What does Colorado prohibit in med spa advertising?
Marketing · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
The cited rules do not settle what services may be advertised — only that ads must not be misleading, deceptive or false, and that paying per-patient fees for referrals is a crime unless the payee is an independent marketing agent.
⚠️ the most commercially useful provision in this entry. Paying anyone for sending patients is a CLASS 2 MISDEMEANOR — but Colorado then expressly permits paying an independent advertising or marketing agent, including on a per-patient basis. Most states leave lead-generation arrangements to be argued about; Colorado legislated the line.
Drawn from 4 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
- Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-132(1)(a) · Sep 2, 2026
- Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-132(1)(b) · Sep 2, 2026
- Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-132(1)(c) · Sep 2, 2026
- Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-121(1)(z); § 12-240-132(2) · Sep 2, 2026
Related Colorado rules
A licensee who divides or agrees to divide any fee or compensation with any person, firm, association or corporation “as pay or compensation to the other person for sending or bringing any patient or other person to the licensee, or for recommending the licensee to any person, or for being instrumental in any manner in causing any person to engage the licensee” — or who bills in their own name for services rendered by anyone else — commits a class 2 MISDEMEANOR. This is a criminal provision, not a board matter.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-132(1)(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026
⚠️ and then the express carve-out, which is unusual: “a licensee may pay an independent advertising or marketing agent compensation for the advertising or marketing services rendered on the licensee’s behalf by the agent, including compensation that is paid for the results or performance of the services on a per patient basis.” Performance-based marketing spend is lawful in Colorado by statute — the opposite of the assumption most operators carry from other states.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-132(1)(b) · verified Sep 2, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
- Alaska
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- District of Columbia
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- Hawaii
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- Illinois
- Indiana
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- Kentucky
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- Michigan
- Minnesota
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- New Hampshire
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- Texas
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- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Related Colorado questions
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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).