{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/ocasio-cortez-warren-hoyle-wyden-merkley-subramanyam-introduce-bill-ban", "Ocasio-Cortez, Warren, Hoyle, Wyden, Merkley, Subramanyam Introduce Bill to Ban the Corporate Practice of Medicine", "2026-09-16", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NY", "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez", "O000172", "ocasio-cortez.house.gov", "ocasio-cortez", "https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "The Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act would ban corporations and private equity from owning physicians.\n\nThe bill is modeled on the landmark Oregon law that physicians have already used to successfully challenge corporate takeovers.\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Val Hoyle (OR-04), and Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10) along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act to ban the corporate practice of medicine.\n\n\u201cAcross the country, private equity firms and corporate conglomerates are buying up American physician offices. To increase shareholder profits, these entities often cut corners, leading to patients paying more for significantly worse care,\u201d said Representative Ocasio-Cortez. \u201cI\u2019m proud to co-lead the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act to get Wall Street out of Americans\u2019 doctors\u2019 offices and ban predatory noncompete agreements for healthcare workers.\u201d\n\n\u201cPatients want to know that decisions about their health are being made by their doctors, not by Wall Street investors,\u201d said Senator Warren. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to lower costs and un-rig the health care system, we need to stop the corporate takeover of medicine.\u201d\n\n\u201cBillionaire corporations are using sick patients to turn healthy profits, and Americans are fed up,\u201d said Senator Merkley. \u201cIn Oregon, we passed one of the most comprehensive corporate practice of medicine laws in the country, standing up for patients and health care providers. It\u2019s time we take on corporate greed in health care at the federal level by passing our Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act, cracking down on these takeovers that are destroying our health care system.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmericans want medical decisions to stay between patients and their doctor, not dictated by corporate actors and private equity firms focused on maximizing profits,\u201d said Senator Wyden. \u201cI\u2019m proud of Oregon\u2019s pioneering state law that has been used by doctors to protect their independence, and it\u2019s time to take that model to the federal level. Corporate medicine is making health care more expensive for everyone, and safeguards must be put in place to ensure health care decisions stay in the hands of physicians.\u201d\n\n\u201c80% of doctors in the U.S. are employed by corporate entities, up from 62% in 2019,\u201d said Representative Hoyle. \u201cHealthcare should not be a line item in a spreadsheet. The Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act will ensure proper protections are in place, so our healthcare systems serve the best interests of our patients, not corporations.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmericans want medical decisions to stay between patients and their doctors, not dictated solely by the pursuit of maximizing profits. States have passed laws to protect the independence of physicians, and it\u2019s time to take that model to the federal level. Corporate medicine is making health care more expensive for everyone, and safeguards must be put in place to ensure health care decisions stay in the hands of physicians,\u201d said Representative Subramanyam.\n\n\u201cWith big bipartisan majorities, Oregon passed the strongest ban on the corporate practice of medicine in the country,\u201d Oregon House Majority Leader Ben Bowman said, the author and chief sponsor of Oregon Senate Bill 951 (2025). \u201cOregon has shown that it\u2019s possible to stand up to corporate profiteering in healthcare and win. Now it\u2019s time to take that fight nationwide.\u201d\n\nOver 80 percent of doctors in the United States are employed by corporate entities\u2014including private equity firms and insurers\u2014up from 62 percent in 2019. Despite prohibitions on the corporate practice of medicine in over thirty states, private equity firms, insurers, and other corporate entities have exploited legal loopholes that allow them to circumvent these restrictions to the detriment of clinicians and patients.\n\nManagement services organizations (MSOs) have become vehicles for exercising corporate control over physicians. MSOs contract with physician practices to handle ostensibly purely administrative tasks, but these actors often challenge the autonomy of acquired physicians once in control. For example, corporate entities often assume control over clinical operations, management and staffing decisions, and billing and coding practices\u2014all of which can exert pressure on physicians to change care delivery.\n\nThe Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act ensures health care decisions are made by physicians\u2014not private equity firms, insurance companies, or other corporate actors. The legislation:\n\nBans the corporate practice of medicine by making it illegal for private equity funds, insurance companies, and other for-profit corporations to own or control medical practices;\n\nCloses the \u201cfriendly physician\u201d loophole that has allowed investor-backed corporations to evade state-level bans on the corporate practice of medicine and control medical practices through MSOs;\n\nProhibits an MSO from controlling a medical practice through a \u201cfriendly\u201d or \u201ccaptive\u201d physician, or by taking over business, administrative, and clinical functions such as hiring and firing, work schedules, compensation, disbursement of revenue or setting of revenue targets, billing practices, contracting, and other services;\n\nEnsures that physicians retain ultimate control of medical practices by requiring that physician owners are meaningfully engaged in providing medical care in the state in which their practice is located; and\n\nProtects physician independence by prohibiting corporate interference with clinical decisions and banning restrictive contract terms, such as non-compete agreements, nondisclosure agreements, and non-disparagement agreements.\n\nThe bill is modeled on a landmark law in Oregon that physicians have already used to successfully challenge corporate takeovers in the state. Most recently, Eugene Emergency Physicians beat back efforts by Peace Health to replace local physicians with a private equity-backed staffing company.\n\nThis legislation is also supported by Representatives Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fl.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Az.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and has been endorsed by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), Coalition for Patient Centered Care, Bull Moose Project, Center for Health and Democracy, OrthoForum, Alliance of Independent Dentists, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, and Association for Independent Medicine.\n\n\"The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) believes that local physician ownership of their practice is the best arrangement for the physicians, the medical staff, the hospital and, most importantly, for the patient,\u201d said Vicki Norton, MD, FAAEM, President of the AAEM. \u201cThat\u2019s why the AAEM strongly supports the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act of 2026. The bill would prohibit the corporate practice of medicine and allow physicians to work unencumbered, focusing on patients. There is no greater policy imperative for AAEM than protecting patient safety and quality of care in emergency departments through efforts such as this bill.\u201d\n\n\"The Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act will strengthen long-standing bans on the corporate practice of medicine, ensuring clinical decisions are made by licensed professionals sworn to care for patients, not corporations beholden to shareholders,\" said Emma Freer, Senior Fellow for Health Care at the American Economic Liberties Project. \"It's an essential step toward breaking up Big Medicine, which drives costs up, quality down, and independent practitioners out of business.\"\n\n\"States established prohibitions against the corporate practice of medicine a century ago for a simple reason: when corporations start making medical decisions instead of doctors, everyone loses. Care gets worse and more expensive for patients, working conditions get worse for doctors and their staff, and communities lose the unique benefits of high-quality, independent care,\" said Joe Van Wye, Policy Director at Coalition for Patient-Centered Care. \"We commend the sponsors of the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act for introducing today\u2019s legislation, which will enshrine our nation\u2019s strongest and most effective protections against the corporate practice of medicine into federal law for the benefit of all Americans, and hope it is enacted quickly.\"\n\n\u201cPatients are best served when clinical decisions and practice operations remain under the control of licensed healthcare professionals, not private equity firms or management companies whose primary obligation may be to investors, says Dr. Jill Tanzi, President of the Alliance of Independent Dentists. \"The threats posed by corporate consolidation are not unique to medicine; dentists and their patients deserve these same protections. This bill\u2019s protections against corporate control and interference are critical safeguards for both clinicians and patients, and we commend its sponsors for working to protect independent medicine.\"\n\n\u201cPrivate equity firms and other corporate investors should not get to decide how doctors practice medicine. When investors dictate staffing levels or how much time doctors can spend with patients, they are directing patient care. Doctors need the authority to make those decisions based on what their patients need. We support the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act and urge Congress to put enforceable limits on corporate control of medical practices,\u201d said Michael Fenne, Senior Policy Coordinator at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.\n\n\"Our health care system is perfectly designed to concentrate wealth and power into corporate entities and increasingly badly designed to actually care for patients. The Oncology Practices of ONCare Alliance are dedicated to helping oncologists remain independent of private equity and other corporate structures that pull needed resources away from patient care into their profit margins,\" said Barbara McAneny, Co-Chair of the OnCARE Alliance. \"We strongly oppose the corporate practice of medicine and commend the sponsors of the Stop Corporate Takeovers of Physicians Act for introducing this important bill that will help doctors design our practices to make the best treatment plans with our patients.\"\n\nYou can read the full text of the bill here.\n\nA one-pager of the legislation is available here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-17T09:52:05Z", "2026-09-17T09:53:00Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/ocasio-cortez-warren-hoyle-wyden-merkley-subramanyam-introduce-bill-ban"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4999809209257364, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}