Who Can Own a Veterinary Practice in Maryland?
Maryland lets a non-veterinarian own a veterinary practice, but only inside a condition the practice act writes as an exception to a prohibition.
Agriculture §2-313 bars a person from owning, operating, or managing a veterinary office or hospital unless the person is a licensed veterinarian, or the office is under a licensed and registered veterinarian's direct supervision and control and a licensed or registered veterinarian is employed in it.
The hospital itself must hold a Board license issued to its owner.
Verify before you rely on this
At a glance
A licensed veterinarian may own outright; a person who is not a veterinarian may own, maintain, conduct, operate, or manage a veterinary office or hospital only while it is under the direct supervision and control of a licensed and registered veterinarian and a licensed or registered veterinarian is employed in it.
The owner does not have to be a veterinarian; what the text requires instead is that the office or hospital be under the direct supervision and control of a licensed and registered veterinarian, with a licensed or registered veterinarian employed in it.
Yes — every veterinary hospital must be licensed by the Board, and the license is applied for and issued to the owner of the hospital; the license application names the veterinarian responsible for the hospital.
Not reached in the sources read — the research notes the practice act itself is dispositive and explicit, so no professional-corporation-act layer was read for Maryland.
Not stated in the sources read.
The ownership condition sits among the practice act's prohibited acts; on the licensing side, the Board may reject a hospital-license application or suspend or revoke the license for failure to maintain the facility properly.
Not stated in the sources read.
Lay ownership allowed behind a facility permit — An operative sentence in the statute or rule says so.
Maryland Code, Agriculture Article — the Veterinary Practice Act's prohibited-acts and hospital-license sections (§2-313, §2-304.1), with COMAR 15.14 supplying the hospital-license rules
Secondary summaries of veterinary practice ownership circulate national counts — "roughly 15 states permit outright", "about 18 restrict" — that a statute-by-statute read does not support. What appears above is Maryland's own practice act — Agriculture §2-313 and §2-304.1 — and the COMAR 15.14 hospital-license rules, as read in September 2026, described by the mechanism its text actually uses rather than by a restricted-or-permitted label.
The two doors: veterinarian ownership, or the supervision condition
This is the operative sentence, and it is written as a prohibition with an escape hatch.
It names five verbs — own, maintain, conduct, operate, or manage — so it reaches the person running the practice as well as the person holding title, and it covers a veterinary office, a veterinary dental office, a veterinary hospital, and a dog, cat, or animal hospital.
For a licensed veterinarian, the first branch is the whole answer.
For an associate or investor without a Maryland veterinary license, the second branch is the only stated exit: the office must be under the direct supervision and control of a licensed and registered veterinarian, and a licensed or registered veterinarian must be employed in it.
Both parts of that second branch have to hold at once.
“Own, maintain, conduct, operate, or manage a veterinary office, veterinary dental office, veterinary hospital, or a dog, cat, or animal hospital, unless: 1. The person is a licensed veterinarian; or 2. The office or hospital is under the direct supervision and control of a licensed and registered veterinarian and a licensed or registered veterinarian is employed in the office or hospital.”
Direct supervision and control by an employed veterinarian
The condition is not a passive figurehead role.
The statutory text requires the facility to be under the direct supervision and control of a licensed and registered veterinarian and requires a licensed or registered veterinarian to be employed in the office or hospital.
The hospital-license chapter then defines the responsible veterinarian who provides direct supervision and control as one who is regularly present — more than 50% of the time the facility is open for business, or at least 20 hours per week for a facility open more than 40 hours per week.
For a non-veterinarian owner, this is the role the entire arrangement rests on, and the hospital-license application must carry the printed name and signature of the veterinarian responsible for the hospital.
“"Responsible veterinarian" means a veterinarian who: (a) Is licensed and registered by the Board; (b) Provides direct supervision and control of a licensed veterinary facility; and (c) Is regularly present at the facility: (i) More than 50% of the time the facility is open for business; or (ii) At least 20 hours per week if the facility is open for business more than 40 hours per week.”
The hospital license, issued to the owner
Maryland's facility layer is the veterinary hospital license.
The statute requires every veterinary hospital to be licensed by the Board and directs that the license be applied for and issued to the owner of the hospital — a licensing system that contemplates an owner as a distinct role without requiring that owner to be a veterinarian.
The hospital-license chapter's definitions agree: a hospital license is what permits a person to own and operate a veterinary hospital or mobile veterinary clinic, and 'owner' means the person responsible for maintaining the hospital properly, with a person who leases a veterinary practice considered the owner for the chapter's purposes.
Neither the statute nor the regulation, as read, requires the owner to be a veterinarian.
“Every veterinary hospital shall be licensed by the Board. The Board shall set the annual license fee in accordance with § 2-303(b) of this subtitle. The license shall be applied for and issued to the owner of the hospital.”
A permission written inside the prohibited-acts list
Ownership appears in §2-313 as one item in a list of prohibited acts, immediately after the requirement to display a license and registration at the place of practice and before the advertising rules — a reader scanning the prohibitions sees non-veterinarian ownership on a list of things a person may not do, and the permission only appears at the end of the unless clause.
That drafting is why the research describes Maryland's permission as a carve-out to a prohibition rather than an affirmative grant, and why it pairs the supervision sentence with the hospital-license section: the facility-permit-plus-responsible-veterinarian layer exists, but the operative ownership condition is the §2-313 sentence itself.
No amendment date is shown on the sources read — the combined Practice Act and COMAR booklet is an undated compilation.
What This Page Does — and Doesn’t — Cover
This page describes how Maryland’s own text is written — Maryland Code, Agriculture Article — the Veterinary Practice Act's prohibited-acts and hospital-license sections (§2-313, §2-304.1), with COMAR 15.14 supplying the hospital-license rules as read for this series, current as of September 2026. It describes the mechanism the text uses, not a verdict on any particular practice, entity or transaction, and it is not a cleared structure for a deal.
It does not cover tax treatment, licensure, premises standards beyond any permit named above, or the terms of a specific purchase agreement. Ownership rules move through legislatures, board rulemaking and professional-entity statutes. Before buying, selling, or restructuring a practice, have the structure reviewed by an attorney who handles veterinary transactions in Maryland.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a non-veterinarian own a veterinary practice in Maryland?
Yes, on stated conditions.
The practice act prohibits a person from owning, maintaining, conducting, operating, or managing a veterinary office or hospital unless the person is a licensed veterinarian, or the office or hospital is under the direct supervision and control of a licensed and registered veterinarian and a licensed or registered veterinarian is employed in it.
A non-veterinarian ownership interest is lawful inside that second branch.
Have any proposed structure reviewed by an attorney who handles veterinary transactions in Maryland.
Does Maryland require a veterinary facility license?
Yes.
Every veterinary hospital must be licensed by the Board, and the license is applied for and issued to the owner of the hospital.
The hospital-license chapter defines that license as one which permits a person to own and operate a veterinary hospital or mobile veterinary clinic, and the application must carry the printed name and signature of the veterinarian responsible for the hospital.
Confirm current licensing requirements with the Board or a Maryland attorney before relying on this page.
What happens to a non-veterinarian owner if the supervising veterinarian leaves?
The permission is written as a continuing condition, not a one-time test.
The text makes it unlawful to own, maintain, conduct, operate, or manage the office or hospital unless it is under a licensed and registered veterinarian's direct supervision and control and a licensed or registered veterinarian is employed there — so if that veterinarian departs, the arrangement no longer sits inside either branch of the statute.
Replacement needs to be treated as urgent, and the specifics are fact-specific; consult a Maryland attorney.
Does Maryland's professional-corporation law change the answer?
The sources read for this page do not reach Maryland's professional-corporation statute — the research reaches its classification on the practice act alone, which it reads as dispositive and explicit.
The ownership provision's text speaks of 'a person' and states no entity-form condition.
If you are structuring the practice as a professional corporation or LLC, the entity-layer rules still need to be checked for your specific structure.
Have counsel confirm both layers before you sign anything.
Can a management company operate a Maryland veterinary hospital?
That question lands inside the provision itself, because its verbs — own, maintain, conduct, operate, or manage — reach the party running the practice, not only the party holding title.
The only stated exits are the two branches: a licensed-veterinarian owner, or the supervision-and-employment condition.
Whether a particular management-services agreement fits inside those branches depends entirely on how it is drafted and paid, which this page cannot answer.
Have the agreement reviewed by a Maryland attorney before signing.
More Maryland Practice-Ownership Resources
Sourced from Maryland’s own practice act, board rules and professional-entity statute (see the citations above). Verified September 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice — have any structure reviewed by an attorney in Maryland.