AI is everywhere in healthcare — from drafting patient emails to writing contracts and even planning staff policies. But here’s the problem: AI use in healthcare comes with hidden legal risks, and the rules are changing fast as we approach 2026. One wrong prompt could expose patient data, violate HIPAA, or create a compliance headache that costs thousands.

Most clinic owners, medspa operators, and telehealth startups don’t realize how much legal exposure they create when they casually copy and paste sensitive information into AI. Regulators are paying attention, and lawsuits are already starting to land. The good news? You don’t need to stop using AI. You just need a framework that keeps you legally safe while still benefiting from everything ChatGPT can do.

In this episode of The David Holt Show, healthcare business attorney David Holt breaks down 10 ChatGPT hacks to be legally safe in 2026. These aren’t abstract theories — they’re practical steps his law firm uses every single day when working with clinics. You’ll see exactly how to future-proof your AI use so you can stay compliant, secure, and efficient while avoiding the traps that sink careless owners.

Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll learn:

- Why HIPAA compliance is only the beginning when it comes to AI safety.
- The biggest mistakes clinic staff make when feeding data into ChatGPT — and how to train them to avoid it.
- How to use AI for contracts and business documents without ending up with costly errors or unenforceable agreements.
- Simple data security policies that protect both your patients and your reputation.
- The three types of AI use cases that regulators are already flagging.

David also shares how his clients are using AI safely to:

- Save hours on HR and compliance documents.
- Generate accurate marketing copy without crossing legal lines.
- Boost patient communication while protecting sensitive information.

By the end of this episode, you’ll walk away with 10 clear hacks you can implement right now to secure your clinic’s future. Whether you’re new to AI or already experimenting with Gemini, this guide will help you stay one step ahead of the law in 2026.

Don’t gamble with your license, your revenue, or your reputation. Learn how to use Gemini the smart way — legally safe, future-proof, and designed for real healthcare businesses.

The MSO model is one of the most powerful — and misunderstood — tools in healthcare business law. Short for Management Services Organization, the MSO structure allows healthcare providers to separate clinical operations from business management, protecting compliance while creating scalable growth opportunities. Yet most clinic owners either don’t understand how it works, or they try to set it up incorrectly and end up with major legal exposure.

In this episode of The David Holt Show, attorney David Holt explains exactly how the MSO model helps healthcare businesses. Whether you run a medspa, telehealth startup, or large clinic, you’ll see how this structure can safeguard compliance, attract investors, and give you the freedom to focus on patient care while your business scales.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• What an MSO actually is and why it matters for healthcare businesses.
• The compliance advantage — how an MSO separates medical risk from business operations.
• The growth advantage — how MSOs make it easier to bring on partners, scale locations, and attract capital.
• The practical steps to set up an MSO without running afoul of corporate practice of medicine laws.

Instead of drowning in legal jargon, David breaks the MSO model down in plain English, with real-world examples from clinics that have grown successfully using this exact framework.

By the end of the episode, you’ll know whether the MSO model is right for your business — and if it is, how to set it up the right way the first time.

Opening and scaling a medical spa is exciting—but without the right contracts and compliance measures in place, it can also be risky. In this episode of The David Holt Show, host David Holt dives into the biggest med spa legal issues that can derail a business before it ever gets off the ground. With practical examples and real client stories, this episode is a must-listen for entrepreneurs who want to protect themselves while growing their business.

The truth is, the riskiest day in your med spa isn’t the day you open—it’s the day you see your first patient without the right contracts in place. That single mistake can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and yet it’s one of the most common compliance errors med spa owners make. David Holt breaks down exactly how to avoid those pitfalls by focusing on airtight medical director agreements, thoughtful entity formation, and the proper legal guardrails that support growth.

One major theme explored in this episode is entity formation. Many new owners are tempted to start signing contracts in their personal name before their LLC or professional corporation is set up. David shares why that shortcut creates almost unlimited personal liability—risking your savings, your car, your home, and everything else you’ve worked hard to build. By forming the correct entity up front, you build the shield your business needs to grow safely.

Trademark law is another hidden danger for med spas. Using a brand name that infringes on someone else’s trademark, even unintentionally, can force a complete rebrand. David explains how a one-minute name check before filing your entity paperwork can save you the pain of lawsuits, forced rebranding, and costly settlements. These practical stories bring the legal world to life and show how easily avoidable mistakes can snowball into major problems.

The episode also goes deep into medical director agreements. In states like California, strict corporate practice of medicine rules mean that physicians must own at least 51% of a medical practice. For non-physician entrepreneurs, that creates challenges around control and ownership. David outlines how to structure agreements that keep responsibility clear, protect everyone involved, and prevent finger-pointing when complications arise. Clear, written agreements ensure that compliance with HIPAA, OSHA, and infection control is assigned and enforced, instead of assumed.

Finally, David turns to the contracts that govern staff and vendors. From employment agreements that define pay structures, to equipment leases with hidden clauses, to restrictive vendor contracts—these documents can make or break a med spa. By treating contracts as growth guardrails instead of just paperwork, owners position themselves to scale confidently instead of stumbling into preventable crises.

Whether you’re opening your first med spa or scaling your tenth, this episode gives you the practical playbook for success. Med spa legal issues, contracts, compliance, scaling, entity formation, and medical director agreements are the foundations of sustainable growth. Listen as David Holt pulls back the curtain on the mistakes that cost owners thousands and shares the proven legal strategies that keep businesses protected and profitable.

Starting a healthcare business is exciting — but it’s also risky if you don’t hit the right legal milestones in your first year of business. Most new clinic and medspa owners focus only on marketing and growth, and they leave the law as an afterthought.

That’s where businesses run into fines, lawsuits, and even forced shutdowns. In this episode of The David Holt Show, healthcare business law expert David Holt walks you through the three essential legal milestones every healthcare entrepreneur must secure in their first 12 months.

If you’re opening a medspa, telehealth startup, residential care facility, or clinic, these three milestones will save you from the costly mistakes most owners don’t see coming. You’ll learn the exact steps to protect your license, structure your entity properly, and stay compliant with regulations specific to healthcare.

Here’s what you’ll get inside this episode:

• The entity formation milestone — why setting up your business the right way from day one determines whether your personal assets stay safe if something goes wrong.
• The compliance milestone — the overlooked policies and procedures you need in writing to avoid HIPAA violations, board complaints, or patient trust issues.
• The contracts milestone — how to build airtight agreements with partners, staff, and vendors so you don’t end up trapped in costly disputes.

David explains each milestone with plain language and practical examples from the hundreds of clinics he’s advised. Instead of drowning in legal jargon, you’ll leave with a step-by-step roadmap for protecting your business, your license, and your income.

The reality is, skipping these legal milestones can cost six figures or more. But hitting them in your first year sets you up for long-term growth, investor confidence, and peace of mind as you scale.

This episode is for new healthcare entrepreneurs, medspa founders, telehealth startups, and any provider thinking of launching a private practice. If you want to grow without legal nightmares holding you back, this is the episode to start with.

Listen now, and don’t let your first year be your riskiest year.

0:00 – The truth about growth advice
0:42 – A med spa’s costly mistake
1:36 – Picking the right entity type
2:30 – What they did right
3:10 – The compliance foundation
4:39 – HIPAA and employee risk
5:24 – Why small clinics are targets
6:07 – The danger of missing policies
6:50 – Contracts that can crush you
9:21 – Three milestones for success

In this episode of The David Holt Show, host David Holt sits down to dive deep into the legal landmines of opening and scaling a med spa. If you’ve ever thought about starting a med spa, or you’re currently running one, this conversation is packed with real-world lessons that could save your business. Keywords like starting a med spa and starting a med spa legally are at the heart of this discussion, and if you don’t take them seriously, the risks could cost you everything.

From jealous competitors firing off complaints to the medical board, to patients turning into whistleblowers, to staff misclassification errors, David explores why starting a med spa isn’t just about offering Botox and IVs. It’s about navigating state-specific laws, setting up the right ownership structure, documenting everything, and supervising your staff correctly.

The episode kicks off with a shocking story: a clinic that opened in a luxury building, only to receive a cease-and-desist three months later because a competitor reported them. David unpacks how something so preventable spiraled into a legal nightmare.

Listeners will learn the three most common sources of board complaints:
- Misclassified staff members.
- Upset patients who know the rules better than you think.
- Jealous competitors who leverage the system against you.

David emphasizes that even though med spas operate as cash businesses, they aren’t exempt from regulation. Medical record-keeping, kickback laws, supervision rules, and corporate practice of medicine restrictions all still apply. In fact, the misconception that med spas are “less regulated” is one of the most dangerous assumptions founders make.

To simplify the chaos, David introduces his Ultimate Med Spa Launch Checklist, a resource that compiles everything a new owner needs: ownership rules, licensing requirements, procedure lists, supervision plans, and compliance steps. Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of trial-and-error, founders can follow the checklist to avoid the most common and most costly mistakes.

The episode closes with a warning and an opportunity. Med spas can be incredibly lucrative, but without proper legal foundations, they’re fragile businesses. With the right documentation, supervision, and ownership structure, however, entrepreneurs can thrive in this booming industry.

If you’re considering starting a med spa, this episode is a must-listen. Protect your reputation, safeguard your license, and launch with confidence.

In this episode of The David Holt Show, host David Holt sits down to tackle one of the most misunderstood and risky areas in healthcare business: independent contractor vs. employee classification. If you’re a healthcare entrepreneur, clinic owner, or medical professional, the way you structure your team could decide the future of your business. Misclassification isn’t just a paperwork issue, it can cost you taxes, penalties, lawsuits, and your professional reputation.

The conversation begins with David sharing his own early experiences working on a farm before he became an attorney. Like many new business owners, he once thought classifying everyone as an independent contractor (1099) was a simple and smart way to avoid payroll headaches. But over time, he learned that what seems like an easy solution often backfires in devastating ways. And in healthcare, where oversight and compliance are non-negotiable, the risks are magnified.

Throughout the episode, David explains the multi-factor test, the actual legal framework used by the IRS, Department of Labor, and state boards to decide whether someone is truly an independent contractor or an employee. He breaks down factors like behavioral control, financial control, and contractual intent, showing why simply having a “contractor agreement” isn’t enough to protect you.

Listeners will walk away with clarity on:

• Why misclassification can financially destroy a clinic.
• The myths around independent contractor agreements that too many owners believe.
• How behavioral and financial control are red flags for regulators.
• Why even if both parties want a contractor relationship, the government can still step in.
• The “smart way” top clinics structure roles, contracts, and day-to-day management.

David also shares practical solutions: defining roles clearly, writing airtight contracts, avoiding employee-like behavior in managing contractors, and setting up systems that protect the business. He even outlines a compliance checklist that listeners can apply immediately to safeguard their clinics.

What makes this episode powerful is David’s ability to turn complex legal jargon into straightforward advice. Instead of vague warnings, he gives specific, actionable strategies for staying compliant while scaling a healthcare business. He also teases future episodes, where he’ll dive into even riskier territory; like aesthetics, injectables, and why cash-pay services can be a regulatory minefield.

By the end of this episode, it’s clear: whether you’re hiring your first provider or running a growing clinic, getting contractor vs. employee classification wrong is one of the most expensive mistakes you can make. But with the right knowledge and systems, you can protect your business, your license, and your reputation.

This isn’t just about legal compliance. It’s about building a healthcare business that can scale without fear. For any provider or clinic owner navigating the confusing world of 1099s, W-2s, and labor laws, this episode is a must-listen.

If you're in healthcare and want to prevent lawsuits, compliance issues, or even the risk of clinic shutdowns, you need systems for hiring, documentation, and supervision. In this episode of The David Holt Show, host David Holt breaks down why nearly every legal case he’s reviewed could have been prevented by applying just three systems: hiring, documentation, and supervision. That’s right—hiring, documentation, and supervision are the three pillars that separate clinics that thrive from those that get investigated, fined, or shut down.

Drawing from his experience as a healthcare attorney with an engineering mindset, Holt brings a systems-driven lens to legal risk mitigation. He outlines how weak internal processes often lead to unclear contracts, poor supervision, and ultimately, bad documentation—each of which opens clinics up to devastating lawsuits and disciplinary action. But instead of legal jargon, this episode delivers real-life stories and a practical checklist you can implement today.

From verifying licenses and completing HIPAA training to establishing written supervision protocols and documenting every patient interaction, Holt reveals what every medical clinic should be doing—but often isn’t. These aren’t hypotheticals. He shares examples of real cases where businesses lost everything due to preventable oversights.

A key insight from this episode? While you can always start another business, you can’t get a new name. For licensed professionals, your name is your reputation—and one public disciplinary action can jeopardize everything you've built. That’s why this episode is essential for anyone in healthcare, especially if you operate a clinic, run a med spa, or manage staff who perform medical procedures.

You’ll learn:

- The top 3 issues that lead to legal trouble in healthcare
- Why poor documentation can destroy your defense—even when you're right
- How simple mistakes in supervision can trigger board investigations
- What specific documents and systems you need for compliance
- How AI tools can help streamline documentation and oversight

Whether you’re a nurse practitioner, clinic owner, medical director, or operations manager, this episode arms you with the knowledge and resources you need to stay protected.

And to make things even easier, Holt includes a free downloadable checklist—detailing exactly what you need to have in place to stay compliant and lawsuit-free. It’s based on hundreds of real-world cases and years of experience helping clinics stay out of court.

Hiring a nurse practitioner can be a smart way to grow your clinic—but if you do it wrong, you could face lawsuits, license suspension, or even lose your business. In this episode of The David Holt Show, attorney and healthcare legal strategist David Holt breaks down everything you need to know about how to legally hire a nurse practitioner and avoid misclassification lawsuits. Yes—how to legally hire a nurse practitioner and avoid misclassification lawsuits are topics every clinic owner needs to understand.

Through storytelling and real-world examples, Holt walks viewers through the hidden legal traps of NP hiring, from confusing state supervision laws to job post compliance. He opens with a scenario no business owner wants to face: a letter from the U.S. Department of Labor informing you that your “contractor” has filed a claim for employee status. At that point, it’s too late to fix your paperwork—and everything from back taxes to reputation is on the line.

Holt dives deep into three overlooked areas that cause most of these problems:

• Misclassification of contractors vs. employees
• Supervision vs. collaboration agreements
• Hiring documentation and oversight protocols

Too many clinic owners believe a signed contractor agreement is enough. It’s not. The law evaluates the actual relationship, not just the contract. From whether your staff can set their own hours to how you handle training—every detail matters. And when you cross state lines, especially in telehealth, the risks multiply.

This episode simplifies what can feel like an overwhelming web of legal complexity. Holt outlines the difference between collaboration and supervision agreements, explains how these affect employment classification, and offers practical tools to avoid trouble.
You’ll also get access to a free downloadable checklist designed specifically for legally hiring nurse practitioners.

The checklist includes:

• Required onboarding documents
• How to legally structure oversight without micromanaging
• What to say (and not say) in job postings
• Key differences between contractors and W-2 employees

Whether you're a clinic founder, medical director, or healthcare operations lead, this episode will give you the clarity and confidence to hire correctly—and protect your business before problems arise.

Think choosing a legal structure is hard? Choosing the wrong business partner can be a six-figure mistake.

In this episode of The David Holt Show, we break down the legal and financial landmines hidden in handshake deals, generic partnership agreements, and misunderstood equity splits.

David unpacks real stories of partnerships gone wrong—from silent partners becoming loud legal threats to founders unknowingly giving up control of their companies.
You’ll learn the legal principles that govern ownership in healthcare businesses, how partnership decisions can impact licensing and liability, and the documents every founder needs to protect their business and their sanity. If you’re thinking about bringing on a co-founder, investor, or family member—don’t move forward until you’ve heard this.

Starting a healthcare business? Before you incorporate, listen to this. Healthcare startups face complex decisions around whether to file as an LLC, S-Corp, or Professional Corporation—and one wrong move can mean audits, lawsuits, or worse.

In this episode of The David Holt Show, we break down how legal structure impacts your personal liability, taxes, regulatory compliance, and even investor perception. Whether you're opening a clinic, telehealth company, or wellness business, understanding the right legal framework can be the difference between a thriving company and federal charges.

We walk through the specific risks for healthcare entities, outline how to avoid crossing state lines improperly, and debunk common myths that business owners fall for.