Navigating Financial and Corporate Influences on Medical Professionalism

Across the U.S., both patients and clinicians are feeling the effects of a changing health care landscape. Physicians report increasing burnout and loss of autonomy, while patients face rising costs, narrower networks, and more fragmented care. Many of these challenges point to a larger trend: the corporatization of health care. 

In this conversation, health law and policy expert Erin Fuse Brown, JD, MPH, and Fred Cerise, MD, MPH, explored how corporate ownership, market consolidation, and financial priorities were shaping the practice of medicine. They discussed the implications for medical professionalism, trust in the physician–patient relationship, and the overall mission of health care. Participants gained insight into how corporatization was influencing care delivery and what practical steps clinicians, institutions, and policymakers could take to realign health care with its core mission: serving patients.

Speaker: Erin Fuse Brown is a Professor of Health Services, Policy & Management at Brown University School of Public Health, the director of the Health Policy & Law Lab, and a faculty member of the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research. She specializes in health law and policy, and her research focuses on health care finance, consolidation, corporatization, competition, financialization, and private equity investment. Professor Fuse Brown’s work has influenced health policy at the state and national levels.

Moderator: Fred Cerise has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Parkland Health since 2014. Parkland is the public health care system for Dallas County where his focus is on population health and delivery system improvements for underserved populations. His previous roles include the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Vice President for Health Affairs and Medical Education of the Louisiana State University System.

(2025-09-29)

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