Seventy percent of hospital executives say they acquired private practices because physicians approached them with the intention to sell their practices, according to Jackson Healthcare survey data.
Travis Singleton, the senior vice president of physician recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins, accounts for the reduction in physician practices as a "death by a thousand pinpricks," citing multiple factors, including expenses imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the movement toward accountable care organizations, changes in delivery of care, compliance pressures and EMR implementation, among others, as motive for physician practice acquisition, according to "So Long, Marcus Welby, M.D."
The following list shows possible reasons for physician acquisition by hospitals:
- Physicians approach hospital/seek to sell their practices — 70 percent
- Build a competitive advantage — 58 percent
- Part of a physician recruitment strategy — 57 percent
- Maintain a competitive advantage — 55 percent
- ACO formation — 30 percent
- Improve patient safety — 28 percent
A total of 118 executives completed the survey.
Editor's note: Hospital executives were allowed to select multiple reasons hospitals acquire private practices in the survey.