How does joining a management network change a practice's taxes?

Usually less than people expect. In a management-services model the practice entity survives, so partners keep their existing K-1 arrangement while the practice pays management fees as a deductible expense. What changes is the economics inside the partnership, not the tax classification of the partners.

What are joint venture radiation or imaging centers, and how are they taxed?

Network models sometimes include joint ventures where the practice and the management company each own a share of an asset like a radiation oncology center. A JV organized as a partnership issues its own K-1s to its owners, so a practice, and sometimes its partners, can end up with an additional K-1 from the venture.

As an oncology practice partner, what drives my tax bill?

The standard partner system: your allocated share of practice income, self-employment tax for an active physician partner, quarterly estimates in place of withholding, self-employed benefit treatment, and basis tracking. Practice-level decisions like equipment purchases and the management fee structure flow through to your K-1.

Does McKesson's involvement make me a McKesson employee?

Network membership under a management agreement does not by itself convert practice partners into employees of the management company. Ownership and employment questions are set by your practice's own documents, and arrangements vary by practice and transaction; some groups have sold larger interests than others. Your practice agreement governs.

What should an oncologist joining a network practice review before buying in?

The practice's entity type and your path from employee to partner, the buy-in structure and its basis consequences, how the management agreement affects partner economics, whether any joint ventures add K-1s, and the practice's state filing footprint. The buy-in decision runs on the same math as any medical practice.

K-1 Employer Guide

US Oncology Network and Practice-Level K-1s

The network is the infrastructure. The practice is still yours, and so is the partnership taxation that comes with owning it.

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Your Guide

01The MSO Model: Network Above, Partnership Below 02The Partner Tax System at a Network Practice 03Joint Ventures and the Second K-1 04Frequently Asked Questions

K-1 & Partnership Taxes>US Oncology Network

Written by Bryan Martin, CPA, Managing Partner and Founder of Taxstra. Last updated August 20, 2026.

Quick answer

The US Oncology Network supports independently owned oncology practices with McKesson's management infrastructure, so the K-1 question resolves at the practice level: partners in a network practice organized as a partnership receive K-1s from their own practice, employed associates receive W-2s, and joint-venture assets can add a second K-1. Practice documents govern.

The US Oncology Network runs on a model that predates and outlasted the private equity wave: the practices stay independently owned, and the network, backed by McKesson, supplies management, purchasing, and infrastructure under service arrangements. For a partner oncologist, that means the tax life is set by their own practice, not by the network brand.

Structures vary by practice, transaction, and state, and some groups have sold larger interests to McKesson than the standard model describes; your practice documents govern. This page covers the tax system the standard network model produces.

The MSO Model: Network Above, Partnership Below

Management fees change economics, not classification.

In a management-services model, the practice entity survives the affiliation: partners keep their partnership interests, associates keep their W-2s, and the practice deducts management fees like any other expense. Of the five ownership models, this one changes a partner's taxes the least, which is part of its pitch to physicians who want infrastructure without surrendering the partnership.

Follow the entity, not the brand

Your K-1 comes from your practice's EIN, not the network's. That means practice-level decisions, equipment, hiring, the management agreement itself, are what move your K-1, and partner meetings remain tax-relevant events in a way they stop being at fully acquired platforms.

The Partner Tax System at a Network Practice

Standard partnership taxation, with oncology-sized numbers.

An active partner in a practice partnership pays self-employment tax on the distributive share, runs quarterly estimates, claims self-employed benefits, and tracks basis, which in an equipment-heavy specialty moves with practice debt as much as with income. The buy-in itself, often substantial in oncology because of infusion and imaging assets, runs on the math in our buy-in guide.

Watch Out

Capital-intensive practices amplify the basis story

Linear accelerators, infusion suites, and pharmacy inventory mean debt, and partner shares of practice debt are part of basis. Refinancings and equipment payoffs can move partner basis materially in years when nothing else seemed to change. Ask for the basis schedule annually.

Joint Ventures and the Second K-1

Shared assets mean shared entities, and more paper.

Network models can include joint ventures, radiation centers and similar assets owned partly by the practice and partly by the management organization. A JV organized as a partnership files its own return and issues its own K-1s, so practice partners can hold a chain of pass-throughs: practice K-1, JV K-1, sometimes real estate holding entities too. Each adds allocations, basis, and possibly state filings, covered in our state filing guide.

Taxstra CPA Tip

Make a one-page entity map of everything that sends you a K-1: practice, JVs, the building LLC. Hand it to your preparer every January. Multi-entity oncologists lose more money to forgotten K-1s and missed state credits than to any exotic planning failure.

Buying Into a Network-Affiliated Practice?

The buy-in, the management fee economics, and any JV K-1s should all be modeled before you sign. A Taxstra CPA can run the numbers. The initial consultation is free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Often yes, but from their own practice, not from the network. The US Oncology Network describes its member practices as independently owned, with McKesson providing management and infrastructure support. A physician who is a partner in an independently owned practice organized as a partnership receives a K-1 from that practice; employed associates receive W-2s.

Partner Taxes for Practice Owners, Handled

From buy-in through exit, Taxstra works with physician practice partners nationwide. Book a free initial consultation.

Next Steps

Filing it yourself is fine. Optimizing it is where the money is.

Getting the form right keeps you out of trouble. The strategies below are what actually lower the bill.

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Authoritative Sources

Citations reflect U.S. federal tax law as of the article's last reviewed date.

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