Practice and business formation
Medical Practice Formation Attorney
Start your practice in the right entity with a medical practice formation attorney licensed in California, Illinois, and Tennessee.
- 20+Years in-houseInside healthcare and life sciences companies
- 3State barsLicensed in California, Illinois, and Tennessee
- C-suiteFormer rolesChief Legal, Chief Compliance, and Chief Privacy Officer
- CIPP/USPrivacy credentialCertified Information Privacy Professional/United States
The entity you choose, and the state you form it in, decides a lot, including who can own your practice, how you can bill, and what regulators expect of you. Depending on the state, we can help form professional corporations, professional limited liability companies (PLLCs), and other structures, and draft the agreements that go with them. Formation is usually where you first run into the corporate practice of medicine, the state rules on who can own or control a medical practice.
Choose an entity allowed for your license
Your state decides which entities can deliver medical services, and the options change with your profession.
Can a physician or dentist form a practice as a standard LLC in California, Illinois, or Tennessee? No. California practices can form as professional corporations. Tennessee and Illinois practices can form as professional corporations or PLLCs. The rules for other licensed healthcare practices vary by state, and when multiple physicians, dentists, or other licensed healthcare professionals want to form partnerships, the ownership and management rules get more complicated.
Corporate practice of medicine starts here
California, Illinois, and Tennessee each limit who can own or manage a medical, dental, or other healthcare practice, and each state draws that line in a different place.
This area of law continues to evolve, with increasing scrutiny not only of which licensed healthcare professionals can own or manage a practice and the types of entities they can use, but also of the role that management services organizations (MSOs) and other third parties play in running the business side of the practice.
Practices we help form
Founders call us at every stage.
- Physicians opening a first practice
- Nurse practitioners and physician assistants
- Therapists, psychologists, and LCSWs
- Telehealth and digital health startups
- Medical spas and wellness clinics
- Physician groups adding partners
- Founders bringing in investors
- Healthcare nonprofits
Contact us for a free consultation.
If you are a healthcare professional business owner or a healthcare business that is facing a tough question, maybe we can help. Contact us for a free consultation.
Contact us →Founding documents that anticipate changes in your business
The state statutes and continuing enforcement in this area determine who can own or manage your practice, but they are just the beginning. Your company's bylaws or operating agreement establish additional rules, such as what happens when an owner of the practice is added or leaves.
We draft these documents at formation, so anticipated changes in your business years from now can be addressed on day one.
Filings and registrations
We help file the state formation documents, appoint a registered agent, complete tax registrations, and prepare the groundwork for licensing and payer enrollment.
Planning for business expansion now
Qualifying your business to operate in other states is an important consideration when deciding where to form your entity, and when to file in additional states as your business expands. Equally as important are considerations for the professional licensure rules in the states that require a license or registration to practice.
Craig Clesson is licensed in California, Illinois, and Tennessee, so one counsel can plan your formation across all three.
Changing or closing an entity
Your first entity may not fit forever as your business and the laws and enforcement in this area evolve. We help convert an entity from one type to another, move a company formed in another state into another, and dissolve an entity that has run its course.
Each step has its own Secretary of State filings and tax registrations. We help line them up in the order the states expect them to be processed, so you know what's due at each step.