Differences BTW Public & Private Companies

Toronto resident Matthew “Matt” Cameron is an experienced lawyer who has served as senior vice president and general counsel of Akumin, a publicly traded US outpatient diagnostic imaging service provider, since 2018. Responsible for the company’s acquisition, finance, and legal/risk portfolios, Matthew Cameron also completed Akumin’s initial public offering (IPO) on the Toronto Stock Exchange (stock symbol AKU) and its cross-listing on the NASDAQ (AKU).

Public companies like Akumin differ from private ones in several ways, including the following three:

Ownership

The first and most obvious difference between the two types of companies is their ownership. As reflected in the name, private companies are privately owned, most often by their founders, management, or a group of private investors. In contrast, public companies are entirely or partially owned by the public after it has acquired their shares in an IPO or later on an exchange. As a result, the shareholders have a claim on a portion of a public company’s assets and profits.

Raising Funds

The next main difference between public and private companies is in the ways they raise money. It results from the fact that public companies have access to the financial markets and can raise funds by selling their stock. Private companies, however, rely predominantly on profit reinvestment, loans, or investors to finance their expansion or other projects.

Regulation and Transparency

Finally, since public companies have access to and can offer shares in the capital markets, they are subject to rigorous government regulations and mandatory administrative and financial reporting. For example, US public companies must file quarterly and annual earnings reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This information is disclosed to the company’s shareholders and the public. As they do not have stock listed on a stock exchange, private companies do not need to share their financial information with anyone.

Addressing Physician Client

An accomplished Toronto lawyer, Matthew “Matt” Cameron is the senior vice president and general counsel at Akumin. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, project management, corporate law, and time management. As part of his duties in the Toronto-based medical imagery company, Matthew Cameron offers legal advice.

Legal advice is increasingly becoming vital for the medical imaging/radiology field, which in recent years has been more involved in the diagnostic and clinical management of patients, which exposes professionals to higher risks of legal claims made against them. The advance of technology has widened the medical imaging spectrum, which in turn has presented new liability challenges. At the same time, the growing public awareness of the risks inherent in medical treatment has increased the rate of legal claims.

Poor communication between a physician and patient has been identified as one of the major reasons for radiology-related lawsuits. Improving communication skills between physicians and patients helps to reduce lawsuits, as some patients complain of improper medical care because they didn’t understand various radiological exams and procedures, as these processes weren’t properly explained to them.

Communication is an important part of the clinical practice of radiology, and radiologists should ensure their patients are presented with accurate information to enable them to make an informed decision. Also, the information should be given in a way or language that a patient can easily understand. Finally, a patient should acknowledge and be convinced of the importance of the radiology examination they are about to undertake, and ideally will agree with its results.