Physician Employment in America: Private Practices Dominate Despite Increased Hospital Employment

A common perception is that physician-owned practices are in decline in the United States. However, there has been a lack of recent academic research to comprehensively characterize these trends. Our aim is to assess the current trends in physician employment over the last 2 decades to assess the interplay between private practices and hospital employment.

We analyzed data from the United States Census Bureau's Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Industry classifications were defined under the North American Industry Classification System.

In 2022, the United States had 760,000 physicians, a 22% increase over the past decade. Hospital employment rose by 33%, while private medical practices grew by 17%. Currently, 55% of physicians work in private practices, down 3% from a decade ago, and 27% are hospital employed, up from 25% from a decade ago. Government employment decreased from 14% in 2013 to 12%. University employment remained stable (3%). There were 213,000 private medical practices in 2020, with 73% being small practices. There has been an increase in large practices(≥50 employees), while small practices (<50 employees) decreased by 16% over 2 decades.

Private practices continue to be the dominant employment for physicians. Hospital employment over the last decade increased to just over one-quarter of employed physicians. Small private practices continue to be the most common type of private practice, despite an increase in larger private practices over the last decade.