) · verified Sep 2, 2026
How other states answer this
All 6 states side by side →Related Colorado questions
- Can a non-physician own a med spa in Colorado?
- What limits does Colorado place on a med spa's business structure?
- In Colorado, may a non-clinical owner or manager be paid a share of revenue?
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← All Colorado rules and changes · MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference: it summarizes public laws, regulations and agency actions and links each to its source. It is not legal, medical, or compliance advice, and using it creates no attorney-client relationship. A summary can lag its source or leave out detail, and monitoring itself can be interrupted — so an absence of alerts means nothing reached you, not that nothing happened. Read the cited source, check its effective date, and confirm any change to your operations or clinical practice with qualified health-law counsel and your medical director. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).