Scott Becker, JD, CPA, is a healthcare attorney and a partner in the national law firm of McGuireWoods.
Q: I am interested to hear about the most common ways ASCs determine and distribute the ASC facility profits among owners. Do owners buy/have shares, and are profits distributed by percentage of ownership? Just curious as to the most common scenarios.
Scott Becker: ASCs distribute facility profits based on the percentage of ownership the owners have in the facility. It is generally not legal to split the profits based on the value of business generated instead of the ownership. It is also highly suspect to split up or reallocate the ownership either based on expectations of referrals or past history of referrals.
If you have further questions, please contact Scott Becker at sbecker@mcguirewoods.com.
Read more advice from Scott Becker on ASC legal issues:
-Healthcare Fraud Investigations Increase; Greater Caution Urged in ASC Share Sales to Physicians; 22 Dos and Don'ts on Selling ASC Shares
-The Buying and Selling of Ambulatory Surgery Centers – A Review of Pricing By Tier in the Current Market – Updated for 2010