Corporate entities now employ four in five, or 82%, or all practicing physicians across the U.S. and doctors say such ownership of their practices further erodes their autonomy. So says a new report from the Physicians Advocacy Institute and Healthsperien’s Center for Health Research, Policy & Strategy, which polled more than 1,000 employed physicians across the country.
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Corporate entities – from private equity firms and hospitals to health insurance companies – now employ four in five, or 82%, or all practicing physicians across the U.S. and doctors say such ownership of their practices erodes their autonomy.
So says a new report from the Physicians Advocacy Institute and Healthsperien’s Center for Health Research, Policy & Strategy, which polled more than 1,000 employed physicians across the country. The institute’s 2026 Employed Physician Survey examines, in part, how doctor employment and ownership structure “shape clinical decision-making, care delivery and access, administrative burden and autonomy, career plans and physicians’ prior experience in physician-owned practice.”
The report comes during an escalating trend of physician practices being owned by hospitals, private equity firms, health insurance companies and other corporate entities. The trend has moved so fast the Institute’s report says that nearly 75% of those surveyed have spent their entire careers in this model of working for a corporate employer.
And as corporate ownership has taken hold, so has its influence on the practice of medicine. Of those surveyed, nearly half of physicians surveyed said they “frequently feel pressure to prioritize patient volume over optimal care,” the Institute’s report said.
Meanwhile, 63% of those surveyed said they face “corporate barriers to referring patients out-of-network” and 59% said they “feel pressure to keep patients within their health system.”
“Corporate owners’ primary allegiance is to profits, not patients,” said Physicians Advocacy Institute chief executive officer Kelly Kenney. “These new data show that this misalignment is evident in many corporate owners’ policies, which all too often restrict physicians’ ability to ensure their patients receive the best possible care.”
Yet despite the corporate influences the institute’s researchers say the report indicated doctors are “broadly satisfied with the care they personally provide.” The challenges come with administrative burdens and related frustrations with “corporate challenges,” the institute report said. As one example, 78% of physicians surveyed cited electronic health record requirements as a top challenge.
“It’s vital for those considering the future of healthcare in America to understand what corporatization and financialization are doing to patients and the physicians who want nothing more than to put their care first,” the Institute’s Kenney said. “Only when we understand these disturbing trends can we consider policies to better align physician and patient interests with practice ownership.”
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