In the last few decades, the trusted doctor-patient relationship, the cornerstone of most specialty practices, has been tested by the unparalleled upheaval and transformation in the business side of healthcare. As a result, specialty practices now face more changes than ever, forced to navigate complex economic pressures that challenge their ability to thrive while maintaining personalized, high-quality care.
Unfortunately, the current state of healthcare has whittled away independent practices and pushed us toward mass consolidation.
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By the Numbers: The Current State of Private Practices
From rising administrative burdens to mounting operational expenses, specialty practices—particularly those that remain independent—face a wide range of challenges. For many, consolidation is increasingly becoming the only viable option to sustain their operations and keep their practices running.
- More than three-fourths of all US doctors are now employed by hospitals, health insurers, private equity, or other corporate entities.
- 2020 was a turning point, the first year that a majority of physicians worked outside physician-owned medical practices.
- Between 2012 and 2022, the share of physicians working in private practices dropped from 60.1% to 46.7%.
4 out of 5 physicians who have sold their practice cited a need to negotiate higher payment
rates with payers and needing to manage administrative and regulatory burdens as the
main drivers of their decision.
Consolidation Is Not the Promised Cure-All
The rapid evolution of healthcare is driving widespread, systemic change, reshaping the industry at every level. Unfortunately, this transformation has placed physician-owned specialty practices under immense pressure, threatening their independence from all sides. For many, these challenges are forcing a difficult decision—to walk away from the businesses they worked tirelessly to build.
Private equity (PE) wants control.
PE pushes private practices within many regions into groups they control. These consolidated entities provide practices with more capital, allowing them to invest in new technologies and expand facilities. Their larger size also helps practices achieve economies of scale by giving them more negotiating power with payers. However, they also impact the availability and cost of care within these regions.
Health systems have a forced hand.
These groups attempt to streamline healthcare for patients but are plagued by the same combination of staffing cuts and inflated prices as PE firms. Unfortunately, in many cases, clinicians are forced to play by the health system’s rules—potentially modifying care for the sake of profits and metrics over patients.
Independent Physician Practices Are Foundational to Healthcare
Despite the challenges and prevailing pessimism, independent specialty medical practices still have opportunities to maintain successful private ownership structures. More than just a hope, these practices are a critical cornerstone of the American healthcare system, making their continued success a foundational necessity.
- For healthcare as a whole: While certain groups loudly claim that consolidation benefits the healthcare industry, the evidence is mixed. In many cases, larger healthcare systems can increase their market power and decrease competition, driving higher prices, worse outcomes, and burnout among clinicians. American healthcare needs to retain independent practices with the autonomy to prioritize patient care over corporate goals.
- For patients who deserve better care: Patients often get the short end of the stick in consolidation along with the independent physicians who treat them. Healthcare is a necessity, and with limited options, patients are forced to pay high prices as costs increase and the quality of care decreases. Independent specialty practices offer these patients more options, increased care access, and often lower prices.
- For doctors who put medicine first: Doctors bought out by PE and hospital systems are often tied to contracts that make them see more patients at lower rates. Specialty physicians who are able to stay independent can negotiate more favorable rates and have more autonomy. This autonomy results in higher job satisfaction, less burnout, and better doctor-patient relationships.
- For employers facing rising costs: As healthcare costs increase across the industry, employers are compelled to pay higher premiums or direct costs. On top of that, the cost of living continues to rise, forcing employees to demand increased salaries to keep up with their basic needs—including healthcare costs that aren’t covered by insurance.
Even though it may seem nearly impossible, by taking the right steps to strengthen your practice, we can protect independent medicine.
It’s Not Easy—But It Is Possible to Remain Independent
The biggest challenge most specialty physicians face today isn’t caring for patients; it’s juggling all the admin and background work it takes to run a practice. There’s a lot to keep up with outside of being an actual doctor–from reimbursement to regulatory requirements, prior authorizations, and more. Most practices get stuck; they don’t have the resources to build a team of experts needed to run the practice, and they also can’t afford to simply ignore these challenges.
Most physicians want to focus on practicing medicine, but today’s healthcare requirements also require complex, ongoing business operations.
To overcome these challenges, practices must leverage optimized technology and work to stay ahead of future demands.
The Key: Find a Holistic Partner
You've dedicated your life to becoming a successful physician. However, modern medicine has new demands. There are not enough hours in a day to manage the business side of a medical practice and successfully take care of all your patients. While the easiest solution would be to succumb to the pressures of consolidation to take the administrative stuff off your plate – it’s not your only option.
Instead, look for a partner who allows you to maintain your autonomy but can also provide support by helping you:
- Uncover the practice metrics that matter and leverage them to improve and optimize practice operations
- Provide you with specialty-specific expertise to answer all the right questions like “Are you using your independence to negotiate favorable payer agreements?” to “Do you know where your referrals are coming from?”
- Support you with the services you need so you can focus on your patients
Strengthen Your Independence with TRIARQ
your practice. We work with specialty practices nationwide, giving us a unique bird-eye-view understanding of your specialty market. We know what strategies work best for certain types of practices and can customize them to fit your unique needs. We have the resources, expertise, data, and insights needed to handle all the administrative burdens you might face.
Most other partners and solutions favor the trends of profit and consolidation, but we’re focused on helping you stay independent. We can help you:
- Optimize operations and financial performance
- Streamline administrative tasks
- Maximize profitability
- Solidify payer relationships
- Improve practice reputation and positioning
- Close patient care gaps
Our goal is to help you improve your operations and finances to strengthen your practice so you can focus on providing high-quality care.
We work with you to develop a custom strategy that makes you attractive to payers, providers, and patients and equips you with the tools and technology needed to make it all work.