Practice management contracts: state of the law
The use of management contracts to create a business relationship between a professional practice, usually a medical practice, and a practice management entity is a longstanding and widespread practice. Businessmen often want to "partner" with, or at least profit from, medical practices. Medical professionals, on the other hand, find themselves consumed with compliance requirements which constantly cascade upon them from regulatory bodies at all levels.
These include new billing forms and documentation requirements, patient confidentiality requirements and the increasing need to compete in a managed care environment where fees are compressed by payors but paperwork increases. At the same time, "miracles of modern medicine" are constantly being produced. From the latest drug to the latest medical instrument, device or procedure, doctors are expected to know it all and to be up to the minute. Patients demand it and if it is not provided, these patients can become plaintiffs in malpractice actions.
It is not surprising, therefore, that practice management companies with their promise of relieving doctors from all but the clinical responsibilities of the medical practice have proliferated. There are a number of large, publicly traded practice management companies such as Phycor and Medpartners, but there are many, many small management companies that provide services to as few as one medical practice. All have one thing in common: a contractual relationship between the medical practice and the management company which describes and delineates the business and legal relationship.
Management companies and their associated contracts are only needed in those states where the prohibition on the corporate practice of a profession does not allow a medical practice to be directly owned by anyone other than medical doctors. Almost half of the states allow a professional practice to be owned by an ordinary business corporation which, in turn, may be owned by laypersons.[1] A few additional states allow limited liability corporations also to be owned by laymen and to practice medicine. New York and New Jersey both clearly uphold and enforce the prohibition against corporate practice of medicine.[2] This article will survey recent decisions in both states that have thrown some light in this area but also have created a clearly conflicting position.
Lawyers, in crafting the contractual relationship between businesses and medical practices in these two states, seek to afford maximum protection to the practice management company, if that is their client, to ensure that the company will not lose the benefit of its time, expertise and investment expended on behalf of the medical practice. On the other hand, such a contractual relationship cannot exert excessive control over the professional practice or the relationship will trespass into the forbidden area of corporate practice of medicine. There has been paucity of case law in this area up until now and very little in the way of other legal guidelines. In the last couple of years, however, there have been a half dozen decisions and, as well, there have been some regulatory rulings in this area of business.
child support enforcement We're a law firm that focuses exclusively on the enforcement of child and spousal support orders, Law office is specialist in child support collections and orders.
personal injury lawyer denver The law firm of Fuicelli & Lee P.C. is a dedicated team of injury law attorneys ready to serve clients seeking legal representation for personal injury cases including Denver accident lawyers, Denver personal injury lawyers, Denver car accident lawyer, and Denver auto accident lawyer.
Burien personal injury lawyers Premier Law Group, PLLC is a Seattle & Bellevue, Washington based injury law firm that provides legal services for personal injury, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, catastrophic injuries, construction injuries, pedestrian collisions and wrongful death & employment issues related lawsuits. Call: 888.852.0068
personal injury lawyer boulder If you are in need of a personal injury lawyer in Boulder or Fort Collins, Colorado, contact Tenge Law Firm. Attorney J. Todd Tenge has over 20 years of combined experience in many areas of litigation.
denver injury lawyer Get the Financial Recovery You Need to Move Forward: The Injury and Recovery Law Center serves personal injury victims involved in car accidents, motorcycle accidents, trucking accidents, insurance disputes, wrongful death cases and more.
personal injury attorney denver Denver Personal Injury Attorney | FREE Consultations | Contingency Fees | Car Accidents