“Nearly 70 percent of all doctors are employed by either a hospital or a corporation, as of 2021, according to a recent paper published by the Physicians Advocacy Institute.
Meanwhile, over 25 percent of local health care markets are now controlled by a single private-equity firm that owns more than 30 percent of medical practices in a given specialty in 2021. It was also found that in 13 percent of markets, privately owned health care providers employed more than half the local specialists.
Hospitals and insurance companies have also bought out many independent physicians’ practices.
Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest insurers, now employs roughly 70,000 physicians…
The study further noted that health care costs rose in 80 percent of medical specialist areas after private-equity firms bought out existing practices.
Where these entities took over more than 30 percent of a local market, gastroenterology, dermatology, and obstetrics and gynecology costs increased by double digits.
Gastroenterologist prices jumped 14 percent, oncologists rose 16 percent, while ophthalmologists saw a 9 percent increase, the report said. The cost of care obstetrics and gynecology by 16 percent, and dermatology 13 percent.”