New Hampshire Practice Structure Guide: The Professional Corporation, No Express Corporate Practice Rule and the 2016 Non-Compete Ban
New Hampshire has no express corporate practice rule or case that we found, and a 2016 statute voids any post-termination restriction on a physician's right to practice.
Key Highlights
- New Hampshire professional corporation shares may go to natural persons authorized in New Hampshire or any other state or territory, licensed partnerships and professional corporations.
- A column from a New Hampshire law firm says the state does not have an explicit prohibition, and that a practice organized as a professional corporation or LLC must have licensed owners.
- RSA 329:31-a voids any restriction on a physician's right to practice medicine in any area for any period after a professional relationship ends.
- Senate Bill 666 of 2026, which would have counted a management services agreement as a change of control, was sent to interim study.
Entity and Ownership
New Hampshire's professional corporation chapter lists physicians and surgeons and physician associates. Shares may be held only by natural persons authorized in New Hampshire, any other state or territory or the District of Columbia to render the service, licensed general partnerships and professional corporations, and transfers to non-qualified persons are void. At least half the directors and all officers other than the secretary and treasurer must be qualified persons, and proxies and voting trusts are limited to qualified persons. The annual report states that shareholders are qualified. The name must end in professional corporation, professional association, Prof. Corp., Prof. Ass'n, P.C. or P.A. The licensing authority may further restrict share issuance by rule, and we did not find a Board of Medicine rule that does. Guides describe a Secretary of State filing, and a board name-approval step we could not confirm.
The Corporate Practice Position
We found no express statute and no case. A July 2025 column from a New Hampshire law firm, which cites no statutes or cases, says the state has no explicit prohibition and that a practice organized as a professional corporation or LLC must have licensed owners. An AI search summary attributed a no-fee-splitting-with-an-MSO rule to New Hampshire, but the article it relied on describes Massachusetts. The primary hooks are the discipline statute covering a licensee who has employed or allowed an unlicensed person to practice in the licensee's office, the definition of practicing medicine, which treats laser procedures that cut, burn, vaporize or structurally alter tissue as surgery, and a Board rule incorporating the AMA Code of Medical Ethics as a binding standard, whose text we did not read.
The Management Agreement and Fees
We found no fee-splitting provision in the discipline statute or Board rules, other than the AMA code incorporated by reference, and no authority on percentage fees. A Board rule puts record-release responsibility on the licensee if the practice is owned and controlled by a licensee and on the employer if the licensee is employed. RSA 329:31-a, from 2016, voids any restriction on a physician's right to practice medicine in any geographic area for any period after termination of a partnership, employment or other professional relationship, while other contract terms stay enforceable. A separate statute requires disclosing a non-compete to a new hire before acceptance, and a 2026 law on physician assistant non-competes was signed, with details from secondary sources.
Senate Bill 666 of 2026 would have defined change of control to include a management services agreement or any arrangement conferring operational or financial control over a physician practice, required 60 days' notice to the Department of Justice with authority to prohibit transactions and barred MSOs from interfering with clinical judgment. It was sent to interim study in March 2026 and is not law. The existing 180-day notice law covers health care charitable trusts only.
Med Spa Rules
We found no New Hampshire med spa statute or facility license, and no Board position statements on lasers, injectables or IV therapy, and we could not verify delegation or medical director rules. The primary anchors are the definition of practicing medicine, which makes lasers surgery, and the discipline rule against allowing an unlicensed person to practice in the licensee's office.
How We Structure It
As a rule we set up a professional corporation owned by the licensed physician, with no exceptions for what looks like a more flexible state. Patients pay the physician-owned practice. The practice pays the management company a fixed monthly fee under a written management services agreement. The management company pays MedGrid a fixed monthly retainer for consulting. The MSO never practices medicine, and the physician makes every clinical decision. In New Hampshire no unlicensed person works in the physician's office outside the delegation rules, and the agreement avoids any term that looks like operational or financial control.
Disclaimer
This article is general educational information, not legal advice. Entity and corporate practice rules change, and parts of this summary rest on secondary sources, so have health care counsel in the state confirm the structure before you form or sign anything.
MedGrid MSO provides management services to independently owned practices; it does not practise medicine and does not direct clinical decisions. Requirements vary by state and by service, and change over time — nothing on this page is legal or medical advice. Talk to us or your own counsel before making a structural decision for your clinic.