AMA survey results should ease worries about demise of private medical practice

A report recently released by the AMA provides a timely look at physician practice arrangements in the United States and concludes that, despite some media reports to the contrary, private practice remains a strong business model for U.S. physicians.

Researchers did report, however, statistical "shifts" toward hospital employment.

The report, titled "New Data on Physician Practice Arrangements: Private Practice Remains Strong Despite Shifts Toward Hospital Employment,"(www.ama-assn.org) is based on data drawn from the AMA's 2012 Physician Practice Benchmark Survey (PPBS).

Among the report's major findings are that 53.2 percent of all physicians surveyed were self-employed, and 60 percent of physicians worked in practices wholly owned by physicians. Twenty-three percent of all survey respondents worked in practices at least partly owned by a hospital, and 5.6 of respondents said they were hospital employees. Click here to read the full article.