Three Ways to Mitigate Liability Risks With In-House Medical Spas

A growing number of physician practices throughout the U.S. are adopting new, non-traditional services to enhance their business with new offerings and revenue streams. Adding non-traditional offerings, such medical spa services, introduces an entirely new layer of liability to the practice setting, and physicians and practice leaders must understand how to mitigate common risks.

According to Allied Market Research, the global medical spa market is projected to reach $27.6B by 2025, growing more than two-fold from just $11B in 2017. Medical spas can provide a wide range of services, from Botox injections and laser hair removal to body sculpting and acne therapy, using a unique blend of medicine and aesthetics.

Offering these high-quality cosmetic procedures in a safe environment with licensed professionals allows physician practices to establish a lucrative secondary revenue stream while providing patients with easy access to popular services.

Risky Business

Medical spas blur the line between medicine and cosmetology. This means it’s particularly important for physicians and practice leaders to differentiate between services in a practice setting while remaining sensitive to the unique risks that each business presents. In order to protect a practice against potential malpractice liability, we recommend following these three tips:

1. Verify licensing and credentials of all practitioners. States have unique and specific guidelines regarding the level of education and credentialing required for individual services within a medical spa. Practice leaders must carefully vet and verify the licenses of staff to ensure they maintain compliance with all state laws and regulations to avoid risk exposure. Leaders should review state-by-state laws and contact their state medical boards to learn more about specific requirements.
2. Establish delineation between medical practices and medical spas. When medical practices and medical spas coexist in the same location, it’s important that leaders establish clear definition between the two lines of business. While many spa customers may also be practice patients, services and transactions should be performed independently, establishing a clear line between healthcare services and medical spa treatments.
3. Use informed consent forms for any and all medical spa procedures. All treatments, regardless of how invasive or noninvasive in nature, must have established informed consent documentation protocols. Practices should develop specific consent forms for individual services that clearly and completely outline the risks and benefits of services, treatments, and procedures. Curi members can click here to access a general informed consent template that is easily customizable for individual services.

Curi members are encouraged to reach out to our Risk Management department at 800-662-7917 for specific information about their individual state’s laws regarding medical spa services and guidance on how to create treatment consent forms.