Good Faith Exam (GFE) Essential Facts
Almost all aesthetic services provided by med spas are considered ‘practice of medicine’. Med spas must establish the physician-patient relationship and ensure that a med spa patient is a good candidate for the procedures he or she is seeking. This is the purpose of the good faith exam(GFE). Good faith exams go by many names, and, in fact, the term “good faith examination” has been replaced in many states’ laws. It is common to hear the good faith exam referred to as the “initial exam,” “physical exam” or “initial consult.”
Do Med Spa offices need to perform physical examination before a treatment is done?
Furthering this argument from our perspective is to liken our physical exams (GFEs) to acute care telehealth appointments and/or private practice telehealth appointments that are currently standard practice, legitimized furthermore through insurance coverage for these “visits”. During said telehealth visits, “physical exams” are conducted by the MD/PA or NP performing the exam and carrying out the telehealth visit. In other words, if I can currently and legally conduct a telehealth visit and perform a physical exam for a patient that likely has more chronic and/or acute medical conditions than any patient seeking medical spa treatment for an aesthetic procedure, why would a (GFE) telehealth visit not be seen as legitimate and adequate for a medical spa physical exam? As long as the NP is viewing the area of the body and/or asking appropriate questions about said body part to assess the patient and determine that they are a good candidate for treatment, then they are conducting an adequate physical exam according to current telehealth practices.
Do Med Spas Regulated as Medical Practices?
Med Spa offices must follow the same laws and regulations that govern the practice of medicine. If you are operating a Medical Spa, you are held accountable to the same standard of care as they are for their routine medical practice. This means standards of informed consent, good-faith exams, delegation to appropriate supervised health care professionals, patient –physician confidentiality, rules about maintaining medical records as well as responsibility and liability of supervision. Medical Spa procedures are considered prescriptive medical devices and “dangerous drugs” and as such are considered medical procedures. These require a trained and licensed healthcare provider to evaluate patient suitability via a “Good Faith Evaluation”. And the management of a medical spa requires the same oversight (supervision and administration) of medical care as a medical office vis-a-vis licensing rule.
Are you in Violations?
What constitutes a good faith exam?
The good faith exam proceeds in obtaining a patient’s medical history and performing an appropriate examination of the patient and to determine the procedure is safe for patient