Because the physician group and MSO both need funds to start a practice, each physician owner must contribute to the funding with cash, practice, assets or a combination of the two. Dr. Young situation's is different from that of Dr. Hardtz. The hospital, in turn, provides cash to fund the MSO's start-up. The medical group and hospital would then each have an equal number of board members. Because the legacy of distrust between hospitals and medical groups, many MSOs prefer to have physicians functioning in the roles of board president and vice-president while also operating with super majority voting requirements.
Physicians cope with size and services.
The purpose of any MSO is to provide support to physicians in the form of information technology, billing and collections, practice operations, supplies and equipment, and managed care contracting. The MSO board should decide which services will be delivered and at what cost. In most cases, all physician staff become MSO employees. The MSO, in turn, administers a common wage and salary schedule, and provides staff supervision, training, and performance appraisal. While some physicians are troubled by their loss of direct control over staff, the majority of physicians see office functions improve with focused management.