Key Legal Issues in Academic Medical Center and Community Hospital Tie-Ups
The Feature Article is brought to you by the Academic Medical Centers and Teaching Hospitals Practice Group
- November 01, 2025
- Carrie Amezcua , Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
- Daniel Gerber , University of California
- Joseph Keillor , Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell and Berkowitz PC
- Rudd Kierstead , VMG Health
- Layna Rush , Baker Donelson
Affiliations between academic medical centers (AMCs) and community hospitals are a commonly sought solution to respond to a health care market characterized by significant financial pressures, as hospitals and health systems work to control costs while improving quality and access to care for patients in the communities that they serve. But these affiliations also present a variety of institutional, cultural, and legal and regulatory challenges. For example, how should the affiliation be structured to establish shared governance over the participant hospitals and their affiliated physicians? What changes may be required to align physician compensation and physician performance for faculty physicians and community physicians? If there is a desire to engage in a shared strategy to contract with payers, how will the parties implement the requisite financial or clinical integration to mitigate against potential risks under federal antitrust laws and emerging state regulatory regimes for reviewing transactions for their impacts on health care costs and market consolidation? Evaluating and addressing these issues—not only in developing and negotiating the affiliation at the outset, but also in planning for post-closing integration and implementation—is critical to the success of these affiliations.
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