Licensing & requirements
There isn’t a single “med spa license” you apply for. What you actually need is a stack: the right ownership and business structure for your state, a medical director or collaborating prescriber for clinical oversight and prescriptive authority, a Good Faith Exam process before treatment, your own professional license (RN/NP) in good standing, and standard business and facility licensing. A med spa delivers medical services, so it’s regulated like a medical practice — and the specifics, especially supervision rules and who performs the Good Faith Exam, vary by state. We map your state’s exact requirements inside the assessment.
The free 7-minute assessment maps the structure, the requirements, and the exact next step to your credential and your state. No card. Built by Faisal Darwiche, NP — 27 years, three practices.
The reason you see conflicting answers online is that the rules genuinely differ by state — particularly around NP practice authority, whether a physician medical director is mandatory, and who may perform the Good Faith Exam. A blanket national checklist can’t tell you the one thing you need: what YOUR board and statutes require.
That’s the gap the assessment closes. Answer a few questions about your credential and your state, and you get the structure, the supervision rule, and the next action that actually apply to you — instead of generic advice that might be wrong for where you practice.
No. There’s no one license you apply for. Opening a med spa means assembling a stack: the right ownership structure, a medical director/prescriber, a Good Faith Exam process, your active professional license, and standard business and facility licensing.
In most states, yes — a prescriber provides the clinical oversight, treatment orders, and Good Faith Exam. Whether it must be a physician or can be an NP, and how involved they must be, varies by state.
A qualified prescriber — a physician, or an NP where the state allows — either in person or through a telehealth Good Faith Exam service. The RN owner doesn’t perform it. It’s a required step before treatment.
Yes. An RN or NP owns the business and contracts the prescriber relationship for the clinical requirements. An NP with full practice authority may hold prescriptive authority directly. The requirements are designed to be met this way every day.
No — supervision rules, medical-director requirements, and Good Faith Exam rules differ by state. That’s why we map your specific state inside the assessment rather than giving a one-size answer.
Faisal Darwiche, NP — 27 years as a nurse practitioner and three practices opened, including one later sold. My Practice Academy is the operating system for opening and running your own aesthetic practice — the clinical work and the business, in the right order.