Physician employment continued to inch up last year, with nearly six in 10 physician practices owned by hospitals or corporate entities, according to a new report from Avalare and the Physicians Advocacy Institute.
The two organizations examined physician practice ownership from 2018 to the start of 2026. Here are six things to know:
1. Hospitals or corporate entities employ 82% of physicians, a 5.6 percentage point growth in the last two years.
2. Since 2018, 253,000 new physicians entered into employment contracts with 48,100 being in the last two years.
3. Hospitals employ nearly 60% of physicians and accounted for the largest employment growth over the last few years; 44,000 physicians have become hospital employees since 2024.
4. Corporate entities including private equity firms and health insurers employ just over 22% of physicians. Over the last eight years, 71,800 physicians became employed by corporate entities, hitting a new peak in 2026.
5. Since 2024, hospitals have acquired around 5,800 physician practices while corporate entities acquired more than 8,000. There were almost 13,900 private practices acquired in the last two years.
6. Just over one-third of physician practices are owned by physicians as of January 2026, down from 48.5% in 2018. There are now around 88,925 independently owned physician practices in the U.S.
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