AMA: Most physicians now work outside of private practice

For the first time, most physicians worked outside of physician-owned practices in 2020, as doctors continue to gravitate toward employment by hospitals and other organizations, according to a new American Medical Association survey.

The trade group’s latest Physician Practice Benchmark Survey found that 49.1% of patient care physicians worked in physician-owned practices in 2020, a drop of almost 5 percentage points from 2018, when that figure was 54%. It’s 11 percentage points lower than 2012, when 60% of physicians worked in physician-owned practices.

“I think it is the most consequential institutional change in our healthcare system in the last 30 years,” said Jeff Goldsmith, president of the consultancy Health Futures.

The AMA has documented the gradual evolution away from physician-owned practices in each iteration of its biennial survey, which it has performed since 2012. Last year’s results, which include responses from 3,500 physicians, suggest the trend has entered hyperdrive.

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