Posted on 12/27/2022 7:37:51 PM PST by buckalfa
A group of emergency physicians and consumer advocates in multiple states are pushing for stiffer enforcement of decades-old statutes that prohibit the ownership of medical practices by corporations not owned by licensed doctors.
Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have rules on their books against the so-called corporate practice of medicine. But over the years, critics say, companies have successfully sidestepped bans on owning medical practices by buying or establishing local staffing groups that are nominally owned by doctors and restricting the physicians’ authority so they have no direct control.
These laws and regulations, which started appearing nearly a century ago, were meant to fight the commercialization of medicine, maintain the independence and authority of physicians, and prioritize the doctor-patient relationship over the interests of investors and shareholders.
Those campaigning for stiffer enforcement of the laws say that physician-staffing firms owned by private equity investors are the most egregious offenders. Private equity-backed staffing companies manage a quarter of the nation’s emergency rooms, according to a Raleigh, North Carolina-based doctor who runs a job site for ER physicians. The two largest are Nashville, Tennessee-based Envision Healthcare, owned by investment giant KKR & Co., and Knoxville, Tennessee-based TeamHealth, owned by Blackstone.
Court filings in multiple states, including California, Missouri, Texas, and Tennessee, have called out Envision and TeamHealth for allegedly using doctor groups as straw men to sidestep corporate practice laws. But those filings have typically been in financial cases involving wrongful termination, breach of contract, and overbilling.
Now, physicians and consumer advocates around the country are anticipating a California lawsuit against Envision, scheduled to start in January 2024 in federal court. The plaintiff in the case, Milwaukee-based American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group, alleges that Envision uses shell business structures to retain de facto ownership of ER staffing groups
(Excerpt) Read more at spartanburg.com ...
Doctors are generally better at medicine. Not so much running the business.
Just profit that isn’t theirs.
It’s interesting to me that we don’t seem to be as concerned about the government running medicine.
My local ER was owned by one of the doctors who worked there.
He retired and sold it.
A few years later I went in for something non emergent and they billed me 7k for something which he would have probably billed for $5-600 which I expected.
(and likely free for me)
Thanks to Deep State the US now has a de facto NHS.
And we’re finding out just what that means.
The hard way.
In my city, the hospital is buying up local clinics, and the service is horrible.
Back in the day it wasn’t unheard of companies to operate clinics and even hospitals dedicated to the needs of their workers and their worker’s families.
bookmark.
Too late. Everyone stood by and watched it happen without interference ping.
You mean like Kaiser?
In my part of NJ I see more and more of those clinics; their rise accompanied the closings of our ERs due to the illegal alien invasion (as they defrauded the hospitals with fake names etc. - knowing the hospitals were required to treat them). The clinics are probably a work-around, as they are not ERs so they can ask for paperwork, payment, etc. up front.
The hospitals with closed ERs still function as medical facilities, just without ERs; I suspect everyone going there has an appointment, and the hospital has everything needed to secure payment for services.
I thought zerocare changed all that...
I thought Obamacare banned physicians from owning hospitals?
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