Physicians in private practices have been fighting for survival over the last several years as reimbursement rate declines paired with rising practice costs have forced many practice owners to make difficult choices.
Marsha Thorson, formerly a practice manager of Gunnison (Colo.) Valley Family Physicians, identified several market dynamics that private practice owners and managers should watch in 2025:
1. The role of private equity in consolidation. Around 63% of physician transactions in 2023 were attributable to a PE firm or their portfolio companies, according to VMG Health's 2024 Healthcare M&A Report published in May. PE firms are also looking toward physician group acquisitions for their ability to combine deals into large and scalable platforms.
2. Workforce retention efforts. Ms. Thorson said that she is eyeing these efforts as "employed providers continue to seek new freedoms from contractual demands of workload, wRVUs, [and] noncompete agreements with greater movement to serving in locum tenens roles exclusively or partially to find break in the routine demands of hospital administration."
Burnout has been identified as a key component driving physicians away from employment, according to the American Medical Association.
Ms. Thorson also noted that workforce retention could be particularly important in specialties and geographic areas with more dire physician shortages, such as in primary care, OB-GYN and rural settings.
3. Artificial intelligence. Ms. Thorson is also watching the "furtherance of generative artificial intelligence and machine learning and finding ways to integrate these supportive technologies. These may serve as applications for clinical care delivery, care coordination, administrative support with documentation and message management."
Some practices have already begun integrating AI as a method for managing physician burnout, such as Carollton, Va.-based Senatara Primary Care. In July, David Wallace, MD, a physician at Sentara, said that the implementation of the DAX Copilot has cut down on time spent taking notes and completing other administrative tasks.
"It's the 'pajama time,' as they say," said David Wallace, MD, a physician at Sentara. Wallace has been in practice since 1995, and had previously done all note taking by hand.
"If my notes aren't finished, I either stay after work and finish up my notes, or now I've got to go home and take time away from my family to finish up my notes or I come back into work on the weekends. I think that can increase burnout for providers."