Colorado’s Attorney General and a New York legislator are taking up the cause of trying to restrict, if not ultimately, ban corporate ownership of Veterinary practices. It’s not the first time elected officials beat the drum that anything “corporate” needs to be corralled, but it does cause most of us to wonder if there aren’t more important things to worry about. So before legislatures return to state capitols, let’s consider the arguments from all side. Then bring on the debate, because the evidence just isn’t there to warrant the time and energy we’ll spend defeating bad ideas in each of these states.
Where do we start? How about some basics? The law in all states in America recognizes the freedom of individuals to utilize a corporate form of ownership of just about everything in our country: grocery stores, ice cream shops, law firms, airplane manufacturers, software developers, fitness centers . . . and yes, healthcare providers. The simple idea is that one or more individuals may decide to invest in a venture and create a legal structure (a corporation) to operate the venture and shield the individual’s personal assets (home, bank accounts, vehicles, etc.) from attack if something happens to the corporation. Without this legal protection, look out your window and picture everything you see vanishing. It’s a simple but powerful idea that has driven the economic engine we know as America.
In Veterinary medicine, we’ve enjoyed the same common sense solution to raise capital and start or expand clinics. However, no one anywhere debates or challenges the equally common sense requirement that only licensed veterinarians may practice Veterinary medicine in any state, not accountants or business persons inside of a corporation that owns a practice. Corporate practices do not have veterinarians wear ear pieces to get instructions from accountants on how to treat a patient. The law is clear, and no one challenges this. Veterinarians are professionals in the state in which they are licensed and each one must practice in accordance with the Veterinary rules of the road in her state. This is true for solo practices, shelters, academic veterinarians and, yes, those veterinarians employed by corporate practices.
Corporate practices may be small as in a single clinic or large as in hundreds of clinics. In either case, the same rules apply. Solo practices may invest through a corporate vehicle, and large practices may enjoy the same privileges. There is no evidence in any state that non-corporate practices are safer or get better patient results than corporate practices. If there was such evidence, critics would be shouting from the highest rooftop.
Veterinarians face punishment by state Veterinary boards if they commit errors of a certain sort, again regardless of the legal structure that pays their salaries. Banning or placing financial “penalties” on corporate ownership don’t change this. All that corporate bans accomplish is to unnecessarily scare pet owners and dramatically reduce the amount of investments made in Veterinary care for our pets and large animals. As Veterinary medicine expands its reach and know-how and employs technologies from human healthcare to treat our pets, it’s foolish to decide in 2025 that we need to stop the flow of investment in pet healthcare. Nor does it make sense to brand veterinarians in corporate practices as indifferent to the legal and ethical requirements they must satisfy to maintain their licenses.
America is long past the stage where something “corporate” means something harmful. Veterinary medicine faces its share of challenges and pet owners struggle with the cost of care. There’s a long list of these challenges and why pet owners are anxious, but the root cause is not the legal structure of owning a practice. Drive through any city, suburb, or small town with Veterinary practices and you’ll see all shapes.
What matters is who’s inside those practices and how they approach the care of your pet. Veterinarians should be offended by anyone suggesting a corporate timekeeper is behind the scenes running the show. This scenario may make for good movie drama, but it’s just not reality.