Patients Prefer Independent Doctors. Payment Policy Doesn't.
Americans prefer independent physician practices over hospital-owned ones by nearly five to one. Yet only 18% of physicians now practice in physician-owned settings, a new low.
Charles Sauer of the Market Institute points to Washington's payment rules. Medicare can pay more for the same service when a hospital owns the practice, and MedPAC has warned that gap encourages hospitals to buy up independent doctors. He backs the Patients First Act's practice-cost updates, paid for with site-neutral reform and cuts to Medicare Advantage waste.
Direct Primary Care (DPC) offers a way to stay independent that doesn't wait on Congress. Doctors and patients set a fair price together with a simple membership, so a reimbursement formula never decides whether your doctor stays independent.