Which regenerative service should my practice add first?

Written by Oscar Tellez, founder of Regen Med Academy. Oscar is not a clinician. This post is education for licensed providers and is not medical advice. Last updated October 22, 2026.

The first regenerative medicine service to add is the one that fits the patients you already see, sits inside your license, and asks for the least new equipment, staff time and explaining. No single service is the right first choice for every practice, and no service makes the most money for every clinic. This post gives you five questions to put to each service on your list, and a simple way to decide between them.

What regenerative medicine services make the most money for a clinic?

Providers type that exact question into a search bar, so it deserves a plain answer. There is no honest answer that holds for every clinic, and we will not give you a number or a ranking.

Why not? What a service brings in depends on things only you can see. It depends on who your patients are, what you charge, what your supplies and staff cost, and how many hours you can give it. A figure from another practice tells you about that practice and very little about yours.

So be careful with anyone who does hand you a number. Ask where it came from, whose practice it describes, and whether the person quoting it sells the equipment. I have spent ten years in this field, and I still will not give a provider that number, because it would be a guess.

A more useful question is which service fits your practice well enough that you can do it right. The rest of this post is built around that question.

Which regenerative medicine services for a clinic are on the list?

Before you compare anything, define the terms. The phrase “regenerative medicine” names a whole field, and it covers very different services. For a first service, the choices fall into four groups.

• The first group is PRP injections. PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma, which is prepared in the office from the patient’s own blood.
• The second group is aesthetic injectables, which means FDA-approved toxins and dermal fillers, along with plasma gel made from the patient’s own plasma.
• The third group is adipose services. Adipose is the medical word for fat, and these services start with collecting a patient’s own fat tissue. One version sends that tissue to an outside laboratory for banking.
• The fourth group is donor products, such as exosomes and Wharton’s jelly, which come from a manufacturer and not from the patient.

That fourth group is on the list only so we can take it off, for reasons that get their own section below.

Which patients do I already see every week?

This is the first of the five questions, and it comes first for a reason. The people already in your chairs know you, and you already know what they come in for. You do not have to find a new kind of patient to begin.

Let’s say you run an orthopedic, sports or pain practice. Your patients come in with joint, tendon and back complaints, so PRP for musculoskeletal injuries is likely to be on your list. That fit comes with a duty, which is knowing what the evidence says before a patient asks you.

So what does it say? Here is the line from the American College of Rheumatology’s 2026 update: “In people with knee and hip OA, we strongly recommend against PRP treatment.” OA is short for osteoarthritis.

FDA is just as plain about the wider field. On a page for patients that it last updated in April 2024, it says, “Regenerative medicine therapies have not been approved for the treatment of any orthopedic condition, such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, disc disease, tennis elbow, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain.”

Does that take PRP off an orthopedic list? No, but it changes the question you ask yourself. Can you sit across from your own patient, say those two things out loud, and still explain the service in an honest way? If you cannot, it is not your first service.

The guideline speaks to knee and hip OA. For the other problems you see, check what has been published, and find out where that evidence stops.

Now let’s say you run a dermatology practice or a med spa. Your patients already ask about skin, lines and hair, so aesthetic injectables and PRP for aesthetics will lead your list instead. A family practice will see a mix, and the tally in our roadmap for adding a cash-pay service is a good way to sort it.

A fit is not a promise. Nobody can tell you that your patients will ask for a service or pay for it, and we will not pretend to.

What does my license let me perform?

The second question can end the discussion for a service on the spot. What you may perform is set by your own state license and board. A Certificate of Completion does not extend it.

When a doctor calls me, the first thing they ask is, are stem cells legal or illegal? It is the right kind of question, but it is too wide to answer. Legal for which product, for which use, under which license, and in which state?

Break it into those four parts for every service on your list. The federal rules come first, because state law does not override them. Then your state and your board decide what your license may do, what you may hand to staff, and who must supervise.

It is your responsibility to confirm the modality is legal in your state for your license. Our reading of each state, with its sources and the date we checked, is on the rules by state page. It is a starting point, not legal advice, and the authority on your own scope is your licensing board, not us.

Cross off every service that fails this question before you go on. There is no reason to price equipment for a procedure you may not perform.

What equipment and setup does each service need?

The third question is about what you would have to buy, build or change. The service that needs the least new setup is the easiest one to begin with, and it is also the easiest one to pause.

• PRP needs a system that prepares it, blood draw supplies and a room. Some musculoskeletal injections are done with ultrasound guidance, which is a second piece of equipment and a second skill.
• Approved toxins and fillers need no machine. You buy FDA-approved products from authorized sources, and you store and handle them the way their labels say.
• Plasma gel starts from the patient’s own plasma, so it needs the blood draw and the plasma setup as well.
• Adipose collection needs a legally marketed, FDA-cleared liposuction system, used inside its cleared indications and labeling. It also needs a room set up for a procedure.
• Banking adds an outside laboratory, shipping and a paper trail. Our post on what adipose banking is walks through it. You choose the laboratory, and our banking course does not steer you to one.

Do not buy anything on this list yet. Train first, because you will know what to ask a seller once you have done the work with your own hands. Our post on what you need to offer PRP injections shows how long one service’s list can get.

What is the FDA status of each service, and how much will I have to explain?

The fourth question is easy to skip. Every service has an FDA status, and you will have to explain that status to your patients and your staff, and stay inside it in your marketing. Some take one sentence to explain, and some take a page.

Start with approved products used on their labels. FDA describes dermal fillers as medical devices it has approved for specific uses. Toxins are FDA-approved prescription drugs, and each product’s approved uses are printed on its own label, which you can read on DailyMed. When you use an approved product for an approved use, the label does most of the explaining for you.

PRP takes more words. On FDA’s device list, a PRP system is a platelet and plasma separator for bone graft handling. In plain words, the devices are FDA cleared for use with bone graft material, and injecting PRP is an off-label use. Our post on whether PRP is FDA approved has the full status.

Plasma gel sits in the same place. It is not an FDA-approved dermal filler, and its use is off-label. The same word applies when a toxin or a filler is used outside its label, and your consent form should say so.

Adipose is the one to read slowly. FDA’s guidance on minimal manipulation and homologous use counts processing that breaks fat tissue down to isolate its cells as generally more than minimal manipulation. It also counts using fat tissue for musculoskeletal conditions, such as arthritis or tendonitis, as generally not a homologous use.

What does that mean for your choice? Mechanical processing avoids enzymatic digestion, but that does not settle the question by itself. Homologous use and the device’s cleared indication still apply. So read the guidance, and take your plan to your own attorney, before adipose goes to the top of your list.

Banking is a different kind of service. Banking is preservation, not treatment.

Why are donor products not a first service?

Donor products get their own section because the answer is different from every other group on the list. FDA’s consumer alert, last updated in April 2024, says, “There are currently no FDA-approved exosome products.” The same alert says, “Exosome products intended to treat diseases or conditions in humans require FDA approval.”

No Wharton’s jelly product is FDA approved either. FDA keeps a live list of approved cellular and gene therapy products. When we checked it on October 5, 2026, no exosome product and no Wharton’s jelly product was on it.

A rep may still tell you a product is ready for your clinic. This is what I say about that: “Everyone says they have the best exosomes. According to who?”

So we approach these products as a subject to learn, and we do not present them as a service to add. Our post on whether exosome products are legal to use in a clinic gives the direct answer. Our exosome and Wharton’s jelly online courses are education only, and both are open as a wait list.

How much staff and time does each service take?

The fifth question is about people and hours, and it is easy to guess low on both.

Start with the tasks, and ask who draws the blood, who prepares the material and who assists in the room. Each task is its own scope question, so the answer comes from your board and not from the person who sold you the system.

Then count the time, because a new service adds a longer consult, the procedure itself and a follow-up call. Which hours in your week will those come out of, and what gives way to make room?

Count the training time too. Providers tell us they cannot leave the practice for days, and that is a real limit. In that case an instructor can come to your practice and train you with your own staff. A training may be one day, two days, or more, scoped to what you need.

A service that needs a procedure room and extra hands will ask more of a small team than one that starts with a blood draw. Neither one is wrong, but you need to know which one your team can carry this year.

How do I decide between two or three services?

The simple way is to write each service across the top of a page and put the five questions down the side. Then answer each one with a yes or a no.

1. Do the patients you already see ask about it?
2. Has your board confirmed it is inside your license in your state?
3. Can you set it up with the room and equipment you have, or could add without strain?
4. Can you explain its status in two plain sentences, and market it without a promise?
5. Do you have the staff and the hours for it?

A service with five yes answers is your first service. If two services get five, pick the one with less new setup. If none gets five, fix the no answers first, or wait.

Let’s say you run a sports medicine practice with one physician and one PA. PRP gets a yes on patients, and your board confirms scope for both of you. You already own an ultrasound, and you can say “cleared device, off-label use” without a script. Aesthetic injectables get a no on question one, because nobody in your waiting room asks about them.

In that case the page has made the choice for you, and nobody had to quote you an income number. So it all goes back to fit.

What should take a service off my list?

A few answers should end the discussion, at least for now. I call this the soil before the seed, because the basics come before any injection.

• Your board says the procedure is outside your scope, or will not give you a clear answer.
• Your malpractice carrier has not told you in writing where you stand.
• You cannot describe the service without a claim about what it will do.
• A seller cannot show you the clearance for a device, or the approval for a product.
• The product needs FDA approval and does not have it.

None of these is forever. A carrier can answer, a board can clarify, and a rule can change. But a service with one of these marks against it is not the one to start with.

Where does Regen Med Academy fit in this choice?

We teach some of the services on this list, and we want you to choose before you train, not after. We are an education company, and education is the only thing we sell.

Our hands-on courses cover PRP for musculoskeletal injuries, at an introduction level and an advanced level. On the aesthetic side, we teach PRP for aesthetics and hair loss, and bio-fillers with plasma gel.

We also teach adipose and MFAT tissue harvesting, and Adipose Collection for Stem Cell Banking. Toxin training is available on request, and you can see all courses on one page.

All of it is private training. Coming to an instructor’s location starts at $5,000, and having an instructor come to your practice starts at $10,000, with travel and lodging inside the quote. Every engagement is quoted.

We also review your practice and give you a written practice roadmap. We include that review, and you keep what we find whether you train with us or not. If you are stuck between two services, that review is a reasonable place to start.

Here is what we will not tell you. We will not tell you which service earns the most, and we will not tell you a course makes you a specialist. A day or a weekend does not make a specialist. We do not offer CME, and your scope is your board’s call.

Frequently asked questions

Is PRP always the right first regenerative service?

No. PRP starts with a blood draw, so it asks for less setup than a fat collection. It still has to pass the other four questions. If your patients do not ask about it, or your board says it is outside your scope, it is not your first regenerative service, no matter how common it is elsewhere.

Can exosomes or Wharton’s jelly be my first service?

No. FDA’s consumer alert says there are currently no FDA-approved exosome products, and no Wharton’s jelly product was on FDA’s approved list when we checked it on October 5, 2026. State law does not change that, so learn the science and the rules first. We keep a wait list for our exosome course and our Wharton’s jelly course.

Should I add two services at the same time?

We would not. Each service brings its own consent form, its own supplies, its own training and its own status to explain. When two start together, your staff has to learn both at once, and you cannot tell which one is causing a problem. Add one, let it settle, and then run the five questions again.

Do I need to choose a service before I contact you?

No. You can come to us with two or three services in mind and no decision yet. We cannot answer the scope question for you, because your board does that. What we can do is review your practice and write up what we find, and you keep that roadmap whether you train with us or not.

What if I already bought the equipment?

Then question three is answered, and the other four still stand. Check your scope with your board, read the clearance for the exact system you own, and train before the first patient. Owning a machine is not a reason to offer a service your patients do not ask about. We are not tied to any vendor, so bring the system you already own.

Does the answer change if I own the practice but will not perform the procedure?

The five questions stay the same, but you answer them for the person who will do the work. It is that person’s license, scope and hours that count. What they may perform is set by their own state license and board. How a practice must be owned and supervised is a question for your attorney in your own state.

Key takeaways

• No service makes the most money for every clinic, and a number from another practice does not describe yours.
• Start with the patients you already see, and know what the evidence and FDA say before they ask.
• Cross off anything outside your license. Your board decides that, and a certificate does not change it.
• Compare the setup, because a blood draw, an approved product and a procedure room each ask something different of you.
• Know each status: approved products are used on-label, PRP and plasma gel are off-label, adipose falls under FDA’s guidance, and donor products are for education only.
• Count your staff and your hours before you commit.
• Put the five questions on one page, and add the service that gets five yes answers.

RMA disclosure

Regenerative Medicine Academy (RMA) is an education company. We train licensed providers in some of the techniques this post covers. This post is education only. It is not medical, legal, business, tax or financial advice.

It is your responsibility to confirm the modality is legal in your state for your license. Do that before you book.

Your next step

Put your two or three services through the five questions this week, and take question two to your board. Once you have picked, our roadmap for adding a cash-pay procedure lays out the steps in order. If you want to start with the rules, get the free FDA course. When you are ready to train, request a date now.