The gap between independent and employed practice has been widening for the last decade.
Between 2019 and 2023, the share of independent physician practices owned by hospitals, health systems or other corporate entities jumped from 39% to 59%. Over the same period, physician employment by these entities rose from 62% to 78%, according to a December 2025 report from the Progressive Policy Institute.
The finances behind independent practice are also facing pressure. Here are five notes on the divide between independent and employed physician pay:
1. New American Medical Association data shows that between 2014 and 2024, physician-owners drew a growing share of their income from salary and a shrinking share from productivity and practice financial performance — indicating the compensation structure of independent practice is converging toward the employed model.
2. Self-employed physicians averaged $374,000 per year, compared to $344,000 for employed physicians, according to Medscape’s “Physician Compensation Report 2023,” the most recently available data directly comparing employed and independent physicians.
3. Forty percent of independent physicians reported a reduction in income in 2023, according to the 2024 Survey of America’s Current and Future Physicians which surveyed 1,723 physicians, residents and medical students between June 17 and July 16, 2024.
4. Only 24% of independent physician practices report high or complete visibility into where they’re losing revenue, according to a March 2026 report from Veradigm, which surveyed 360 independent practice leaders. Some 54% said financial pressure increased over the prior 12 months.
5. In 2025, physician pay rose 3% overall, according to Medscape’s “‘A Return to Normalization’: Physician Compensation Report 2026.” Eight specialties exceeded $500,000 in average compensation, while seven — including physical medicine and rehabilitation, nephrology, dermatology, oncology and hematology, pulmonary medicine, allergy and immunology, and psychiatry — saw pay decreases.
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