While hospital acquisition of medical groups continues to grow, the rate at which hospitals and independent delivery systems are acquiring medical groups has slowed over the past few years, according to reports from Deloitte and Jackson Healthcare.
Medical group acquisitions reached a high point in 2011, with 108 deals between hospitals, IDS and other acquires. There were 55 hospital and IDS acquisitions in 2011, up from 23 the previous year and 15 in 2008. However, in 2012 there were only 70 medical group acquisition deals reported overall, and 21 for IDS/hospitals, according to the Deloitte issue brief, "Physician-hospital employment: This time it's different."
Furthermore, medical group acquisitions declined 27 percent from the fourth quarter in 2012 to the first quarter in 2013, which only saw 12 deals.
The Jackson Healthcare report, "Filling the Void: 2013 Physician Outlook & Practice Trends," shows a slight decline for physicians working in practices owned by hospitals or health systems over the past year. In 2012 around 15 percent of physicians reported practicing with a hospital or health system owned group, which dropped to 14 percent in 2013. Over the same period, the number of physicians who worked for a physician-owned practice but had no ownership stake jumped 3 percent to 15 percent of physicians in 2013.
However, Jackson Healthcare also reported physicians identifying as hospital-employed jumped from 20 percent in 2012 to 26 percent in 2013.
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