Does a med spa in Iowa need a medical director?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
A medical aesthetic service shall only be performed by qualified licensed or certified nonphysician persons or qualified laser technicians if the service has been delegated by a medical director who is responsible for supervision of the services performed at a medical spa in Iowa.
Iowa Admin. Code r. 481—655.6(2) (Delegation by a medical director) · verified Sep 4, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Iowa rules
A medical director at a medical spa shall: a. Hold an active unrestricted Iowa medical license to supervise each delegated medical aesthetic service; b. Possess the appropriate education, training, experience and competence to safely supervise each delegated medical aesthetic service; c. Retain responsibility for the supervision of each medical aesthetic service performed by qualified licensed or certified nonphysician persons or qualified laser technicians;
Iowa Admin. Code r. 481—655.6(3) (Medical director) · verified Sep 4, 2026
Ensure that all qualified licensed or certified nonphysician persons or qualified laser technicians receive direct, in-person, on-site supervision from the medical director or other qualified licensed physician or other qualified supervising nonphysician licensed health professional at least four hours each week and that the regular supervision is documented;
Iowa Admin. Code r. 481—655.6(5)(c) (Supervision) · verified Sep 4, 2026
How other states answer this
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- Alaska
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- California
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- District of Columbia
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- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
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- Louisiana
- Maine
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- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
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- New Mexico
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- North Carolina
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- Ohio
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- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Related Iowa questions
- What must the supervising physician actually do in Iowa?
- Who may operate a cosmetic laser in Iowa?
- Can a medical assistant give injections in Iowa?
- May an esthetician or laser technician perform microneedling in Iowa?
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← All Iowa 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).