Page 10 - Hospitalists - Risks When You're the Doctor in the House (Part One)

SVMIC Hospitalists - Risks When You’re the Doctor in the House

decades, hospitalists have been the fastest growing specialty

in medicine with more than 60,000 physicians, according to the
Society of Hospital Medicine. With these types of numbers, it

is easy to see that the hospitalist model of care is becoming an
increasingly prominent part of the inpatient landscape.
3

Many factors have contributed to this increase, not the least

of which is the wave of acquisitions of physicians’ practices
by hospitals and healthcare systems. According to a survey

from the American Medical Association (AMA), in 2018, for
the first time, employed physicians outnumbered independent

physicians. The study showed that 47 percent of all physicians
4
queried were employed, compared to 46 percent of doctors who

were self-employed that year. Other recent studies have shown:

1. Hospitals employed 42 percent of physicians in July 2016,

up from one in four in July 2012.

2. From July 2012 to July 2016, the number of hospital-
employed practices increased by 36,000, reflecting a 100
percent increase.

3. As of July 2016, nearly a third (29 percent) of physician

practices were hospital-owned.

4. Between July 2015 and July 2016, the number of physicians

employed by hospitals increased by 14,000 nationwide.
The percentage of employed physicians grew by almost 11

percent during the same time.

5. Physician employment and hospital ownership of practices

climbed for the fourth consecutive year nationwide when

3 J. Hosp. Med. 2014 December;9(12): 750-755, Adam C. Schaffer, MD, et al.
4 AMA Study, www.ama-assn.org/about/research/employed-physicians-now-exceed-those-
who-own-their-practices, May 10, 2019.

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