Georgia ownership & cpom for med spas
Corporate-practice-of-medicine limits on who may own an aesthetic practice. Below are the Georgia rules that govern it, each linked to its primary source.
Ownership & corporate practice of medicine in Georgia
Georgia reaches the ownership question through its Professional Corporation Act. The Act limits who may hold shares, requires the professional service to be delivered by licensed people, and fixes who must sit on the board.
The Georgia Professional Corporation Act expressly counts medicine and surgery as a “profession” for its purposes, alongside dentistry, pharmacy, psychology, registered professional nursing and others — so a medical practice organized as a professional corporation falls inside the Act.
O.C.G.A. §14-7-2 · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
Shares in a professional corporation may only be issued to, held by, or transferred to a person licensed to practice the profession the corporation was organized for who — unless disabled — is actively engaged in that practice as an active practicing member of the corporation. Each stock certificate must be endorsed disclosing that restriction, and shares standing in the name of a disqualified or retired person are void outside the holding periods the Code section allows.
O.C.G.A. §14-7-5(a) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
A professional corporation may practice only one profession. The Act names narrow exceptions: doctors of podiatric medicine may jointly own one with doctors of medicine or osteopathy, chiropractors may jointly own one with physicians, and ophthalmologists may jointly own one with optometrists — each only so far as it is not inconsistent with the ethics of the professions involved or otherwise prohibited by law.
O.C.G.A. §14-7-4(a) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
A professional corporation may engage in the practice of its profession only through officers, employees and agents who are licensed or otherwise legally authorized to practice it in Georgia. That restriction does not stop the corporation employing unlicensed people in roles where they are not rendering professional services to the public.
O.C.G.A. §14-7-4(b) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
At least one member of the board of directors and the president of a professional corporation must be licensed in the profession the corporation was organized for. Where the governing board includes people who are not licensed, the corporation must vest responsibility for decisions relating wholly to professional considerations in those who are — by a standing committee of the board or otherwise.
O.C.G.A. §14-7-4(c) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
A professional corporation left without an actively practicing shareholder, or which fails to comply with the Act’s share transfer requirements, must stop operating as a professional corporation and liquidate.
O.C.G.A. §14-7-5(e) · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
⚠️ Georgia puts fee division in the same ground as aiding unlicensed practice, and it names corporations. The board may discipline a licensee who has “divided fees or agreed to divide fees received for professional services with any person, firm, association, corporation, or other entity for bringing or referring a patient.” The trigger is what the payment is FOR — bringing or referring — not who receives it.
O.C.G.A. § 43-34-8(a)(9) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes
Recent Georgia changes
Get Georgia changes as they publish
We scan the Georgia 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
See all Georgia rules on the Georgia compliance hub →
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.