Oregon hospital rejects corporate takeover of doctors' practice after legal battle

A hospital system in Oregon has abandoned plans to partner with a national medical staffing company. The decision follows a legal challenge to the state’s corporate practice of medicine law. Doctors in the region had resisted the takeover of their practice by ApolloMD. Dr. Dan McGee and his group, Eugene Emergency Physicians, led the opposition against ApolloMD’s proposed takeover. A federal judge later questioned whether ApolloMD’s structure was a 'shell game' designed to bypass ownership rules. Most US states require medical practices to be owned by doctors, not corporations.

Oregon’s corporate practice law became a key point of contention in the dispute. The hospital system eventually chose to continue working with McGee’s local team instead of ApolloMD. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Vermont, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Virginia are now reviewing similar bills to reinforce their own corporate practice laws.

Dr. Vicki Norton, president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, has publicly backed independent physician groups. In Virginia, an independent group of ER doctors is also meeting with legislators to push for changes in their state’s laws. The hospital’s decision keeps the practice under local control. The case has drawn wider attention to corporate ownership of medical practices. Lawmakers in several states are now considering stricter rules to prevent similar conflicts.