This is not legal advice. Foundry PC is not a law firm.
There are two ways to get a compliant care delivery entity: build one or use someone else's. The second option has a name now, "rent-a-PC," and it's worth understanding because it's the right answer for some companies and the wrong answer for others.
How it works
A provider (Foundry, or a company like it) maintains one or more professional corporations, owned by a physician, already formed and registered in a set of states, sometimes already credentialed with payers. Your company's MSO signs a management services agreement with that PC. Your clinicians are engaged by that PC. Patients are seen under that PC's license and NPI. Your company provides the platform, marketing, operations, and staff, and is paid a management fee.
You don't form an entity. You don't recruit a physician owner. You're live in the states the PC already covers, sometimes within days.
When it makes sense
- Speed to market matters more than ownership. You want to test demand in a few states before committing to a full build.
- New York and other slow states. A rented PC that's already NYSED-approved lets you operate in New York while your own entity works through the multi-month process.
- Small clinician count. If you're launching with two or three providers, the fixed cost of forming and maintaining your own PC per state is high relative to volume.
- Pilot or proof-of-concept. You're validating a model before a raise.
- You already have clinicians and just need an entity. Some companies have a team but no compliant structure. Plugging them into a rented PC is the fastest fix.
When it doesn't
- Fundraising. Investors want to see that the care delivery entity is controlled by your structure, with your physician owner and your succession agreement. A rented PC is a dependency on a third party that can appear in the risk factors section.
- Payer contracting at scale. Contracts belong to the PC. If the PC isn't yours, the contracts aren't either, and moving them later is painful.
- Exit. An acquirer buys the MSO and needs the PC to come with it. A rented PC doesn't.
- Clinical control. Your medical leadership should set your protocols. In a rented PC, the physician owner is accountable for clinical policy across every company using that PC, which can limit your flexibility.
- Concentration risk. If the PC provider has issues (licensing, financial, regulatory), every company plugged into it does too.
The hybrid: rent as a bridge, own as the destination
The configuration we recommend most often is: rent to launch, form your own in parallel, and migrate. Launch in a rented PC in week one. Form your own PC (including starting New York on day one). When your entity and physician owner are ready, transition patients, providers, and payer relationships. The rented PC becomes a bridge that bought you three to six months.
The transition needs to be planned: patient notification requirements, records transfer under a BAA, provider re-credentialing, and payer contract assignment or re-enrollment. Build the migration plan into the initial agreement so nobody is surprised.
Questions to ask a PC rental provider
- Which states is the PC actually registered and in good standing in today?
- Is the PC credentialed with the payers I need, or will I be enrolling from scratch?
- Who is the physician owner, what's their licensure footprint, and what's the succession plan?
- What's the management fee structure and is there a fair-market-value analysis?
- What happens to my patients and providers when I leave? Is there a migration provision?
- How many other companies operate under this PC, and in what specialties?
- Does the provider have any equity or revenue-share arrangement with the PC that creates conflicts?
How Foundry PC handles it
Foundry offers PC rental as a launch bridge for companies that want to be live immediately, with a defined migration path into a company-owned structure. Rental pricing includes the physician owner stipend and ongoing coordination, and every rental SOW includes the migration provision so you own your entity at the end.
Book a 20-minute call if you're deciding between building and renting. We'll tell you which one fits.