Who may operate a cosmetic laser in Tennessee?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
⚠️ 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 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Tennessee rules
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
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← All Tennessee 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).