Corporate Practice of Medicine

The corporate practice of medicine (CPOM) refers to a set of laws developed over the last century to prevent unlicensed entities or corporations from influencing medical decision-making by limiting the ownership of medical entities to licensed healthcare professionals. As state legislatures have enacted CPOM laws, health care business practices and corporate structures have evolved to allow corporations to exert control over physician organizations. To address this corporatization of health care, legislators, policymakers, and other stakeholders have proposed refinements to CPOM laws to address widespread concerns about private equity investments in the health care sector.

The Source has published research examining the corporate practice of medicine, including a discussion of the evolution of corporate structures like the “friendly PC model” that allow companies to circumvent in the intent of CPOM laws, a comparison of current state laws, and options for amendments to existing state laws. Click below to access this publication:

View current state bills addressing corporate practice of medicine by clicking on the states in the map below.