§ 63-6-608. Investment Interests in Publicly Traded Entities

The definition of “investment interest” does not include a publicly traded entity in which such physician has an investment interest if all of the following requirements are met:

1. The entity’s stock is listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange or the American Stock Exchange or is a national market system security traded under an automated interdealer quotation system operated by the National Association of Securities Dealers;
2. The entity had, at the end of the corporation’s most recent fiscal year, total assets of at least fifty million dollars ($50,000,000), determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, related to the furnishing of health services;
3. The entity markets and furnishes its services to physician-investors and other physicians on the same and equal terms;
4. All stock of the entity, including the stock of any predecessor privately held company, is one (1) class without preferential treatment as to status or remuneration;
5. The entity does not issue loans or guarantee any loans for physicians who are in a position to refer patients to such entity if the physician uses any portion of the loan to obtain the investment interest;
6. The income on the physician’s investment is not tied to referral volumes and is directly proportional to the physician’s equity interest in the entity;
7. The physician’s investment interest does not exceed one-half of one percent (0.5%) of the entity’s total equity; and
8. The physician purchases the investment interest either:

   1. On terms generally available to the public; or
   2. In exchange for an investment interest acquired by the physician before July 1, 1993; provided, the terms of the exchange are consistent with fair market value in an arms-length transaction and are not related to the volume or value of any referrals from the physician to the corporation and the investment interest is not held after December 31, 1997.