Self-employed vs. employed physicians: Medicare, Medicaid patient count

Becker's Healthcare July 15, 2024
Patsy Newitt

Medicaid patient counts for self-employed and employed physicians were substantially lower than Medicare, according to Medscape’s 2024 “Doctors Evaluate Medicare and Medicaid Report 2024,” published July 12.

Medscape surveyed 1,030 physicians across more than 29 specialties from Feb. 1 to March 19.

Seventy-seven percent of self-employed physicians said that 11% of patients were covered by Medicare, compared with37% of Medicaid patients. According to Medscape, this could reflect a hesitancy of small practices to take on lower Medicaid payment rates and Medicaid patients favoring local hospitals.

Here’s how self-employed physicians said how much of their patient count comes from Medicare and Medicaid:

Medicare:

1% to 5% of patient count: 5%

6% to 10% of patient count: 7%

11%...

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