PATIENT CARE PHYSICIANS
Less than half of patient care physicians had an ownership stake in their medical practice, according to a newly updated study on physician practice arrangements by the American Medical Association (AMA). This marks the first time that physician practice owners fell below a majority portion of the nation’s patient care physicians since the AMA began documenting practice arrangement trends.
The share of patient care physicians with ownership stakes in a medical practice declined six percentage points to 47.1% in 2016 from 53.2% in 2012. In contrast, the share of patient care physicians with employed positions increased about five percentage points to 47.1% in 2016 from 41.8% in 2012. As a result, there were equal shares of physician employees and physician practice owners in 2016 while 5.9% of patient care physicians were independent contractors.
The preference of younger physicians toward employed positions has had a prominent impact. Nearly two-thirds (65.1%) of physicians under age 40 were employees in 2016, compared to 51.3% in 2012. The share of employees among physicians age 40 and older also increased between 2012 and 2016, but at a more modest pace than younger physicians.
Whether physicians are owners, employees, or independent contractors varied widely across medical specialties in 2016. The surgical sub-specialties had the highest share of owners (59.3%), followed by radiology (56.3%). Emergency medicine had the lowest share of owners (27.9%) and the highest share of independent contractors (24.8%). Pediatrics was the specialty with the highest share of employed physicians (58.3%).
While the majority of patient care physicians (55.8%) worked in medical practices that were wholly owned by physicians in 2016, this majority decreased from 60.1% in 2012. Although this share is more than four percentage points lower than that of 2012, most of this change occurred between 2012 and 2014. Physician movement toward hospital-owned practices and direct hospital employment appears to have slowed since 2014. The share of physicians who worked directly for a hospital or in practices with at least some hospital ownership, was the same in 2014 and 2016—32.8%.
Despite challenges posed by a changing healthcare landscape, most physicians (57.8%) provide care to patients in small practices of 10 or fewer physicians. There were signs of a gradual shift toward larger practices. In 2016, 13.8% of physicians were working in practices with 50 or more physicians compared to 12.2% in 2012. AMA
