--- title: "What Is a Friendly PC? The Friendly PC Model Explained" description: "A friendly PC is a physician-owned professional corporation that partners with a lay-owned MSO. How the model works in telehealth and how Cuvo Health runs it." canonical: "https://cuvo.co/glossary/friendly-pc" last-updated: "Oct 26, 2026" --- **Definition:** A friendly PC (friendly professional corporation) is a medical professional corporation owned by a licensed physician that holds the clinical practice, while a management services organization owned by non-physicians runs the business side under a management services agreement. # What is a friendly PC (friendly professional corporation)? A friendly PC is the clinician-owned entity that lets a company without a medical license build a healthcare brand: the physician-owned corporation practices medicine, and the founder's management company runs the business. Cuvo Health builds and maintains both entities for the brands on its platform. Published Oct 26, 2026. Facts reviewed Oct 26, 2026. A friendly PC, short for friendly professional corporation, is a medical professional corporation owned by a licensed physician that works alongside a management services organization (MSO) owned by non-physicians. The PC holds the clinical practice: it employs or contracts the providers, keeps the medical charts and makes every clinical decision. The MSO runs billing, technology, marketing and operations under a management services agreement. Friendly describes the physician owner's working relationship with the MSO, not a legal category; state law sees an ordinary professional corporation. Founders use the model where corporate practice of medicine rules bar lay ownership of a medical practice. On Cuvo Health, the friendly-PC structure and the MSO are built and maintained by Cuvo, so the founder needs no medical license. **At a glance** - What it is: A physician-owned professional corporation paired with a lay-owned MSO - Why it exists: Corporate practice of medicine laws bar non-physicians from owning a medical practice in many states - Who owns it: Licensed professionals only; California voids PC shares issued to anyone else - What it holds: The providers, every clinical decision and the medical charts - On Cuvo: MSO plus physician-owned professional entity, built and maintained by Cuvo **Friendly PC and MSO: who owns and does what** | Function | Friendly PC (physician-owned) | MSO (founder-owned) | | --- | --- | --- | | **Ownership** | Licensed physician shareholders | The founder, the company or its investors | | **Clinical decisions** | Every diagnosis, prescription and treatment plan | None | | **Providers** | Employs or contracts them | Administrative support only | | **Medical charts** | Belong to the PC and its licensed clinicians | Supplies the software, does not own the clinical record | | **Business operations** | Receives the services and pays the management fee | Billing, technology, marketing and staffing support under the management services agreement | ## 01. Why is it called a friendly PC? Because the physician owner is aligned with the management company and agrees to the structure it needs. The alignment cannot be bought with shares: California Corporations Code section 13406(a) voids PC shares issued to anyone who is not licensed and bars a shareholder from handing voting power to a non-shareholder by proxy or voting trust. Arrangements therefore rely on contracts, typically the management services agreement and terms governing what happens to the PC's shares if the physician owner leaves, and those contracts are where regulators look. ## 02. How is a friendly PC different from an MSO? They are the two halves of one arrangement. The friendly PC is the professional entity that practices medicine and must be owned by licensed clinicians; the MSO is an ordinary business company that anyone may own and that sells services to the PC. The PC pays the MSO a management fee for those services, and the MSO never directs a clinical call. ## 03. Is the friendly PC model legal in every state? The model is widely used, and its legality turns on how control works in practice rather than on paper. Oregon SB 951 (2025) bars a management services organization from owning a majority of the professional medical entity it manages, from controlling the sale or transfer of its shares outside listed events such as a license revocation or a breach of the management agreement, and from exercising de facto control, including ultimate authority over hiring, diagnostic coding, clinical standards or the prices charged for a licensee's services. It applies from January 1, 2026 to Oregon entities organized after the act took effect and from January 1, 2029 to existing ones. California SB 351 (2025), now Health and Safety Code section 1191, bars a private equity group or hedge fund involved with a physician practice from interfering with physicians' professional judgment. ## 04. Does a telehealth brand need a friendly PC? A founder who is not a licensed clinician and sells into corporate practice of medicine states needs either its own MSO and friendly PC, with counsel, a physician owner, provider contracts and malpractice coverage, or a platform that already operates them. On Cuvo Health, the brand owns the patient relationship, the customer list and every business record, the medical charts belong to the treating professional corporation and its licensed clinicians, and Cuvo maintains the structure in between. ## Frequently asked questions **Q: What is a friendly PC?** A: A friendly PC is a professional corporation owned by a licensed physician that holds a medical practice and works with a management services organization owned by non-physicians. The PC makes every clinical decision and the MSO runs the business. On Cuvo, Cuvo builds and maintains the friendly-PC structure and the MSO for every brand. **Q: Friendly PC vs MSO: what is the difference?** A: The friendly PC is the clinician-owned entity that practices medicine; the MSO is the business company that provides billing, technology, marketing and operations to it under a management services agreement. On Cuvo Health, both halves are in place before a brand's first patient. **Q: Who owns a friendly PC?** A: A licensed physician, because professional corporation laws limit shares to licensed persons; California Corporations Code section 13406(a), for example, voids shares issued to anyone else. On Cuvo, the founder owns the brand and the business while the professional entity stays physician-owned. **Q: Is the friendly PC model legal?** A: It is widely used, but states increasingly test whether the management company controls the medicine in practice, as Oregon SB 951 (2025) now does by statute. On Cuvo Health, licensed providers make every clinical decision and neither Cuvo nor the brand directs a clinical call. **Q: Does a telehealth brand need a friendly PC?** A: A non-clinician founder selling into corporate practice of medicine states needs one, either built in house or supplied by a platform. Cuvo Health supplies the MSO and physician-owned professional entity, 300+ board-certified providers licensed in all 50 states, and $25 per completed consult with no revenue share. **Related pages** - [Corporate practice of medicine states](/compliance/corporate-practice-of-medicine-states): Which states bar lay ownership, state by state - [Management services organization (MSO)](/glossary/management-services-organization): The business half of the model - [Management services agreement (MSA)](/glossary/management-services-agreement): The contract between the MSO and the PC - [Professional corporation (PC) and PLLC](/glossary/professional-corporation): The entity forms states allow for medicine - [Start a virtual clinic without a medical license](/blog/start-a-virtual-clinic-without-a-medical-license): The MSO and friendly-PC steps in order - [Cuvo compliance](/compliance): The structure Cuvo builds and maintains for every brand Canonical page: https://cuvo.co/glossary/friendly-pc