Independent medical groups saw profits grow in 2019, while health system-affiliated groups faced a loss, according to a recent AMGA survey.
The 2020 Medical Group Operations and Finance Survey, released Dec. 23, showed medical groups' overall median profit/investment per provider last year was -$22,028, compared to -$57,426 in 2018.
For independent medical groups, the median profit per provider was $12,423 in 2019, up from $5,200 in 2018. Health system-affiliated medical groups reported a median loss per provider of $163,994, compared to $165,050 a year in 2018.
"The numbers alone are not necessarily indicative of system-affiliated groups performing worse than independent groups," Fred Horton, AMGA Consulting president, said in a news release. "One reason for these divergent trends is that revenue generated from ancillary services, such as scans and lab work, is reflected in the bottom line of independent medical groups, but generally does not accrue to the bottom line of groups affiliated with a system. Another reason is that certain expenses are exclusive to system-affiliated medical groups, for example, system office allocations and centralized service expense allocations."
The survey features data from 41 independent and affiliated medical groups, representing more than 20,000 providers across 3,300 clinical sites. The survey results do not reflect the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical groups' finances.