Medical students used to spend sleepless nights working toward the goal of running their own private practice. But with big corporations expanding rapidly in the healthcare field, is this dream dead?
To tackle this question, it’s important to understand the distinction between private and public practices. Independent practices do not operate with any partners or have connections with other medical organizations. These practices function with much smaller staff and client bases, and at the head of each is one sole physician.
Due to their smaller size, private practices can provide more intimate doctor-patient relationships. Patients and their doctors develop a level of trust that is more difficult to achieve with larger practices. For doctors, private practice means flexibility in scheduling and treatment options and greater autonomy over their work schedules.
With independence, though, comes responsibility. Between malpractice insurance, a small patient pool and the overhead costs of running one’s own business, it can be challenging to remain financially stable.
In recent years, independent practices have seen a rapid decline, and the Physicians Advocacy Institute paired with Avalere Health to break down these trends.
Between Jan. 1, 2019 and Jan. 1, 2022, large-scale hospitals and other large healthcare corporations acquired 36,200 physicians, leading corporate medical institutions to increase by 38 percent. Now, almost 70 percent of doctors practice with a corporate-owned practice or hospital.
A clear accelerator of this shift was the COVID-19 pandemic. Independent practices felt the financial toll of the pandemic, and many found themselves working grueling hours with an overwhelming lack of resources. For many doctors, corporate practice alleviated financial concerns and allowed them to keep practicing medicine in a less volatile environment.
At the front of this trend, as always, is Amazon. On Feb. 22, 2023, Amazon acquired One Medical for $3.9 billion. What once was the largest independently run primary care company in the country is now run by one of the world’s largest corporations, giving Amazon a foot in the healthcare door.
Under Amazon, One Medical will offer 24-hour video messaging, virtual or in-office visits that can be scheduled within 24 hours, lab services with walk-in availability, greater access to family care, and more.
What Does the Future Hold?
Though Amazon will now control more than 200 medical offices, its draw still pales in comparison to the thousands of MinuteClinics and CVS Health locations nationwide. Still, Amazon has already opened new locations and has plans for expansion in 2024.
Some worry that this transition from independent to large-company practices will raise prices of medical care but corporations such as Amazon claim the goal is to do the opposite. One Medical patients now pay $199 a year for any mental or physical health needs with access to a range of virtual amenities.
In 2022, the American Medical Association found that 46.7 percent of doctors operate within fully-owned medical practices. Though this percentage is certainly lower than in the past, small practices are still accessible to those who prefer them.
Megan Brokamp is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
