SCM between healthcare professionals: shared resources and business address

You work in private practice and you are considering sharing premises, a secretarial service or equipment with colleagues. The société civile de moyens, or resource-pooling company, known by the acronym SCM, is the most widely used legal vehicle for organising this sharing between healthcare professionals. It raises a practical question that comes up often, that of its address and where it is registered. This article sets out what an SCM really is, what it is not, and how its registered office should be thought through without confusing it with your place of practice.

What is a société civile de moyens?

The société civile de moyens has one exclusive purpose, to pool resources between practitioners. These resources most often cover the premises, salaried staff, the secretarial service, medical and IT equipment, and certain shared services. Each partner keeps their own patients, collects their own fees and retains full professional independence. The SCM does not carry out the profession of its members.

This feature is decisive. The SCM is a management structure, not a practising structure. It does not treat patients, does not bill any procedure to patients and does not collect fees in place of its partners. Its role is limited to the practical organisation of the practice and to allocating the costs linked to the shared resources. In practice, it incurs the common expenses, rent, staff salaries and supplies, then re-invoices them to each partner, generally in proportion to their use.

SCM and SEL, two approaches not to be confused

The most common confusion sets the SCM against the société d'exercice libéral, the SEL. Yet the two structures serve opposite purposes and are not substitutes for one another.

• The SEL carries out the profession. It collects the fees for the procedures performed, brings practitioners together around a care activity and registers with the Ordre in respect of that practice.
• The SCM carries out no profession. It manages only shared resources and does not register with the Ordre in the same way as a SEL, since it performs no care activity.

Keep this simple dividing line in mind, the SEL is a framework for practising, the SCM is a framework for resources. A single practitioner can therefore work in their own name, or through a SEL, while being a partner in an SCM that houses and organises their resources. The two structures can coexist without merging into one.

The business address of an SCM

Like any civil company, the SCM must have a registered office. The choice of this office is free. No rule requires, as a matter of principle, one address rather than another, provided that the chosen address is genuine, justified and that the company holds a proper right of occupation there.

In practice, the SCM is most often registered at the address of the practice whose resources it manages. This remains the most consistent choice, since the very purpose of the company is precisely to administer the premises and equipment of that practice. The registered office then matches the place where the pooled resources actually are, which makes the structure easier to read for third parties and for the authorities alike.

Other arrangements remain possible. An SCM can choose a separate business address, for example when the partners want to draw a clear line between the administrative address of the resource-sharing structure and the place where patients are received. This choice should then remain considered and documented, because it affects the very identity of the company and its consistency.

To explore the address options suited to your situation in more depth, you can read our page dedicated to business address for healthcare professionals.

The SCM's registered office and place of practice, an essential distinction

One point deserves particular attention. The SCM's registered office and the place where its partners practise are two different notions. The SCM provides an address for a resource-sharing structure, it does not provide an address for its members' practice. In other words, the company's address does not determine where each practitioner receives and treats their patients.

In concrete terms, the address of the SCM's registered office has no bearing on the place of practice that each partner declares to their Ordre. Everyone remains attached to the place where they actually carry out their care activity. Confusing these two levels can lead to imprecise declarations, both towards the Ordre and towards the authorities, and can blur the clarity of your organisation.

Business address, pension fund and the partners' affiliation

A common misconception is to think that the SCM's address would influence its partners' affiliations. This is not the case. The business address does not change a practitioner's pension fund, which depends on their profession and not on the address of a resource-sharing structure.

In the same way, each partner's affiliation, both for social security and for tax in respect of their activity, remains tied to their own practice. The SCM organises the sharing of common costs, it redefines neither the status nor the contributions of those who make it up. Everyone keeps their own regime.

Key points to remember

The SCM is a simple, tried and tested tool for pooling a practice's resources, provided its nature is respected. It manages resources, it does not practise. Its business address follows this logic, an address consistent with the place where the shared resources are, without being confused with anyone's practice. If you are unsure about the choice of registered office or how it fits with your way of practising, a conversation with your chartered accountant helps to secure the decision and to avoid imprecise declarations.

Sources as at 20 September 2026: Civil Code (société civile de moyens); INPI; the Ordre's rules on registration. Domisiège, business address services in Tours, backed by the firm Épiphyse Conseil. This article gives general guidance and does not replace a review of your own situation.