Can a non-physician own a med spa in Massachusetts?
Ownership · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Not through a professional corporation — its shares may go only to natural persons licensed to render the service in its articles, or to entities authorized to render it; a lay individual isn't on that list, and a majority of directors must be licensed too.
Massachusetts’ professional corporation chapter decides who may own the practice: shares may issue only to licensed natural persons, to partnerships every partner of which is one, or to entities themselves authorized to render the service — and a MAJORITY of the directors must be licensed, as must all officers except the treasurer, clerk, secretary and their assistants.
Drawn from 4 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156A, § 10(a) · Sep 1, 2026
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156A, § 9 · Sep 1, 2026
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175H, § 3(a) · Sep 2, 2026
- Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 175H, § 3(a) · Sep 2, 2026
Related Massachusetts rules
A professional corporation may issue shares, fractional shares, and rights or options to purchase shares ONLY to natural persons licensed — in Massachusetts or another state, territory or the District of Columbia — to render a professional service permitted by the corporation’s articles of organization; to partnerships in which every partner is such a person; or to professional corporations, business corporations or limited liability companies themselves authorized to render that service. A lay individual is not in the list.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156A, § 10(a) · verified Sep 1, 2026
The board and the officers are licensed too, with a named exception: a MAJORITY of the directors of a professional corporation, and ALL of its officers except the treasurer, clerk, secretary and their assistants, shall be licensed in the commonwealth to render a professional service permitted by the articles of organization. The exception is precisely the administrative offices — the clinical direction is not among them.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156A, § 9 · verified Sep 1, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Related Massachusetts questions
- What limits does Massachusetts place on a med spa's business structure?
- Can a management company run the business side of a med spa in Massachusetts?
- In Massachusetts, may a non-clinical owner or manager be paid a share of revenue?
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← All Massachusetts 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).