Is physician ownership of medical practices still viable in an age of corporate consolidation?

Medical Economics September 25, 2024
Ed Nunes

Private equity investment or hospital ownership can offer management advantages. Yet doctors are opting for something else: autonomy.

Physician practice ownership has been slowly and steadily declining for nearly two decades, with only 48% of doctors reporting independent ownership in Becker’s 2022 annual survey report. This trend is fueled by hospital and private equity consolidation; decreasing payer reimbursement combined with rising practice costs; and intrusive administrative regulatory burdens (prior authorizations, good faith estimates and quality measures).

Doctors are often drawn to a private equity acquisition by an attractive purchase price, which is less governed by antikickback legislation, plus the potential of higher reimbursement rates, greater access to capital and relinquishing administrative duties. Hospital ownership can offer similar advantages, including a...

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