Tennessee medical director requirements for med spas

Medical-director, supervision, and delegation requirements for aesthetic practices. Below are the Tennessee rules that govern it, each linked to its primary source. Monitoring and reference, not legal advice.

Physician supervision & delegation in Tennessee

Tennessee treats a laser procedure as the practice of medicine and requires the person performing it to be under a physician’s supervision, while its definition of aesthetics covers surface work only. FOR A FULLY LICENSED PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT it writes out what supervision means — not continuous presence, but available for consultation at all times, with a protocol reviewed every two years. A PA on a TEMPORARY license is outside that rule and may not provide services at all unless a supervising physician is on site.

⚠️ A LASER PROCEDURE IS THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. Any procedure encompassed within the definition of the practice of medicine that is to be performed BY USE OF A LASER shall be considered the practice of medicine, and ANY PERSON PERFORMING SUCH A PROCEDURE MUST BE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A LICENSED PHYSICIAN — subject only to the narrow exceptions the rule cross-references for other licensed professions.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.14(10) · verified Sep 2, 2026
Supervision of a physician assistant DOES NOT require the continuous and constant presence of the supervising physician — but the physician must be AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ALL TIMES, or must arrange for a substitute physician to be available. The supervising physician and any substitute must hold a current, unencumbered Tennessee license.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.18(1) and (2) · verified Sep 2, 2026
⚠️ AND THE SUPERVISOR MUST KNOW THE FIELD. A supervising physician or substitute SHALL HAVE EXPERIENCE AND/OR EXPERTISE IN THE SAME AREA OF MEDICINE as the physician assistant. A physician of the wrong specialty is not a lawful supervisor however available they are.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.18(3) · verified Sep 2, 2026
Protocols are mandatory and have a maintenance schedule: they shall be JOINTLY DEVELOPED AND APPROVED by the supervising physician and the physician assistant, shall outline and cover the applicable standard of care, shall be REVIEWED AND UPDATED BIENNIALLY, and shall be maintained at the practice site.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.18(5) · verified Sep 2, 2026
A physician assistant holding a TEMPORARY license — one waiting to take the licensure examination — may not provide services at all unless a supervising physician is ON SITE while the services are being provided. The general no-continuous-presence rule does not reach them.
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.18(4) · verified Sep 2, 2026
TENNESSEE’S DEFINITION OF AESTHETICS WAS READ IN FULL AND IS THREE SURFACE PRACTICES. “AESTHETICS” MEANS “MASSAGING, CLEANSING, STIMULATING, MANIPULATING, EXERCISING, BEAUTIFYING OR SIMILAR WORK WITH HANDS OR MECHANICAL OR ELECTRICAL APPARATUS OR BY THE USE OF COSMETIC PREPARATIONS, ANTISEPTICS, TONICS, LOTIONS OR CREAMS”; “PLACING OR APPLYING ARTIFICIAL EYELASHES”; or “GIVING FACIALS, APPLYING MAKEUP, GIVING SKIN CARE OR REMOVING SUPERFLUOUS HAIR BY TWEEZING, DEPILATORIES OR WAXING”. No act of puncturing appears, and the apparatus clause sets no depth. An absence in this definition, not a finding that Tennessee prohibits microneedling.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-4-102(a)(1) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes

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