Compliance is not a legal checkbox — it is a capital protection mechanism. A single HIPAA breach, an uninvestigated OSHA citation, or an improperly structured ownership entity can unwind a transaction, invalidate an acquisition loan, or trigger personal liability. Lumina maps the full Arizona compliance landscape before capital is deployed.
Initialize Practice Equity AssessmentArizona optometry practice owners operate at the intersection of four distinct regulatory frameworks — state licensure, federal healthcare law, employment law, and facility regulation. Lumina Medical Capital integrates compliance due diligence into every transaction structure, ensuring the practice you acquire or sell carries no undisclosed regulatory liability.
The Arizona Revised Statutes Chapter 16 governs optometry licensure, scope of practice, and professional conduct. All Arizona ODs must hold a current AZBOR license with therapeutic pharmaceutical agent (TPA) certification to perform the medical-grade services that drive acquisition multiples. License verification is a day-one due diligence task.
Healthcare practices are subject to HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule obligations enforced by HHS OCR. A practice undergoing acquisition must demonstrate: current Notice of Privacy Practices, signed Business Associate Agreements with all vendors, documented Security Risk Assessment (SRA), and a defined Incident Response Plan.
Optometry practices are subject to OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) for contact lens handling and ophthalmic procedures, Hazard Communication Standard for chemical inventory, and Eye & Face Protection standards. An unresolved OSHA citation discovered during acquisition due diligence can trigger purchase price renegotiation or escrow holdback.
Arizona's Corporate Practice of Medicine doctrine — as modified by HB 2026 — governs who may own optometry practice entities. Non-OD ownership requires a properly documented PC/MSO/MSA structure with a licensed OD maintaining clinical authority. Any ownership structure that predates HB 2026 or lacks current legal documentation poses acquisition risk.
Every Lumina-structured acquisition includes a compliance due diligence review. These are the ten non-negotiable verification points before any capital is committed.
Non-compete agreements in Arizona optometry transactions are enforceable — but only within specific statutory boundaries. A non-compete that is too broad is no protection at all.
Arizona courts enforce non-competes with geographic restrictions tied to the actual patient draw area of the practice — typically a 5–15 mile radius in dense urban markets like Scottsdale and Phoenix, and 10–20 miles in suburban and exurban markets. Statewide restrictions are rarely enforced. The restriction should map to verifiable patient ZIP code data from the selling practice.
Arizona courts have upheld non-compete durations of 2–5 years in healthcare practice transactions. Two years is the industry standard for optometry acquisitions; three years is common in earnout transactions where the seller continues to practice through the transition period. Duration beyond five years faces meaningful enforceability risk.
A non-compete restricting all optometry practice is generally enforceable in a sale-of-business context (vs. employment context where stricter scrutiny applies). Restrictions should be drafted to cover the specific services that generated the acquired practice's revenue — medical eyecare, contact lens fitting, optical dispensing — not all healthcare services.
Arizona courts apply the blue-pencil doctrine — modifying rather than voiding overbroad non-competes. This means a court will reduce an unreasonable restriction to what is enforceable rather than invalidating it entirely. Structure the non-compete defensively: begin at the broadest reasonable terms, anticipating judicial modification rather than drafting to the extreme.
Compliance architecture connects directly to ownership structure. Explore the full Arizona HB 2026 and CPOM framework that governs who may legally own an optometry practice entity in Maricopa County.
Explore Ownership Laws →A practice with clean compliance documentation commands a higher multiple, closes faster, and carries less escrow holdback. Lumina integrates regulatory due diligence into every capital deployment — before the wire, not after.
Initialize Practice Equity Assessment