---
title: "What Is Management services organization? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "A company that handles business functions for a practice under contract, such as billing, HR, marketing and purchasing, while clinical care stays with licensed..."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/management-services-organization
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Dental service organizations

# Management services organization

A company that handles business functions for a practice under contract, such as billing, HR, marketing and purchasing, while clinical care stays with licensed dentists.

A management services organization, or MSO, performs business tasks for a practice under a contract. The ADA writes that DSOs may be owned by business corporations or other nonlicensed professionals, but that in some states only a clinical entity can provide certain services. So not every part of a practice can be turned over to the outside company.

The ADA's guidance says that the clinical side stays with licensed dentists. Rules on who may control clinical care differ by state. The contract between the two sides is a [management services agreement](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/management-services-agreement). MSO is also a common label inside a [DSO](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dso) structure.

Dentists who review such a deal should ask an attorney who knows dental law. This entry is a general definition.

[Next stepIndustry work with Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact?topic=industry)

## Related terms

-   [Management services agreement](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/management-services-agreement)
-   [DSO](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dso)
-   [Dental service organization](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-service-organization)
-   [Dental support organization](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-support-organization)

## Sources

1.  [ADA, Business Services Agreements with DSOs: What a Dentist Should Know](https://www.ada.org/-/media/project/ada-organization/ada/ada-org/files/resources/careers/ada_business_services_agreements_with_dsos.pdf)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)