First off there is no such thing as "commission" in the health field. It is called fee splitting and/or kickbacks and is illegal on both state and federal levels. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest maybe the DC has realized the legalities with your current arrangement and to cover his butt, he is now charging a flat room rental rate. He probably came to his rental figure by looking at what he has made off of your services. The problem with that is rent can only be fair market value of the room. Also, rent can't be tied to how many patients are seen nor tied to amount of revenue generated by your services.

I am an independent contractor in a DC office. I am incorporated so I am a completely separate entity. We started with me paying $300.00/month. Then he wanted to fee split for any patients he referred to me. I told him that is both fee splitting and kickbacks and is illegal. He backed down and just paid me my normal fees for each patient I worked on. 

Here in Florida, our busy season is just ending. He saw the amount of clients I was seeing and decided to get greedy. He now wants me to give him $10.00 for each person I see, regardless if I see them 1/2 hr or 1 hr. He actually had the nerve to tell me to raise my price by $10.00 and give it to him!

I declined his arrangement and have 1 month to find a new office. I did not remind him about fee splitting legalities. He will be reminded once he is investigated, as I am turning him in. Another therapist is coming to the office to take my place. She has agreed to his terms. I sent an indirect hint that she needed to look into the legalities of the arrangement. If she does not, ignorance of the law means will not protect her from the legal ramifications.

I am on a mission to educate massage therapists about this issue. Please check the laws in your state as there are some variances from state to state, as well as the federal laws. I am so tired of DC's working LMT's to death for pennies on the dollar. Finding out that many are involved in illegal practices gives us ammunition to fight against them. We cant go on a spree turning them all in because the LMT's would end up in trouble as well. But if we all band together armed with LAW, when we seek employment with new DC's, we can eventually turn the tide! 

Print up anything you can find about fee splitting/kickbacks, as well as fair market value for rent. Present your findings to him and ask him if yall can figure out an alternative. If he is supplying all the patients, it might be better that he pay you a flat day rate, which of course can't be tied to patients seen or income generated. Good luck!

Everything Michelle says above is correct. I'm so glad I got out of my situation and have also been an advocate for other therapists to make sure they understand the legalities of their arrangements with Chiropractors. There isn't a lot of info. out there to give therapists a heads-up in the business world of massage on these kinds of issues. I found a wonderful Massage Business course given by Vivian Madison-Mahoney, who will be the key note speaker at The World Massage Festival this year on the Queen Mary. She has on-line courses and holds several in-person ones each year. Check her out for more info. on business and insurance for massage. I've taken several of her courses and she is wonderful!

Hire an attorney who has expertise in real estate and business law and prepare your letter of dissolution of the current business arrangement with this chiropractor. Move all of your things out of the office. Have the attorney send the letter of dissolution to the chiropractor via Certified Mail, signature required.