Rising Popularity of the Aesthetic Industry
As injectables and other non-surgical aesthetic procedures become increasingly more popular, and different technologies continue to hit the market, more and more practices, MedSpas, and “Botox Bars” continue to pop up. This means it is also harder to regulate the industry in terms of legal and compliance standpoints.
According to the 2019 Medical Spa State of the Industry Report, “13% of medical spas don’t perform any medical consultation prior to treatment, and that 15% of medical spas have someone other than a registered nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant or doctor performing injectable procedures. Five percent of medical spas admit that they have employees with no medical training whatsoever performing injections.” Recently, the Medical Board of California issued warnings to physicians and clinics that are employing trained, but unlicensed persons to perform or assist with hair transplant procedures.
Aesthetic procedures are medical procedures and MedSpas are businesses that are medical facilities governed by the same regulations that orthopedic surgeons, family practice doctors, cardiologists, and other physicians and doctors must follow. Lasers can cause third-degree burns if not used properly. If not injected properly and side effects not handled properly, an injectable can occlude an important vessel in the face and cause skin necrosis or even more alarming can cause a patient to go blind if one of the important vessels to the eye are occluded. These are medical procedures that require proper training and certification and it’s frightening to think of patients receiving treatments from unlicensed and untrained people.
Educate Your Patients and Staff
That is why it is crucial to inform your patients of your credentials and why they should value and respect those credentials. It’s equally critical to ensure that your staff and anyone that you let perform treatments of any kind are licensed and certified to perform those procedures. Whether you own your own practice, or are a medical director for a medspa, it is imperative that your staff is trained and certified for the tasks you are assigning them, according to your state’s legal guidelines. On our next blog, we will dive into more compliance issues as it relates to being a medical director.