No matter how accomplished you are as a doctor, you may encounter obstacles when trying to set up your medical practice. In fact, this task requires business and legal skills. That is why you let an la healthcare attorney handle some of the steps in opening your practice. A good attorney can help you with your medical practice needs. Here’s how:
Assist You with Business Formation
Your choice of entity will serve as the foundation for how liability and tax matters will impact your practice throughout its lifecycle and how it is managed. Healthcare practices have another layer of considerations to make. Because the majority of healthcare practitioners are considered professional service providers, they should be licensed in their profession. Your attorney can advise on your operating agreements, buy-sell and shareholder agreements, bylaws, joint venture arrangements, and other structural elements that will protect your interests and the interests of your business.
Protect Your Business from Legal Liability Issues
As a medical practice, you need to understand your legal obligations under a range of federal, state, and local regulations. Statutes such as ACA, Medicare, HIPPA, and Medicaid combine to create a complicated landscape of laws. Also, you must be aware of stark laws because anti-kickback and physician self-referral situations can arise in unexpected situations. And you also have to tackle DEA registration and state licensing matters. If you fail to comply with this regulatory scheme, you could face serious penalties, which will put your interests at risk. Also, violations could put your medical license in jeopardy. This is the reason you must work with an attorney when starting up and running a medical practice.
Address Human Resources and Employment Issues
You must understand employment issues when hiring doctors and general staff for your medical practice. Starting a business includes negotiating, drafting, and executing the necessary paperwork. To protect your legitimate business interests, you need provisions related to non-competition and confidentiality. These are matters that your attorney can tackle effectively.
Create and Review Contracts and Lease Agreements
A lot of medical practice stakeholders prefer to lease equipment. Owning a building and medical equipment like PET/CT scanners, robotics, and MRI is costly, so may prefer lease agreements over financing or buying. Your attorney can negotiate terms, review the contract, and scrutinize supporting documentation. Also, they will carefully review managed care contracts to make sure you understand the risks of participating. As you concentrate on offering top patient care and running your practice, you won’t be able to pay close attention to these contracts.
