Must someone be on site while a patient is treated in Washington?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
⚠️ and the on-site answer turns on the label. If the delegated procedure uses a medication or substance the FDA has NOT approved, or has not approved for the particular purpose it is being used for, the physician must be on-site for the entire duration of the procedure. If it is FDA-approved for that purpose, the physician need not be on site but must be reachable by phone and able to respond within thirty minutes to treat complications.
Wash. Admin. Code 246-919-606(12) and (13) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Washington rules
Using a laser, noncoherent light, intense pulsed light, radiofrequency or plasma device that topically penetrates skin and alters human tissue — an “LLRP device”, and one the FDA classifies as a prescription device — is the practice of medicine under RCW 18.71.011. Washington settles the threshold question in the rule itself rather than leaving it to be argued.
Wash. Admin. Code 246-919-605(1) and (2) · verified Sep 2, 2026
⚠️ and any other energy device that penetrates tissue is surgery. Use of a medical device using any form of energy to penetrate or alter human tissue for a purpose other than the topical one defined above constitutes SURGERY and is outside this rule entirely — which means outside everything the rule permits a physician to delegate.
Wash. Admin. Code 246-919-605(3) · verified Sep 2, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
Related Washington questions
- Is an exam required before a patient can be treated in Washington?
- Can the pre-treatment exam be done by telehealth in Washington?
- Can a med spa in Washington offer compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide?
Get Washington changes as they publish
We scan the Washington 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
← All Washington 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).