(sorry for the formatting, the text editor isn't accepting carriage returns)Hello, I am a new physician starting my first private practice. I formed a PLLC for myself, and currently contract space from another physician in the same office. Even though we use the same office staff and overhead, he is not my employer. I pay for my overhead by giving him a portion of my revenues from patient visits and vitamin/supplement sales. This separates both of our businesses and is the best position for us to be in from a business/legal/tax standpoint. Now that I am creating my own website, starting to put my name on the door, making business cards, creating forms with my own name on them (and not just his), etc. I am questioning when and how I must use my PLLC name instead of my own name. In order to maintain as much legal protection as I can from my PLLC, I need to use the name and people need to know that they are not just dealing with me, but a business--even though it IS a disregarded entity and not as financially protective as when taxed as an S corporation or if I had employees. Being a physician, too, I will always be held responsible for malpractice claims, but having a business name in front of me is obviously something that I need to do. Here are specific questions: 1) Do I need to put my PLLC name on the front door, or can it just be my personal name? It might look like I am working for "Medical Center" since my colleague's business name is already on the door. 2) I need an informative website to describe what I do, give contact information, maps to the clinic, etc. But I also need a website to write articles, blog updates, maybe start a listserv, etc. Should I create two websites, one for my business, and one for my personal articles? I would rather create one website. The business is just a front for me and my services. Yet, it seems awkward to create a site based on the business even when authoring opinions and academic theory from myself. "Come read articles by our physicians!" -- when I am the only one. I don't know how to market myself as both the business owner and a physician simultaneously. I would rather the focus be on coming to see me, as a physician, rather than getting service from a company. If I make a personal website and list my 'employer' as myself in the form of the business, would people want information on the business itself and think it awkward if there wasn't a separate website? Because then I might say that I AM the business, and then there would be no distinguishing between me and the business, which might pierce the corporate veil. 3) This will become more complicated when my colleague's webmaster puts my personal information on the "Medical Center" website. People will see that I work at "Medical Center", yet I also have a business at the same physical location. Does this matter at all? In my opinion, the public doesn't need to be aware of the contract between our businesses, even though multiple business names at the same location may be confusing. Should I list both my business and personal name as operating out of the "Medical Center"? Or should I only put my PLLC or personal name? 4) When advertising in newspapers, can I advertise as myself "Dr. Smith accepting new patients!" and then have my PLLC name/address in the corner? Or should I advertise as the business, list the business services, and put my personal name as physician-owner in the corner? I see it being done both ways for alternative practitioners like naturopaths, homeopaths, massage therapists, etc. However, for physicians, many doctors are in groups so it is the physician group that is being advertised and not the individual doctor. This is another instance where the delineation between me and my business is blurry and I don't know how to focus it. 5) When using my business name, is the PLLC suffix a requirement? In most instances it is fine, but sometimes it is very cumbersome. For example, when I created a Facebook page, the default page name was facebook.com/healthclinicPLLC. I had to change the options so that any links to the facebook page both with and without PLLC forwarded to the same page. On LinkedIN, "Health Clinic, PLLC" was also clunky looking as part of my current employment underneath my name, which is one of the first things that everyone sees. In situations like this, is it okay to drop PLLC? Are there other instances where I should be sure to always keep it? 6) For patient intake forms, is it okay to leave my colleague's business and personal name on the top, and just add my personal name on the other corner, leaving out my PLLC? This is how he would like to make the new ones; however, I am concerned that leaving out my PLLC would give the impression that I am an employee. The only other time they would see my business name is on my business card. Does this matter in terms of letting patients know who they are doing business with? That is it. Thank you for reading this. I appreciate any help you can to clear up these fuzzy issues.