Group medical practices are an important aspect of the US healthcare industry. Their benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks, and group practices provide a lot of positive benefits to both patients and physicians. The healthcare industry needs to come together to ensure that group practices aren’t resigned to the annals of history in the years to come.

Introduction

Group medical practices are just one kind of medical practice that can be seen across the world. Once the most ubiquitous form of healthcare practices, today they are under pressure from increased costs and competition. Today’s group practices are slowly inching ground to larger healthcare institutions and the group practices that still remain are shrinking to smaller and smaller sizes.

But this decline in group medical practices is a concerning trend in the healthcare industry. Group medical practices allow patients to enjoy higher healthcare outcomes while at the same time they also provide several important benefits to the healthcare professionals who work within them.

The impact that group medical practices have on both patients and physicians is outsized.

Group Medical Practice

Group medical practices usually consist of two or medical healthcare professionals that come together to pool their resources and enjoy the economies of scale. Nearly 1/5th of all medical practices were small practices with less than 5 members, the highest distribution amongst medical practices of all kinds. But the percentage of medical practices is slowly shrinking. 49.1% of patient care physicians worked in physician-owned practices as per a recent survey by the American Medical Association, a figure that is drastically lower than 54% of physicians who were working in group practices in 2018.

What is the reason behind this decline in physician-owned practices? For one, the pandemic has changed how the healthcare system works. Increasing administrative costs, higher capital expenditure, lower profits, lower patient acquisitions, and increased need for stability for new healthcare professionals are all physician group practice trends that can be attributed to playing a role in their decline.

Why are they important?

Group medical practices are important because they serve multifunctional roles in the healthcare system. Firstly, group practices allow physicians to employ the economy of scale in their own favor. They are able to have better-negotiating power against third-party payers and insurance networks. They are also able to have higher capital reserves as members pool their resources together. As a result, group practices can afford to make the necessary capital investments that are needed to keep their practice running. At the same time, the administrative costs and burdens are divided across all the members, making their use of time more efficient while also increasing their profit margins.

Apart from the purely economical benefits, the group medical practice offers several holistic benefits to physicians. A support group within the profession that is often lacking in a solo practice. The ability to get advice, review, suggestions, and consultations from peers like one would have in a hospital setting. The chance to set your own rates and times unlike what is happening in hospitals.

As a result, doctors have a better work-life balance and have fewer chances of suffering from burnout. This is not to say that group medical practices are the perfect panacea to the modern healthcare system, but it can certainly be argued that the benefits outweigh the costs.

On the other hand, patients also experience a positive impact as a result of group practices. Group practices can often be located in cities and towns where hospitals are designed to not operate due to logistical and operational costs. Without group practices, millions of people lose their access to easy and affordable healthcare. Group practices also result in better treatment outcomes when it comes to healthcare. As a result of the better investment, consolidated resources, consultation with peers, and more, group practices are able to provide a higher quality of care to their patients.

It can be easily observed that group practices have a net positive benefit to the healthcare industry. Their positive impact on patients and providers both can’t be understated in any manner.

Conclusion

Group medical practices are an important part of the healthcare industry. The presence of group medical practices allows healthcare to be more accessible to countless millions across the United States. In areas where hospitals and other larger healthcare organizations would not wish to operate due to reasons of profitability and scale, group medical practices flourish and allow million to easily access affordable and quality healthcare.

Group medical practices are also important for healthcare professionals as well. Group medical practices allow healthcare professionals to enjoy a much better work-life balance while also giving them the flexibility to work independently but in a larger group.