A new report by the Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI) in collaboration with Avalere Health analyzes recent trends in physician employment and the acquisition of physician practices by hospitals and health systems. Physicians may become employees through a group practice acquisition, or individual physicians may enter into employment arrangements directly with hospitals/systems. Here are some highlights from the analysis:
- Between July 2012 and July 2015, the percentage of hospital-employed physicians increased nearly 50%
- By 2015, 38% of physicians were employed by hospitals
- Hospital or system ownership of physician practices grew by 86% from 2012 to 2015
- By July 2015, there were 67,000 hospital-owned physician practices
- One in four physician practices was hospital-owned by 2015
Regionally, nearly half of all physicians in the Midwest were employed by hospitals in 2015. Physician employment rates were lowest in the South and in Alaska and Hawaii where a third of physicians were hospital-employed. The pros and cons of these employment trends are briefly listed.
PAI and Avalere are planning additional analysis of this trend and its implications for early 2017.
Source: Avalere Health. Physician practice acquisition study: national and regional employment changes. Physicians Advocacy Institute, Sept. 2016. http://www.physiciansadvocacyinstitute.org/Portals/0/PAI-Physician-Employment-Study.pdf
Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org
Filed under: Benchmarking, Hospitals, Integrated delivery, Medical staff, Physicians, Posted by Diana Culbertson | Tagged: hospital employment of physicians, medical group practices, physician employment, physician practice acquisition trends |
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