Majority of Physicians Now Salaried Employees of Health Networks

The trend continues that an increasing percentage of physicians in the U.S. are salaried as opposed to self-employed and in private practice. This trend is particularly true for younger ones. This development was discussed in a recent article (see:Latest AMA Benchmark Survey Shows Number of Physicians Employed by Health Networks Now Exceeds Those in Independent Practice) with an excerpt below:For the first time, more doctors are employed by health networks than are in private practice.... In a press release, the AMA describes the event as “the continuation of a long-term trend that has slowly shifted the distribution of physicians away from ownership of private practices.”....According to the new release, employed physicians made up 47.4% of all patient care doctors in 2018 —an increase of 6% since 2012. Meanwhile, self-employed doctors represented 45.9% of physicians in patient care—down 7% (from 53.2%) since 2012.....Physicians can be employed by other doctors in physician-owned practices, by hospitals directly, and by hospital-owned medical practices....The AMA partly attributed the increase in employed physicians to age: 70% of doctors under the age of 40 reported as employees in 2018, compared to 38.2% of doctors 55 and over who reported as employed.So what are the possible implications of this shift, both for healthcare and for the physicians themselves? Below are as list of consequences that come immediately to my mind. You may be able to think of o...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Hospital Executive Management Medical Education Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs