MedSpaRadar™
Get the Brief

Who may operate a cosmetic laser in Colorado?

Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter

The “practice of medicine” reaches energy devices without naming them: it means holding out as able to diagnose, treat, prescribe for, palliate, or prevent any human disease, ailment, pain, injury, deformity or physical condition — “WHETHER BY THE USE OF DRUGS, SURGERY, MANIPULATION, ELECTRICITY, TELEMEDICINE, the interpretation of tests … OR ANY PHYSICAL, MECHANICAL, OR OTHER MEANS WHATSOEVER.” Colorado wrote a catch-all rather than a device list, so a modality invented after 2019 is inside it by construction.

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-107(1)(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice

The rest of what Colorado says on this

Every other rule we have verified under physician supervision & delegation, each linked to its primary source.

  • ⚠️ THE DELEGATION EXEMPTION, AND ITS THREE LIMITS. No license is required for “the rendering of services, OTHER THAN THE PRESCRIBING OF DRUGS, by persons QUALIFIED BY EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION, OR TRAINING, under the PERSONAL AND RESPONSIBLE DIRECTION AND SUPERVISION of a person licensed … to practice medicine.” Colorado will let an unlicensed person perform a medical service — but never prescribe, never without demonstrable qualification, and never at arm’s length.

    Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-107(3)(l) · verified Sep 2, 2026

  • ⚠️ AND THE SAME SENTENCE CLOSES TWO LOOPHOLES. “NOTHING IN THIS EXEMPTION SHALL BE DEEMED TO EXTEND OR LIMIT THE SCOPE OF ANY LICENSE” — delegation cannot enlarge what a nurse or esthetician may already do. And the exemption “SHALL NOT APPLY TO PERSONS OTHERWISE QUALIFIED TO PRACTICE MEDICINE BUT NOT LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN THIS STATE” — a physician unlicensed in Colorado cannot work as somebody’s delegate.

    Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-107(3)(l) · verified Sep 2, 2026

  • Nurses have their own exemption on a different footing: no medical license is required for “the rendering of NURSING or midwifery services AND DELEGATED MEDICAL FUNCTIONS by registered or other nurses … in the lawful discharge of their duties.” A nurse is not relying on the qualified-person exemption above; the statute names delegated medical functions as part of lawful nursing.

    Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-107(3)(j) · verified Sep 2, 2026

  • The Nurse Practice Act matches it from the other side. Professional nursing includes “providing therapy and treatment that is supportive and restorative to life and well-being EITHER DIRECTLY TO THE PATIENT OR INDIRECTLY THROUGH CONSULTATION WITH, DELEGATION TO, SUPERVISION OF, OR TEACHING OF OTHERS”, and separately “EXECUTING DELEGATED MEDICAL FUNCTIONS AND DELEGATED PATIENT CARE FUNCTIONS.” A Colorado RN may both receive a delegated medical function and delegate onward.

    Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-255-104(10)(b)(III)–(IV) · verified Sep 2, 2026

  • Aiding or abetting the practice of medicine by any unlicensed person — or by a person whose license is suspended — is unprofessional conduct in its own right. It is the provision that reaches the supervising physician when the delegation limits above are not met.

    Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-121(1)(f) · verified Sep 2, 2026

How other states answer this

All 41 states side by side →

Related Colorado questions

Every Colorado question we can answer →

Get Colorado changes as they publish

We scan the Colorado legislature and licensing boards daily, plus the FDA and the Federal Register. Free weekly Brief — what changed, in plain language, with the source.

Free · unsubscribe in one click · we never sell your address

← All Colorado rules and changes · MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference, not legal, medical, or compliance advice. Verify against the linked primary source and consult qualified counsel before acting — rules change and turn on your specific facts. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).