Can a non-physician own a med spa in District of Columbia?
Ownership · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Not if it's organized as a professional corporation — only individuals licensed in the service rendered may be shareholders (a solo owner's secretary need not be licensed), and unlicensed staff may be employed but not perform it. Other forms aren't addressed.
The district requires every shareholder, director and officer to be licensed — and then expressly declines to require them to work there. a professional corporation may be organized solely to render professional services through its shareholders, directors, officers, employees or agents who are themselves licensed, and a person may not be a shareholder, director or officer, or render professional services on its behalf, unless they are an individual licensed to render a professional service for which the corporation is organized — with one narrow exception, that a single-shareholder corporation’s secretary need not be licensed, and must not perform professional services if they are not. The definition says the same from the other direction: shareholders may be only individuals duly licensed to render THE SAME professional service as the corporation. But §29-508(c) is the provision to read before structuring anything: nothing in the chapter requires a shareholder or incorporator to have a present or future EMPLOYMENT relationship with the corporation, or actively to participate in any capacity in the production of its income or the performance of its professional services. Licensure is required; labor is not. The Health Occupations Revision Act then reaches the arrangement from the disciplinary side: paying or agreeing to pay anything of value to, or splitting or dividing fees for professional services with, any person for bringing or referring a patient is a ground for disciplinary action.
Drawn from 6 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
- D.C. Code §29-505(a) (Purpose for organization; powers authorized) · Sep 3, 2026
- D.C. Code §3-1205.14(a)(13) · Sep 3, 2026
- D.C. Code §29-508(b) · Sep 3, 2026
- D.C. Code §29-508(c) · Sep 3, 2026
- D.C. Code §29-502(2) · Sep 3, 2026
- D.C. Code §3-1205.14(a)(14) · Sep 3, 2026
Related District of Columbia rules
A professional corporation may be organized solely to render professional services through its shareholders, directors, officers, employees, or agents who are themselves licensed to render the particular service, and to render service ancillary thereto. A professional corporation may employ individuals who are not licensed, but they shall not perform professional services.
D.C. Code §29-505(a) (Purpose for organization; powers authorized) · verified Sep 3, 2026
A disciplinary action may be taken against a person who submits false statements to collect fees for which services are not provided or submits statements to collect fees for services which are not medically necessary.
D.C. Code §3-1205.14(a)(13) · verified Sep 3, 2026
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Related District of Columbia questions
- What limits does District of Columbia place on a med spa's business structure?
- In District of Columbia, may a non-clinical owner or manager be paid a share of revenue?
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← All District of Columbia 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).