The Disappearing Independent Doctor…

The quiet disappearance of the independent physician should concern everyone who cares about access, affordability, and accountability in healthcare.

In just a few years, the landscape has filled: nearly 60% of physicians’ practices are now corporate-owned, up sharply from 2019. Independent practices are vanishing in rural communities, but no region is immune. This isn’t just a structural shift; it’s a cost and care issue.

When consolidation accelerates, prices follow. Studies consistently show patient prices rising after acquisitions, often by double digits, while overall healthcare spending increases. At the same time, physicians report losing clinical autonomy as financial incentives begin to outweigh patient-centered decision-making.

This is not an argument against scale or innovation. It’s an argument against a system that rewards consolidation over competition and opacity over transparency.

A sustainable healthcare system depends on:

• Independent, physician-led care models

• Competition that drives quality and cost discipline

• Real price transparency before care is delivered

• Consumer purchasing power that rewards value

When independent doctors disappear, patients lose choice, communities lose access, and the system loses accountability.

There is a market-based path forward, but it requires us to protect independence, restore competition, and align incentives around value instead of volume.

That’s the work ahead.

Source: Fixing a Broken System: Policy Response to Hospital Acquisitions of Physician Practices that Limit Health Care Access for U.S. Consumers, Diana Moss, Alix Ware & Leif Lin. Progressive Policy Institute, December 2025.