Who Owns Your Dermatology or Dermatologist's Practice?

Private practice and private equity are not the same. The difference in ownership will show up in the quality of your medical care.

Recently, a Charleston area plastic surgery and med spa practice closed with almost no warning. Patients who had paid for procedures found their money tied up in federal bankruptcy proceedings. Deposits, i.e. down payments or other prepayments, could not be refunded. Patients in the middle of treatment lost their access to follow up after procedures. Neither the staff nor the patients saw this coming.

The medical/plastic surgery practice did not fail. The private equity company who owned it did fail.

It is well worth your understanding, prior to making a deposit for a procedure or treatment, who owns and is responsible for the medical practice.

PRIVATE PRACTICE AND PRIVATE EQUITY ARE NOT THE SAME.

The terminology of private practice and private equity is similar. However, the business structure of these two entities is quite opposite.

Mt Pleasant Dermatology, LLC is a private, physician owned practice. The owner, Stephanie E. Smith-Phillips, MD, a board-certified dermatologist, treats patients daily and employs all providers in the practice. She is responsible for the lease on the space, the providers and the staff, as well as the financial matters of Mt Pleasant Dermatology, LLC.

A private equity owned practice works in a different business model. A private equity firm purchases the business from the physician owner, often with borrowed money to pay the owner a huge sum. The private equity firm then controls all aspects of the management of the medical practice, i.e. staffing, pricing, scheduling, services. The private equity management frequently knows little about the specialty or about patient care. The private equity management answers to its investors. The health care providers lose control of how they deliver health care.

WHY MT PLEASANT DERMATOLOGY WILL NOT BE SOLD.

In 1985, Stephanie E. Smith-Phillips, MD founded Mt Pleasant Dermatology, LLC to provide the best in skin care. Over the recent years, she has been approached multiple times by different private equity firms about selling the practice. The calls and emails are usually not responded to. If they are, the answer is always no.

Dr. Smith-Phillips realized that when you sell your medical practice, all control over such issues as staffing, number of patients seen daily, and patient charges is lost to the private equity firm.

Having spent over forty years earning the trust of generations of families as well as new patients in the community, she is unwilling to hand over the judgement of how patients are cared for to someone whose sole interest is in profitability. The practice will always be owned by health care providers, and the patients of Mt Pleasant Dermatology, LLC will always know who is responsible for the excellence in the skin care they receive from the practice.

The calls patients make to Mt Pleasant Dermatology are answered by our team, not a call center. This means when you reach out, you are speaking with people who know you and understand your care, rather than someone unfamiliar with your history trying to determine the urgency of your needs.

When you prepay for a treatment, any balance for services not provided remains with the practice. You can use your balance toward another treatment or product that is appropriate for you.

For more information on the economics of private equity medicine, there is an excellent commentary in the Saturday, August 15, 2026 Post and Courier written by Marcelo Hochman, MD, a well-respected plastic surgeon and former president of IndeDocs. This well describes what can happen in a private equity practice. The information is worth repeating.

Post and Courier Article

QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING ANY MEDICAL PRACTICE

Who owns the entity? This is different from who takes care of your health care. A practice can carry a physician’s name but be owned by a management company.

Mt Pleasant Dermatology  ·  570 Long Point Rd, Suite 200, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464  ·  Call or text (843) 881-0320