75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200 (1986)

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 203-204 (1986)
  In Wisconsin, the terms of the fee splitting statute are violated whenever a physician compensates a corporation in exchange for referrals. If a corporation receives compensation for a physician's professional services and the physician receives patients through his or her employment with the corporation, this practice would violate section 448.08(1).

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  But while the practice of a corporation receiving compensation for medical services would violate section 448.08(1), section 448.08(2) does not apply to this arrangement. Section 448.08(2) applies only to medical practitioners, requiring that each medical practitioner treating a patient must submit a separate statement of charges for services provided to the patient.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
(2)Would the practice of a corporation receiving compensation for medical services provided by an employed professional violate section 448.03(1)?

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  Section 448.03(1) provides: "LICENSE REQUIRED TO PRACTICE. No person may practice medicine and surgery, podiatry or physical therapy, or attempt to do so or make a representation as authorized to do so, without a license granted by the board." The practice of medicine or surgery is defined in section 448.01(9), which states:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  "Practice of medicine and surgery" means:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  (a)   To examine into the fact, condition or cause of human health or disease, or to treat, operate, prescribe or advise for the same, by any means or instrumentality.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  (b)   To apply principles or techniques of medical sciences in the diagnosis or prevention of any of the conditions described in par. (a) and in sub. (2).

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  (c)   To penetrate, pierce or sever the tissues of a human being.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  (d)   To offer, undertake, attempt or do or hold oneself out in any manner as able to do any of the acts described in this subsection.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  Read together, sections 448.03(1) and 448.01(9) prohibit any unlicensed person from engaging in any of the activities which constitute the practice of medicine.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 204 (1986)
  This prohibition applies to corporations. Under section 990.01(26), when the word person appears in the Wisconsin statutes, it is to be construed as including all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. Therefore, section 448.03(1) prohibits corporations from practicing medicine.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 205 (1986)
  While it is possible for an individual to qualify under section 448.05 for a license to practice medicine, it is not possible for a corporation to qualify for a license. Section 448.05(2) requires that to obtain a license to practice medicine, an applicant must have graduated from a medical school and must have completed twelve months of postgraduate training. Those requirements can only be satisfied by an individual. Therefore, a corporation cannot be licensed to practice medicine.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 205 (1986)
  Because a corporation cannot be licensed to practice medicine, sections 448.03(1) and 448.01(9) prohibit it from engaging in any activities which constitute the practice of medicine. Section 448.01(9)(d) prohibits a corporation from offering, attempting or holding itself out as able to perform any of the medical acts specified in section 448.01(9)(a) to (c). If a business corporation supplied medical services through licensed physicians, it would be offering to provide and providing services which constitute the practice of medicine. Therefore, section 448.03(1) prohibits a corporation from providing medical services through employed professionals.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 205 (1986)
  The conclusion that a corporation cannot practice medicine, although clear from the reading of the statutes enumerated above, becomes pellucid when viewed in the context of other statutes. If corporations were not prohibited from practicing medicine, section 628.36, which permits corporations which operate voluntary health plans to pay their health care professionals on a salary, per patient or fee-for-service basis, would be unnecessary. Similarly, the service corporation law discussed earlier would be unnecessary.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 205 (1986)
  In your third and fourth requests you ask in what manner business corporations could be involved in providing professional service through employed licensed professionals. It is impossible to provide an answer to that broad question. The following discussion, therefore, assumes, as the introduction to the opinion request indicates, that the corporation wishes to charge fees for the professional services rendered by its employes.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 205 (1986)
(3)May a for-profit business corporation employ professionals to provide medical services?

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 205-206 (1986)
  The Wisconsin statutes regulating medical practices and the policies behind the general rule prohibiting the corporate practice of professions both dictate that in Wisconsin a business corporation may not provide medical services through employed professionals. Such an arrangement would violate section 448.08(1), Wisconsin's fee splitting statute, and it would violate section 448.03(1), which prohibits any person from practicing medicine without a license.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
  In addition to violating the language of the statutes, the employment arrangement violates the traditional rule that business corporations cannot practice medicine. As the drafters of Wisconsin's professional service corporation law recognized, the prohibition against corporate practice of the professions reflects sound public policy. The prohibition protects physician-patient relations and maintains regulatory control over the practice of medicine.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
(4) May a for-profit business corporation employ professionals to provide legal, dental or other professional services?

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
  The historic prohibition against a corporation practicing the professions has been extended to law, dentistry and, in some states, optometry. This answer will cover briefly the legality of a Wisconsin business corporation employing lawyers, dentists and optometrists to provide professional services.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
  Wisconsin's statutes and public policy prohibit a business corporation from employing either attorneys or dentists to provide professional services in Wisconsin.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
  Section 757.30 makes it a crime to practice law in Wisconsin without a license. A corporation that provides legal services through an employed attorney would be practicing law without a license. In State ex rel. State Bar v. Bonded Collections, 36 Wis. 2d 643, 154 N.W.2d 250 (1967), the Wisconsin Supreme Court found that a collection agency had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. The collection agency had employed an attorney to bring suit on behalf of its creditor clients. The court stated:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
If the attorney is in fact the agent or employee of the lay agency, his acts are the acts of his principal or master.... The prohibition against the practice of law by a layman... applies alike to the practice by a layman directly and in person and to the indirect practice through an agent or employee.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206 (1986)
State ex rel. State Bar, 36 Wis. 2d at 655-56, quoting Nelson v. Smith, 107 Utah 382, 394, 154 P.2d 634 (1944).

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 206-207 (1986)
  The practice of dentistry by unauthorized persons is also prohibited. Section 447.02(1) prohibits the unauthorized practice of dentistry and defines acts which constitute the dental practice. Under section 447.02(1)(d), the practice of dentistry includes undertaking the practice of dentistry "by any means or methods, including those defined in this chapter, gratuitously, or for a... fee... paid directly or indirectly...." Any corporation employing dentists to provide dental services would be practicing dentistry through the means of employing the dentists.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 207 (1986)
  In addition to violating the statutory language prohibiting unlicensed practice of law and dentistry, employment of attorneys and dentists by a business corporation would contravene the important public policies behind the general prohibition of corporate practice. Such an arrangement would interfere with attorney/client, dentist/patient relations, and would interfere with regulating bodies' control over the legal and dental practices.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 207 (1986)
  In Wisconsin, there is one profession which a corporation can practice through employment of professionals. Section 449.02(1) states that no person shall practice optometry in Wisconsin without a license. However, in State ex rel. Harris v. Kindy Optical Co., 235 Wis. 498, 292 N.W. 283 (1940), the Wisconsin Supreme Court found that Wisconsin law allowed corporations to employ optometrists. The court concluded that optometry was not a learned profession, stating "[o]ur legislature has dealt with optometry as a skilled calling, not as a profession involving a relation of special confidence between practitioner and patient." Harris, 235 Wis. at 501.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 207 (1986)
  Although a corporation is allowed to provide optometric services through an employed optometrist, the optometry statutes include a fee splitting prohibition. Section 449.08(1)(d) states that unprofessional conduct for optometrists includes splitting any optometric service fee with anyone other than an associate licensed optometrist.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 207-208 (1986)
  In summary, under current Wisconsin law, a corporation which is not a service corporation may not receive fees for services provided by employed physicians. Similarly, the corporation could not receive fees for services provided by employed attorneys or employed dentists. However, a business corporation may employ optometrists to provide optometric services. When employing optometrists, a corporation should be aware that under section 449.08(1), an optometrist may only split optometric fees with other optometrists.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 200, 208 (1986)
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