title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurologic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Maya A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Babu
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rosenow
authors.forename: Brian V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Nahed
mesh_terms: D016265:Conflict of Interest / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D030881:Disclosure / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018578:Hospital-Physician Relations; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010067:Ownership / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010820:Physicians / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence