Can a non-physician own a med spa in West Virginia?

Ownership · part of The Practice Perimeter

Short answer
The cited rules do not settle this — they establish only that a corporation may not practice medicine without a board certificate of authorization, issued only where every shareholder is licensed under the medical, PA, or osteopathic articles.

West Virginia does not leave the corporate practice question to a general corporations statute — the Medical Practice Act itself makes it UNLAWFUL for any corporation to practice or offer to practice medicine, surgery or podiatric medicine, or to perform medical acts through one or more physician assistants, without a certificate of authorization issued by the Board of Medicine designating it an authorized medical corporation. To obtain one, an in-state applicant must furnish satisfactory proof that each shareholder is a licensed physician under the Medical Practice Act article or under the two other articles the provision cross-references by citation. For a corporation formed outside the state, the claim on record here is the shareholder test: it may be designated a foreign medical corporation on furnishing proof that ALL its shareholders are licensed physicians, podiatric physicians or physician assistants in one or more states, with a complete list submitted. The section’s other conditions for foreign corporations are not surveyed by these claims.

Drawn from 5 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice

Related West Virginia rules

  • It is unlawful for any corporation to practice or offer to practice medicine, surgery, podiatric medicine, or to perform medical acts through one or more physician assistants in this state without a certificate of authorization issued by the board designating the corporation as an authorized medical corporation.

    W. Va. Code §30-3-15(a) · verified Sep 3, 2026

  • Eligible licensees may apply for a certificate of authorization by furnishing satisfactory proof to the board that each shareholder of the proposed medical or podiatry corporation is a licensed physician pursuant to this article, §30-3E-1 et seq., or §30-14-1 et seq. of this code.

    W. Va. Code §30-3-15(b)(2) · verified Sep 3, 2026

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← All West Virginia 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).