Management services organization (MSO)

Definition

A structure where a clinician owns the practice and a company owns the rest.

Why It Matters

Some states do not let anyone but a licensed clinician own a medical, dental, optometry, or veterinary practice. The MSO is the legal way around that: the clinician keeps the practice, and a separate company the buyer owns runs everything else and is paid for it. It is settled law but different in every state, so it belongs at the start of the process, not the closing.

In numbers: A dentist sells a $600k-SDE practice to a buyer who cannot hold the clinical license; the MSO owns the equipment, leases, and staff and bills a management fee, while a licensed dentist owns the clinical entity.