A Thought on Physician Practice Mergers

Practice Mergers

Last week I gave two speeches at Broad and Cassel's first annual physician seminar. The theme of the seminar was physician practice mergers. I usually don't use this blog to pontificate but after networking with colleagues, physicians, and physician managers at this seminar, I believe now stronger than ever that there will be a significant physician consolidation trend in the next 3 years.

While I have always believed in the future of physician consolidation, I often wonder why physicians aren't merging at a more rapid pace. I understand all of the usual reasons of "why" but the current business marketplace continues to punish physician practices of all sizes, especially the smaller medical practices. Pure economics alone should push physicians to merge with one another.

Hopefully physicians will wake up sooner than later. If not, expect a continued decline in physician earnings.