Management Services Organization (MSO) Arrangements

MSOs: Bridging Business and Medicine

Many entrepreneurial-minded individuals wonder how they can launch a new business that delivers professional healthcare services if they don’t have the precise license their state requires for practice ownership. The answer: a management services organization (MSO).

A management services organization performs business-related functions for the practice that are not medical services. Thus, through a properly formed MSO, even an unlicensed individual can enjoy the benefits of business ownership without violating state laws. Meanwhile, a licensed MSO owner or member can also render clinical services as an employee or contractor of the practice.

Our MSO Services

Our attorneys have a wealth of experience structuring MSOs, including:

• Business formations for either party (the MSO or the professional entity owned by one or more physicians);
• Management services agreements, the legally binding contract between an MSO and a medical practice that formalizes the relationship, detailing the fee structure and each party’s legal rights and responsibilities;
• Collaborative agreements to expand a licensed healthcare professional’s scope of practice within the organization under physician supervision;
• Standard operating procedures (SOAs) to ensure that medical providers are the medical decision-makers; and
• Other business and practice startup services, such as real estate transactions, employment contracts, and compliance plans.

As a healthcare-focused law firm, we can also provide guidance on the tricky issue of compliant compensation arrangements that fairly reward the MSO without violating federal and state fraud, waste, and abuse laws.