Private practices account for less than half of physicians in most specialties, including radiology, the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Practice Benchmark Survey for 2024 has revealed.
AMA's policy research perspective survey paper, published May 29, showed the top three reasons driving physician practice ownership and organization changes in the U.S. Respondents cited needing to negotiate higher payment rates with payers, costly resources, and managing payers’ regulatory and administrative requirements.
In her analysis of the data, survey author Carol Kane, PhD, also noted the following:
- Overall, 42.2% of physicians were in private practice; that is, a practice that was wholly owned by physicians. This marks a drop of 18% since 2012.
- Ophthalmology showed the highest number of physicians in private practice at 70.4%. Radiology fell between anesthesiology and surgical subspecialties at 46.9%. Cardiology came in lowest at 30.7%.
- 34.5% of practices are hospital-owned, an increase from 23.4% in 2012.
- Private equity's stake in physician practices first registered in 2020 and has increased from 4.4% to 6.5%.
The Physician Practice Benchmark Survey has been conducted on a biennial basis since 2012, according to the AMA. Only physicians who have completed residency, provide patient care for at least 20 hours per week, are not employed by the federal government, and practice in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia are eligible.
"Since 2012, there has been a near continuous decrease in the percentage of physicians who have an ownership stake in their practice, from 53.2% to 35.4% in 2024," Kane wrote.
Read the full report here.
