Driving through California’s Central Valley you see, and sometimes cross over, the aqueducts bringing water to the farmland.
While some medical groups are multi-specialty, the great majority are not. Internists. Cardiologists. Cardiac surgeons. Each in their own specialty. Each in their own channel, so to speak.
I’ve written extensively about the anti-kickback law violations inherent in what the OIG calls “suspect joint ventures.” But that doesn’t mean that multi-specialty ventures can’t be structured. Of course they can. You simply need to take compliance constraints into account while planning the structure and operation of your venture.
In fact, independent multi-specialty groups are one of the key strategies to cut off both hospitals and large national groups from profiting at your expense. They enable you to control patients and their referral into entities in which you legally have an interest.
Water might travel well in the aqueduct channel. But unless it’s spread outside of it, the crops won’t grow.
