Medical directorship contracts in this market are full of careful language about oversight, availability and protocol approval. The Oregon Medical Board cut through all of it with one sentence.
In its published statement on the Responsibilities of Medical Directors of Medical Spas, the Board says medical directors must view med spa patients as their patients, treating them the same as a patient in any other medical facility.
What follows from that framing
If they are your patients, the ordinary duties attach. The Board spells them out:
- Performing an evaluation to establish the appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
- Obtaining informed consent prior to treatment.
- Maintaining proper documentation and patient confidentiality.
None of that is exotic. It is what any physician owes any patient. The point is that Oregon has closed the gap operators rely on elsewhere — the idea that a med spa client is a customer of the business rather than a patient of the physician.
The non-delegable core
The Board is equally direct about limits. A medical director may not delegate the diagnosis of a medical condition or the development of a treatment plan to a staff member who is not licensed to provide independent medical judgment.
That is the line. Injecting can be delegated. Deciding what should be injected, into whom, and why, cannot — not to an aesthetician, not to a medical assistant, and not to a booking questionnaire.
Delegation still exists, with conditions
Where delegation is available, the director must ensure the staff member has the appropriate education and training for the procedure, and proper delegation includes effective supervision through oversight, direction, evaluation and guidance.
Four words, each doing work. Oversight is not the same as availability. Evaluation implies you have looked at outcomes. Guidance implies an ongoing relationship with the person performing the procedure.
Why a remote retainer struggles here
A physician in another state, paid monthly, who has never met a patient cannot evaluate to establish a diagnosis, cannot take informed consent, and cannot supervise through evaluation and guidance in any meaningful sense.
Oregon has not banned that arrangement in so many words. It has simply described the role in terms the arrangement cannot satisfy, and published the description on the Board’s own website where any complainant can find it.
And then the structural layer
Oregon also has SB 951, the most restrictive corporate practice law in the country. Clinical expectations at this level, combined with ownership and control restrictions at that level, make Oregon the most demanding jurisdiction in our coverage. It is workable. It is not workable cheaply.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Who may be a medical director in Oregon?
A licensed physician, or an independent nurse practitioner, actively involved in patient care and supervision.
Can diagnosis be delegated in Oregon?
No. The diagnosis of a medical condition and the development of a treatment plan may not be delegated to a staff member not licensed to provide independent medical judgment.
Does the director have to take informed consent?
The Board’s statement lists obtaining informed consent prior to treatment among the director’s responsibilities, alongside evaluation and documentation.
What counts as proper supervision?
The Board describes it as oversight, direction, evaluation and guidance, together with confirming the staff member’s education and training.
General information about Oregon medical board expectations, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the Board’s own statement. Confirm your obligations with healthcare counsel licensed in Oregon.