Physician Practice Transitions to System Ownership Do Not Result in Diminished Practice Responsiveness to Patients

To examine the extent to which physician-to-system ownership transitions are associated with declines in practice-reported patient responsiveness (PRPR).

A longitudinal cohort of practices (n = 897) from the National Survey of Large Physician Organizations/National Survey of Small- and Medium-Sized Physician Organizations (2006/08) and the National Survey of All-Size Physician Organizations (2012/13).

Multivariable regression estimated the effect of ownership on changes in PRPR, controlling for practice size, specialty composition, other practice, and market characteristics.

Data were collected from three nationally representative surveys of physician organizations consisting of 40-minute interviews with the medical director, president, or chief executive officer.

Nine percent of organizations transitioned to system ownership. Compared to practices that were continuously physician-owned, practices that switched to system ownership did not have significantly lower PRPR at baseline but continuously system-owned practices did. Transitions to system ownership were associated with increased PRPR compared to continuously physician ownership. Increased practice size and changes in specialty composition, however, were associated with diminished PRPR.

Practices can maintain or improve strategies to address patient concerns when transferring ownership to systems with careful attention to the impact of increased size and changes in specialty composition.