Hair Loss News

Hats off to Rep. Frank Hornstein (D-Minneapolis) of Minnesota who has introduced a bill to regulate the operation of hair transplant clinics in his home state of Minnesota.

His bill was first introduced on February 17th, 2007 and is intended to protect the public against unscrupulous operators of hair transplant clinics.

One of its stated purposes is “to ensure there is no “conduct which is likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public.”

The bill presently referred to as “House File 1069”, has many provisions regulating the operation of hair transplant clinics.  

Some of the provisions include the following:

- Hair transplant clinics will have to obtain a license to operate.

- They will have to agree to inspections in order to obtain and keep their license.

- If the owner or manager of the facility is not a licensed physician, a licensed physician must be designated as the agent of the manager or owner to be responsible for the direct supervision of all personnel and services related to hair transplant surgery procedures.

- The name of the designated physician must be submitted to the commissioner.

- The hair transplant clinic must be maintained in a sanitary condition free from hazards.

- The owner or manager of the facility must maintain proper records for each client.

- The records of the procedure must be kept for two years and must be made available for inspection by the commissioner upon request. The records must include the following:

(1) The date of the hair transplant procedure;
(2) A copy of the informed consent signed by the client;
(3) A description of the procedure performed; and
(4) The name of the physician performing the hair transplant procedure.

Hair transplant clinics can lose their license if they engage in advertising which is false, deceptive, or misleading; or engage in unethical conduct or conduct which is likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public, or demonstrate a willful or careless disregard for the health, welfare, or safety of a client by the owner or manager of the facility; or knowingly providing false or misleading information that is directly related to the care of the client.

This is an excellent, welcome and much needed initiative as the field of hair transplantation is largely unregulated.

You can read more about the bill by visiting this link: http://ros.leg.mn/revisor/pages/search_status/status_detail.php?b=House&f=HF1069&ssn=0&y=2007.

If you want to write and congratulate Representative Hornstein his email address is: rep.frank.hornstein@house.mn