Group Practice with Neal Goldstein

Half of all advertising spend is wasted—and in healthcare, your front desk intake might be the biggest leak destroying your patient growth. Peter Cunningham is a three-time entrepreneur and the founder of Evolve Healthcare Marketing, a digital agency specializing in private physician groups and provider organizations. In this conversation with host Neal Goldstein, Peter reveals why traditional med...

The report of the private medical practice’s death has been greatly exaggerated. Here is exactly how independent doctors are beating hospital systems. Neal Goldstein draws on over 30 years of experience to reveal why private medical practices still hold the upper hand against well-capitalized hospital-employed groups. This episode is a strategic playbook for independent physicians looking to...

A massive partnership buy-in might make founders rich today, but it could permanently destroy the medical practice’s future growth. Neal Goldstein breaks down the financial realities and mechanics of admitting an employed doctor as a partner into a medical group. This episode explores how medical groups structure partnership buy-ins, the components of a fair deal, and why traditional valuati...

Most medical groups assume new partners must buy into the practice’s real estate, but that expectation might be turning away top doctors. Neal Goldstein breaks down the complexities of admitting an employed physician into partnership at a medical group practice. This episode explores the exact timeline, criteria, and ancillary venture rules you need to structure a safe and profitable partner...

Most doctors think a malpractice lawsuit will ruin their life. But the truth is, you are statistically more likely to win than lose. Bill Rogers is a veteran medical malpractice defense lawyer and partner at Swanson, Martin and Bell in Chicago. In this episode, he breaks down the reality of facing a lawsuit, the emotional toll it takes on physicians, and the strategic secrets to winning in front o...

The litigation tracker template built by expert group practice consultants is the single most effective tool for lowering medical malpractice payouts. In this episode, veteran practice advisor Neal Goldstein breaks down the operational blueprint for running an active, proactive professional risk management program. Discover how medical groups can leverage clinical data, maintain strict defense pos...

Most healthcare leaders treat medical groups like clinical entities. Legal and financial experts know they are actually structured as business arrangements. Neil Goldstein breaks down the operational paradigm of physician group ownership. Learn how the separation of clinical functions from business structures allows healthcare practices to maximize operational efficiency and growth under modern re...

Most healthcare founders think corporate ownership of medical practices is strictly illegal. The truth is much more complex. Healthcare attorney Neal Goldstein breaks open the state-level laws governing Fee Splitting and the Corporate Practice of Medicine (CPM). In this episode, he strips away the legal fluff to reveal the exact structural workarounds private equity firms use to acquire, manage, a...

Most sleep specialists are just CPAP purveyors. If the mask fails you, they often have no next step. Dr. Len Covello is changing that narrative. Neal Goldstein sits down with Dr. Len Covello, an otolaryngologist and sleep surgery innovator who developed the sleep surgical program at Powers Health. This episode cracks open the “system failure” in sleep medicine and provides a holistic r...

In this episode, Neal Goldstein breaks down the “two hats” physicians wear in private equity transactions: seller and rollover owner/employee. He explains that while most physicians focus heavily on upfront cash, indemnities, and non-competes in the sale, they often don’t pay as much attention to equally critical employment and rollover equity agreements. Neal highlights why it is important to foc...

In this episode of Group Practice, host Neal Goldstein discusses why private equity (PE) firms are often able to operate more strategically than independent physician groups—and how those groups can adopt similar approaches without selling. Drawing on his experience, Neal explains that PE firms benefit from centralized decision-making, clear performance metrics like EBITDA, and shorter investment...

In this follow-up episode of Group Practice, host Neal Goldstein addresses listener feedback about non-competes in physician practices. He tackles three key questions: Are non-competes ever appropriate? What’s the point of enforcing them if they’re often struck down? And what alternatives exist?   Neal argues non-competes remain appropriate in several contexts: competing against hospital systems,...

In this episode of Group Practice, host Neal Goldstein interviews Dr. Lowell Weil, Executive Chairman of Balance Health and formerly the CEO of Weil Foot & Ankle Institute a 53-physician podiatry group founded by his father Dr. Lowell Weil Sr.  Dr. Weil discusses the five practice settings for podiatrists: solo/small practices, orthopedic groups, hospital systems, large independent groups, and...

In this episode of Group Practice, host Neal Goldstein welcomes his partner, and leader of PFS’s labor and employment practice, Nora Walsh, for a deep dive into the evolving world of physician non-competes. They explore the common law foundations – reasonableness in time and geography, and protectable interests – and how Illinois’s landmark Fifield case added consideration requir...

This episode of Group Practice with Neal Goldstein provides an overview of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), a federal fraud and abuse law enacted in 1972 that applies to all federal healthcare programs. Unlike the Stark Law, AKS is an intent-based statute that prohibits knowingly giving or receiving remuneration to induce referrals for federally reimbursable healthcare items or services. The landm...

In this episode of Group Practice, Neal Goldstein interviews Dr. Richard Harris, founding member and longtime CEO of Uropartners, about building one of the nation’s premier independent urology groups and the leadership principles behind its success.  Dr. Harris recounts the challenging two-year process of merging 11 competing practices into a unified organization—overcoming distrust, strong person...

In this episode of Group Practice , host Neal Goldstein explains the federal Stark Law, the prohibition on physician self-referrals, one of the two major healthcare fraud and abuse laws governing physicians. He describes Stark as a complicated but important statute enacted in 1989 and expanded in 1993 to cover ten “designated health services” (DHS), including imaging, physical therapy, durable med...

In this episode of Group Practice, Neal Goldstein explores the business case for physician group consolidation, distinguishing it from mere aggregation. True consolidation, he explains, involves full integration into a unified group practice—legally and operationally—rather than loosely affiliated practices sharing ancillaries.  Neal outlines five primary advantages: (1) central business office ef...

In this episode of the Group Practice Podcast, Host Neal Goldstein interviews his brother, Dr. Wayne Goldstein, founder of Illinois Bone & Joint Institute (IBJI), which grew from 4 surgeons in 1 location in 1991 to 160 across 40 locations today.  Dr. Goldstein talks about obstacles he faced early on in his career which motivated him to build an independent, physician-led musculoskeletal group....

In this episode, Neal Goldstein explains how the federal Stark Law (physician self-referral law) shapes the legal definition of a group practice. Stark prohibits physicians from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients for designated health services to entities with which they have a financial relationship—unless an exception applies. The most common exception is the in-office ancillary services ex...

In this premier episode of Group Practice with Neal Goldstein, Neal shares his background and how he got his start representing physician groups. He also discusses how he developed his expertise in the federal Stark law, which led to him teaching a law school course specifically on Stark. Neal lays out what to expect in future episodes, and explains why he chose the name Group Practice for the pod...