
Texas Legislative Update: HB 3749 Overly Restricts NPs and PAs in Medical Spas
-
You must log in to register
- Non-member - Free!
- AmSpa Basic Member - Free!
- AmSpa Plus Member - Free!
- AmSpa Plus Employee Member - Free!
- SAPA Plus Member - Free!
Last week a bill was introduced in Texas that would drastically affect med spas, severely reducing the scope of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in aesthetic practices. As written, HB 3749 would overly restrict trained, licensed, legally compliant practitioners while not doing enough to safeguard the public against the risks of unlicensed persons illegally administering medical aesthetic treatments.
AmSpa hosted a webinar on Tuesday, March 11 to break down the provisions in the bill, outline how it might affect the med spa industry and provide next steps to take for medical aesthetic professionals to make their voices heard.
If you live in Texas and would like to make your voice heard, click here to find your state representative.
See the Handouts tab to download a form letter to state your opposition.
American Med Spa Association (AmSpa’s) Formal Position on HB 3749
1. AmSpa opposes this bill and encourages its members and the medical aesthetics industry to do the same. AmSpa will work hard to defeat this bill and asks for the support of the industry to helps its efforts.
2. AmSpa believes that the family of Jenifer Cleveland deserves accountability from medical spas that employ unsupervised, unlicensed, or undertrained individuals to perform medical treatments, or who disregard existing medical regulations.
3. Although medical aesthetics is overwhelmingly a safe, trustworthy, and professional industry that prioritizes patient safety, incidents such as Jenifer Cleveland’s untimely death at Luxe Med Spa are tragic, unacceptable, and must never be tolerated in any area of health care.
4. HB 3749 makes medical spas less safe by needlessly removing trained and qualified advanced practitioners from assessment and supervisory roles.
5. HB 3749 fails to address the existing issues faced by the medical aesthetics industry, including unlicensed and undertrained providers, illegally sourced product, lack of trained supervision, and lack of education on medical regulations.
6. AmSpa maintains that medical spas are medical facilities. The medical laws and regulations of each state govern medical practice in that state, and medical spas are necessarily included in that regulatory framework.
7. The State of Texas has extensive, thorough, and specific regulations addressing the practice of medical aesthetics. These regulations provide a safer, more robust, and more specific regulatory framework that HB 3749 provides, and, if adhered to and enforced, would likely have prevented the death of Jenifer Cleveland.
8. In the event that any state seeks legislation or regulation addressing medical aesthetics individually, AmSpa supports a clear, straightforward legal framework that comports with existing state health care laws, creates standardized practice and training requirements, and allows for consistent enforcement. It opposes overly excessive, limiting, or restrictive regulations inconsistent with existing principles of health care law.
9. AmSpa supports well-informed, practical regulations that ensure patient safety while avoiding reactive legislation that overreaches or harms an already safe industry.
10. AmSpa is committed to rejecting any so-called "medical spas" that fail to follow the laws and regulations of medical practice or engage in unsafe and/or unethical practices.
11. AmSpa is committed to educating the industry and legislatures about the medical aesthetics industry in order to encourage meaningful and consistent enforcement, and to prevent unsupervised, unlicensed, or undertrained individuals administering medical treatments.

Alex R Theirsch
JD, Founder and CEO
American Med Spa Association
Alex Thiersch, JD, is the Founder and CEO of the American Med Spa Association, and he is also a partner at the business, healthcare, and aesthetic law firm of ByrdAdatto. He has extensive experience representing industry professionals before state medical boards, and is one of the most sought after speakers in the country regarding matters of practice management and medical aesthetic law including conferences for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the Global Aesthetics Conference, Vegas Cosmetic Surgery, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, The Medical Spa Show, and others.

Cathy Christensen
President and CSO
American Med Spa Association
Cathy Christensen is the President and CSO of the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) and has been with the company since its infancy, joining as director of operations in 2013. Prior to this, she worked in the publishing industry, where she began as an editorial assistant and transitioned into her second career in operations of AmSpa after climbing the ladder to become the editor-in-chief of Skin Inc. magazine and the conference director of the Face & Body events. Christensen has contributed to AmSpa’s significant growth since 2013, and oversees team members who specialize in marketing, membership, sales, events, legal, and content. She prides herself in her ability to embrace challenges and persevere, and even have a little fun while doing i.

Patrick O’Brien, JD
General Counsel
AmSpa
Patrick O’Brien, JD is the General Counsel for the American Med Spa Association. Patrick’s practice focuses on state and federal health care laws and regulations, and legislative developments in health care primarily for the aesthetic industry. He provides educational and informational resources to AmSpa’s members to help them navigate their state’s regulatory landscape and assisting AmSpa in its legislative efforts.

Taylor Siemens
NP-C
Vitalyc & My Aesthetic Training
Taylor Siemens, NP-C, a board-certified nurse practitioner recognized by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, is a dynamic force in the world of aesthetic medicine. As the vice president of operations at Vitalyc Medspa and the founder of My Aesthetic Training, she seamlessly marries the expertise of a practitioner of medicine with that of a multi-site business operator. Siemens's journey into aesthetic medicine commenced as an operating room nurse specializing in facial plastic surgery. Through her diverse patient interactions, Taylor has honed a profound understanding of the aging process, fueling her skillset in crafting comprehensive, multi-modality treatment solutions that align seamlessly with patients' aesthetic objectives.
Key:




