Management services organization (MSO)

A structure that splits a licensed practice in two: a licensed professional owns the clinical entity, while a separate company a non-professional can own holds the brand, real estate, systems, billing, and staffing and runs it under a management agreement.

In the states whose corporate-practice doctrines bar non-professional ownership of a medical, dental, optometry, or veterinary practice, the MSO is how a non-licensed buyer participates legally; it is settled but state-specific lawyering that belongs at the start of the process, not the closing.