Key Points:
- Payers, private equity firms, and pharmacy chains collectively own more physician practices (30.1%) than hospitals and health systems (28.4%).
- Over the past decade, there has been a steady transfer of medical practice ownership away from physicians. In 2012, 25.8% of physicians were employed by hospitals or health systems. Since then, hospitals and health systems have hired nearly 263,000 physicians.
- Between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023, over 44,000 practices were acquired, although the pace slowed in 2022 and 2023, with 8,100 practices changing ownership.
- Currently, 58.5% of physician practices are owned by non-physicians. As of January 1, 2024, ownership by corporations surpassed that of hospitals and health systems for the first time.