82% of physicians are now employed by hospitals, health systems, insurers, or corporate entities

Posted on by

This is the state of our healthcare system. The only hope left for physicians is Direct Care.

Some more fun facts:

  • More than six in ten physician practices (63.9%) are now owned by hospitals or other corporate entities, driven by the marketplace race to acquire physician practices.
  • 253,000 additional physicians became employees of hospitals or corporate entities from January 2018 to January 2026; 48,100 additional physicians were employed between 2024 and 2026.
  • Hospitals and other corporate entities acquired 85,000 additional physician practices from 2018-2026, totaling 157,200 (63.9%). Almost 13,900 practices were acquired from 2024-2026, increasing by 9.7%. Corporate ownership (33.2%) continued to outweigh hospital ownership (30.6%).

It is looking more like an avalanche than a snowball rolling downhill.

We need to keep fighting for independently owned and physician-run DPC practices. That’s you!!

The second piece to the equation is NOT to get greedy and sell out to a private equity firm. That’s coming in the near future, and you will be tempted if you are close to retirement. It’s human nature to justify almost anything, but I hope that doctors will pass their DPC practice on to another physician for a reasonable price.

We are in this together. Let’s continue the good fight.

2

About Douglas Farrago, MD

Dr. Farrago is a retired family physician based in Forest, Virginia. Since 2021, he has run DPCnews.com, a leading resource for the Direct Primary Care (DPC) movement. He is the author of three best-selling books on Direct Primary Care: The Official Guide to Starting Your Own Direct Primary Care Practice The Direct Primary Care Doctor’s Daily Motivational Journal Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) In 2016, Dr. Farrago conceived the idea for the Direct Primary Care Alliance and co-founded the organization alongside other pioneering DPC physicians. He is widely recognized as a leading expert in the DPC model and frequently lectures to medical students, residents, and practicing physicians on how to successfully start and run their own DPC practices.Dr. Farrago sold his Direct Primary Care practice in October 2020 but continues to receive care there as a patient.