Who Can Own a Med Spa? Ownership Rules by State

The Board of Medical Examiners records and maintains a permanent file on all professional corporations incorporated by physicians and osteopaths.

Ala. Admin. Code r. 540-X-1 (Board duties — professional corporations) · verified Sep 4, 2026

No corporate-practice doctrine, but a real ownership restriction.

AS 08.64 (surveyed), AS 08.68 (surveyed), AS 08.13 (surveyed), AS 08.01 (surveyed); 12 AAC 40, 12 AAC 02 and 12 AAC 09 (surveyed) · verified Sep 5, 2026

Arizona’s grounds for discipline were surveyed and forbid no non-physician ownership, and a professional corporation may issue up to 49% of its voting shares to non-licensees unless its licensing authority sets a different percentage.

Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1401(27)(v) · verified Sep 2, 2026

The board treats it as an ethical violation for a physician to fail to disclose to a patient that the physician holds an ownership interest in a facility or service, outside the physician’s own practice, to which the physician refers that patient.

17 CAR § 140-2601(3) (Ethical violations for physicians) · verified Sep 4, 2026

California strongly bars the corporate practice of medicine.

Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 650(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at Public.Law — California Codes

⚠️ Colorado names the corporate practice of medicine doctrine in its statute and expressly refuses to let its own professional-corporation provisions be read as an exception to it.

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-121(1)(g)(I) · verified Sep 2, 2026

Connecticut confines a professional service corporation to rendering the professional service it was incorporated for, permits it to render that service only through licensed officers, employees and agents, and restricts who may hold its stock or its voting power.

Conn. Gen. Stat. §33-182c(a) (Organization) · verified Sep 3, 2026

Delaware’s cited restriction runs through the Professional Corporation form.

8 Del. C. §603(2) · verified Sep 3, 2026

A professional corporation may be organized solely to render professional services through its shareholders, directors, officers, employees or agents who are themselves licensed, and a person may not be a shareholder, director or officer, or render professional services on its behalf, unless they are an individual…

D.C. Code §29-505(a) (Purpose for organization; powers authorized) · verified Sep 3, 2026

Florida has no strict corporate-practice-of-medicine ban.

Fla. Stat. § 456.054(2) · verified Sep 2, 2026

Georgia reaches the ownership question through its Professional Corporation Act.

O.C.G.A. §14-7-2 · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at FindLaw Codes

The Act defines a professional service as one that may lawfully be rendered only by persons licensed under the named chapters, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy among them, restricts share ownership to qualified persons, organizes professional corporations for a single profession, allows services to be rendered only…

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 415A-2 ("Professional service"; "Qualified person") · verified Sep 8, 2026

The official Title 30 chapter index — the document surveyed for this claim — lists Chapter 13, professional service corporations, as REPEALED.

Idaho Code tit. 30, ch. 13 (chapter index — REPEALED) · verified Sep 3, 2026

Illinois is among the strictest corporate-practice states, and its regulators say so in a document written for med spas specifically: a med spa is a medical practice, so it must be owned by physicians — or, for the services within their scope, by APRNs.

225 ILCS 60/22.2(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026

The employment safe harbor in the medical practice act is not general: it reaches only “an entity described in subsection (a)(21) through (a)(22)” — a hospital licensed under IC 16-21 or IC 12-25, or a health care organization whose members, shareholders or partners are themselves licensed providers — and even for…

Ind. Code §25-22.5-1-2(c) · verified Jul 26, 2026

A medical spa is any entity, however organized, that is advertised, announced, established or maintained for the purpose of providing medical aesthetic services; the definition expressly excludes a dermatology practice wholly owned and controlled by one or more Iowa-licensed physicians where at least one owner is…

Iowa Admin. Code r. 481—655.6(1) (definition of “Medical spa”) · verified Sep 4, 2026

A professional corporation may be organized ONLY for the purpose of rendering one type of professional service and service ancillary to it, and shall not engage in any other business — except that the statute permits certain named combinations of the professional types it lists, identified by their item numbers in…

Kan. Stat. Ann. §17-2710 · verified Sep 3, 2026

No person shall engage or attempt to engage in the practice of medicine or osteopathy within the state, or open, maintain, or occupy an office or place of business within the state for engaging in practice, or in any manner announce or express a readiness to engage in practice, unless the person holds a valid and…

Ky. Rev. Stat. §311.560(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026

“Physician” means a natural person holding an allopathic or osteopathic degree who holds a license, permit, certification or registration issued by the board to engage in the practice of medicine in Louisiana — a corporation cannot itself be one.

La. Rev. Stat. §37:1262(2) · verified Sep 3, 2026

Maine’s professional corporation rule is narrower than it first reads.

13 M.R.S. §734(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026

Maryland confines a professional corporation to a single profession and to the professional service named in its articles, and its Medical Practice Act contemplates a physician practicing within or as a professional corporation — so the corporate form is available, but it is not a route to mixing a medical practice…

Md. Code, Corps. & Ass’ns §5-102(a)(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026

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…

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 156A, § 10(a) · verified Sep 1, 2026

Michigan runs professional corporations through the Business Corporation Act, and its shareholder rule reaches through holding companies rather than stopping at the first entity.

Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.16221(d)(i)–(ii) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at Internet Archive snapshot — evidence of a page, not the current rule

It restricts ownership of a professional firm to licensed professionals — but a Minnesota firm may furnish professional services WITHOUT electing into the chapter, so long as no other Minnesota statute, rule or Tenet Of Common Law requires the election.

Minn. Stat. § 147.091, subd. 1(p)(4) · verified Sep 2, 2026

A professional corporation may issue shares only to individuals authorized to render the professional service in its articles, to professional corporations and partnerships so authorized, or to others the licensing authority expressly permits; it exists solely to render professional services within a single…

Miss. Code Ann. § 79-10-5(h) · verified Sep 8, 2026

Missouri’s Professional Corporation Law restricts who may hold shares.

Mo. Rev. Stat. §356.111.1(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026

The Act defines a professional service as one that may lawfully be rendered only by licensed persons and may not lawfully be rendered by an ordinary business corporation, restricts share ownership in a professional corporation to qualified persons, requires at least one-half of the combined directors and officers…

Mont. Code Ann. § 35-4-109(5)-(6) · verified Sep 8, 2026

Nebraska verifies that every director, officer, shareholder and professional employee of a professional corporation (bar the secretary and assistant secretary) is duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render the professional service the corporation is organized for, or a service ancillary to it, and it…

Neb. Rev. Stat. §21-2213 · verified Sep 3, 2026

Nevada restricts ownership of a professional entity to natural persons licensed to render the very services the entity was formed to provide, and extends the restriction to voting agreements and transfers so that control cannot be separated from licensure.

Nev. Rev. Stat. §89.070(1)(a) · verified Sep 3, 2026

A New Hampshire professional corporation may be organized only to render professional services within a single profession — subject to the carve-out the statute itself makes at RSA 294-A:2, II, which these claims do not reach.

N.H. Rev. Stat. §294-A:2, I (Permissible Purposes of Professional Corporations) · verified Sep 3, 2026

New Jersey restricts practice entities to licensed professionals, and then spells out exactly how an outside business may take part — by two routes and no others.

N.J.A.C. 13:35-6.17 · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute

Sections 61-6-1 through 61-6-35 contain no professional-corporation requirement and no restriction on who may hold an ownership interest in a medical practice — the words "corporation", "shareholder", "partnership" and "limited liability" do not appear in the Act at all.

N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 61-6-1 to 61-6-35 (Medical Practice Act), read in full — absence claim · verified Sep 4, 2026

New York is a strict corporate-practice state.

N.Y. Educ. Law §6522 · verified Aug 17, 2026

North Carolina is a strict corporate-practice state and says so in plain terms: the Medical Board’s position is that a business practicing medicine must be owned in its entirety by people holding active North Carolina licenses.

NCMB Position Statement 10.1.2 (adopted March 2016, amended September 2025) · verified Aug 17, 2026

The chapter read does not state a corporate-practice doctrine, but it does regulate the money directly, in the disciplinary grounds.

N.D.C.C. § 43-17-31(1)(r) (Fee-splitting, rebates and payment for referrals) · verified Sep 5, 2026

Ohio answers the ownership question the other way round from most of this corpus.

Ohio Rev. Code § 4731.22(B)(17) · verified Sep 2, 2026

An entity whose principal purpose or function is providing hospital or medical care may employ one or more persons duly licensed to practice medicine without itself being regarded as practicing medicine, and the employment does not, in and of itself, count as unprofessional conduct by the physician employed.

Okla. Stat. tit. 59, § 492 (An entity providing medical care may employ physicians) · verified Sep 5, 2026

An Oregon professional corporation may render its professional services ONLY through persons licensed or otherwise authorized in this state to render them.

Or. Rev. Stat. §58.156(1) (Method by which professional corporation to render services) · verified Sep 3, 2026

For a professional corporation formed by medical doctors, the State Board of Medicine’s test for a co-owner has two parts: the co-owner must be a health care practitioner who treats human ailments and is licensed in Pennsylvania to provide health care WITHOUT receiving a referral or supervision from another…

49 Pa. Code §16.21 · verified Aug 17, 2026 · read at Cornell Legal Information Institute

A corporation organized under that chapter may render the professional services of NOT MORE THAN ONE of the enumerated professions, provided that every officer, director and shareholder is an individual authorized to practice that profession and is employed by the corporation in it; and no individual may be an…

R.I. Gen. Laws §7-5.1-3(a) · verified Sep 3, 2026

South Carolina limits who may hold shares in a professional corporation to individuals authorized to render the professional service the corporation was formed for, together with qualifying partnerships and professional corporations, and lets the licensing authority for a profession restrict that further where it…

S.C. Code §33-19-200(a) · verified Sep 3, 2026

All of the officers, directors, and shareholders of a medical corporation shall AT ALL TIMES be persons licensed pursuant to the Medical Practice Act. No person who is not so licensed shall have any part in the ownership or control of such corporation — and no proxy to vote any shares may be given to a person who…

S.D. Codified Laws §47-11-3 · verified Sep 3, 2026

Tennessee runs medical practices through Medical Professional Corporations, and its share-ownership rule follows ownership through intermediate entities rather than stopping at the first one.

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0880-02-.20(1)(b) · verified Sep 2, 2026

Texas follows the corporate-practice-of-medicine doctrine, derived from the Medical Practice Act’s licensure requirement rather than a single titled statute.

Tex. Occ. Code § 102.001(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026

Section 58-67-501 puts within “unlawful conduct” the act of substantially interfering with a licensee’s lawful and competent practice of medicine by any person or entity that manages, owns, operates, or conducts a business having a direct or indirect financial interest in that practice.

Utah Code § 58-67-501(1)(c) (Unlawful conduct) · verified Sep 4, 2026

Vermont defines a professional service as one that may lawfully be rendered only by a licensed person and MAY NOT lawfully be rendered by an ordinary business corporation.

Vt. Stat. tit. 11, §817(6) · verified Sep 3, 2026

Virginia’s professional corporation must state a sole and specific purpose in its articles.

Va. Code § 54.1-2962.1 · verified Sep 2, 2026

Washington channels ownership through the Professional Service Corporation Act: shares may be held by the people licensed to render the service the corporation was organized to render.

Wash. Rev. Code § 19.68.010(1) · verified Sep 2, 2026

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,…

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

Wisconsin’s constraint on who may own a practice runs through the LICENSE: the entity may not do what only a licensed person may do.

Wis. Stat. § 448.08(1m) · verified Sep 2, 2026

A professional practice corporation incorporated after the act must carry this sentence in its articles, immediately after the provision on authorized shares: “All shareholders of the corporation are, and will continually be, licensed in the profession for which the corporation is formed, and no professional…

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §17-3-104 · verified Sep 3, 2026