KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two Kansas regulatory bodies issued a joint statement Wednesday after receiving complaints about practices at intravenous therapy clinics that have opened across the state.
In the joint statement, the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts and the Board of Pharmacy reiterated that “IV therapy is a medical practice requiring licensed professionals.”
LINK | Read the full joint statement
Retail IV therapy clinics offer pre-selected IV “cocktails” that mix a combination of saline, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and sometimes prescription medications. In some instances, the consumer is presented with a menu of different treatment options.
The therapy is marketed for the treatment of dehydration, migraines, hangovers, nausea, athletic recovery, appetite regulation and inflammation support, among others.
Regulators say they have received complaints about “out-of-scope practices, delegation of medical treatments to unqualified individuals, unauthorized compounding and administration of prescription medications and other drugs, and the unlicensed practice of the healing arts and pharmacy.”
In the statement, regulators say the person with “prescriptive authority” is required to evaluate and diagnose the patient before making treatment recommendations. A prescription or order for medication is required before the prescriptive authority orders the IV therapy.
“Offering and providing IV therapy indisputably constitutes the practice of healing arts,” the regulators said in their statement. “Only a person with prescriptive authority may diagnose a patient, assess the patient’s symptoms, and make the decision to provide medication, by injection or otherwise, to a patient.”
Health regulators in Ohio issued a similar joint statement regarding retail IV therapy in May 2025.
The Kansas regulators say that while their statement is not a binding legal document, “it is designed as a warning so that providers contemplating IV therapy and individuals seeking IV therapy are aware of potential pitfalls in these undertakings.”
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