It’s increasingly likely that your family doctor is now affiliated with the hospital conglomerates or Wall Street firms taking over the American health care system — and if so, new research suggests you’re likely being charged significantly more for your office visits than you would be at an independent practice. In total, health insurers are shelling out billions more annually for corporate-owned primary care providers, and they’re passing those costs onto you.
A groundbreaking new study published in the medical journal JAMA Health Forum found that, of the nearly 200,000 primary care physicians analyzed, the percentage of doctors affiliated with hospital systems has almost doubled since 2009, with about half of general practitioners affiliated with a hospital in 2022. Another small but growing number of family doctors have been selling their practices to private equity firms encroaching on the health care industry.
As of 2023, nearly four in five physicians were employees of hospital systems, private equity firms, insurance giants, or other corporations.
These affiliations come with heftier price tags: according to the study, prices for office visits are 11 percent higher for hospital-affiliated family doctors and 8 percent higher for private-equity-affiliated doctors as of 2022.
Those costs add up. The study’s authors found that in 2022, commercial health insurers spent up to $1.8 billion more on hospital-affiliated doctors than independent providers and possibly millions more for private-equity-affiliated providers. Consequently, health insurers are raising their premiums year over year, citing rising medical costs among their top reasons.
“The growing acquisition of physician practices by hospitals and health systems…
Auteur: Helen Santoro
