Physician-owned hospitals, neurosurgeons, and disclosure: lessons from law and the literature

Abstract

Physician ownership of hospitals has been a subject of controversy for years. Opponents claim that physician ownership and the hospital profits that result from imaging, laboratory tests, and procedures create a conflict of interest for physicians in providing impartial patient care. Proponents argue that having an ownership stake in a hospital means that physicians can have control over all facets of the patient experience, which leads potentially to better patient satisfaction and outcomes. With passage of health reform legislation, physician-owned specialty hospitals have been under renewed attack and now face more restrictive limitations on their growth and expansion. The following review explores the history of physician-owned specialty hospitals, the controversy surrounding physician ownership, and the scope of neurosurgeon ownership in specialty hospitals and offers 2 models for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.