The five rows below carry the operative statutory language verbatim, each quote pulled from the official code. This page is one state from the full state-by-state reference. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.
The five-part test in brief
Whether an ABA practice needs a professional entity is a stack of five questions. The licensing act is the gateway, because an unlicensed profession is generally not a professional service and an ordinary entity governs. The professional-entity statute supplies the form and the ownership rule that applies if that form is used. The scope definition decides whether ABA is actually inside that statute. The corporate-practice doctrine, a separate body of law that often lives in the medical practice act or case law rather than the entity statute, is usually what forces licensed ownership and pushes outside capital into a management company. And the fee-splitting and anti-remuneration rules constrain management-fee economics even where ownership is open. The rows below run those five against this state's actual code, quoting the operative language so the position rests on the statute.
Missouri, provision by provision
Missouri
Ownership openYes. Behavior analysts are licensed by the State Committee of Psychologists under sections 337.300 to 337.345, and no person may practice applied behavior analysis without a license. The existence of that license raises the professional-entity question, but as the next rows show, Missouri's professional-entity statute does not actually reach ABA.
Missouri's professional-entity form is the professional corporation under the Professional Corporation Law; Missouri has no professional-LLC. If that form is used, the corporation may render its professional service only through licensed natural persons, and its shares may be held only by qualified persons who are themselves licensed. But the form is optional, and whether ABA must use it turns on the scope question in the next row.
It does not. A professional service under the Professional Corporation Law must be both a service that a general business corporation may not lawfully render and a service practiced by an enumerated professional. The enumerated list names accountants, attorneys, physicians, psychologists, registered nurses, and physical therapists, among others, but not behavior analysts. A behavior analyst is administered by the State Committee of Psychologists but is not a psychologist: the Licensed Behavior Analyst is a separate credential created by sections 337.300 to 337.345 and merely housed under that committee, so the enumerated psychologist entry does not reach it. And because Missouri recognizes no corporate-practice doctrine, a general business corporation may render licensed healthcare services, so ABA does not satisfy the first condition either. ABA is therefore not a professional service under that law, and an ordinary LLC or corporation governs with open ownership.
Missouri has no corporate-practice-of-medicine doctrine. General business entities may employ or contract with licensed healthcare professionals to render professional services, subject to each profession's own licensing rules. Nothing in Missouri law requires licensed ownership of an ABA practice, so a non-licensee may own a standard LLC or corporation that employs licensed behavior analysts.
No ABA-specific Missouri fee-splitting statute was identified, and the state's fee-splitting and self-referral restrictions are oriented to the medical professions. For an ABA practice the operative remuneration constraints are federal, principally the Medicaid anti-kickback rules, together with payor contract terms and the code of conduct adopted by the State Committee of Psychologists. This row will be updated if a directly applicable provision is confirmed.
Outlook: how this verdict could change
Likelihood of change: Low. Missouri is not among the 2025 ownership-tightening states and no ABA-specific proposal has been identified. The verdict would change only if a new professional-entity ownership or corporate-practice rule were enacted to reach ABA.
What to watch. Missouri professional-entity and healthcare-transaction activity; none currently reaches ABA.
Disruption if it changes: Low. A realistic change would add reporting or clinical-control terms rather than a new entity form.
Where professional advice is essential, not optional
Verbatim statutory text is a starting point, not a conclusion. Statutes are amended, agencies issue rules that fill them in, and courts interpret them, so the corporate-practice and fee-splitting questions in particular often turn on interpretation rather than the words on the page. Use this page to locate the operative provisions and to speak from the source, then confirm the current text against the official code and engage qualified Missouri counsel before acting. The entity verdict is also only one layer of a Missouri practice's obligations, alongside the facility and records rules and the Missouri Medicaid enrollment that discloses the entity and its owners. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.
The provisions quoted here change and are interpreted by agencies and courts. The official Revised Statutes of Missouri and qualified Missouri counsel are the authoritative sources. Neither this page nor any secondary source should be relied on in place of direct verification and professional advice.