Is an MSO right for me? How about a CIN?
There’s an old saying that a person doesn’t really want a drill, they want a hole. I actually think there’s yet another level of thinking – why do they want the hole? Perhaps it’s to hang a painting.
The same idea holds true with many healthcare structures, whether it’s an MSO (a management services organization), an IPA (an independent practice association), an RBMG (a sort-of cousin to an IPA), a CIN (a clinically integrated network), and so on.
In our metaphor, none of them are the painting on the wall. In fact, they’re not even the hole.
What they are is the drill. They’re tools that describe a method of getting you to the business entity or outcome that you seek to create or achieve. They’re not ends in and of themselves.
On the one hand, you can view this as a mini-lecture on the fact that business structures are tools to achieve your desired ends.
But the real takeaway for you is somewhat different: What’s most important for you is to first decide what it is, on a business level, that you’re trying to achieve.
Forget for the moment (but only for the moment!) about legal structure and compliance and the fact that it’s a “fill in the blank” such as an MSO.
Instead, simply concentrate on what it is, bottom line, that you want to achieve.
Then, and only then, should we ask the question of what tool or tools . . . the specific structure or structures . . . can be applied to get you there.
