75 Percent of Physicians No Longer Own Their Practice

Three out of four physicians in America no longer own their own practice. The entity that now controls their decisions, their staffing, their billing — is not a doctor. It is a private equity firm with a five-year exit strategy and no obligation to the patient sitting in the exam room.In this solo episode, Dr. A breaks down what he calls the darkest deal in modern medicine: the private equity acquisition of physician practices. Between 2013 and 2020, nearly a thousand practices were absorbed by PE-backed consolidators — each time triggering the same playbook: cut staff, replace doctors with mid-levels, crank patient volume, code aggressively, and sell before the whole thing collapses. Dr. A traces how a model built for returns on IT companies and fast food chains has been force-fitted onto cardiology offices and ophthalmology suites — and why scaling a body is not the same as scaling a balance sheet.We also cover:For patients: Knowing the ownership structure of your practice is the first step to protecting yourself.For clinicians: Before burning out and selling to a PE-backed consolidator, physicians should know that AI-powered practice management tools can now handle a significant portion of administrative workload.System-level: The doctrine of corporate practice of medicine exists in many states but is almost never enforced