Private Equity takes care of all the legwork; rent, admin, staff, patient flow. Not that groups can't do this, it's outsourced so that they can see more patients and bill more, ironically reducing patient care because profit.

Trex nailed it in their reply. And doctors do set up their own practices-- and every successful practice has been bought out.

True story... I used to go to a fairly large physician owned clinic network. They sold out to optum. Now care gets worse every year. Luigi, you listening buddy?

Private equity needs to be heavily, restrictively regulated. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they are a caustic and exploitative market influence pretty much across the board if they’re given even the tiniest bit of leash.

yes. insurance companies in particular are too much for independent doctors to negotiate with. they would rather pay $100 for a shitty appointment where nothing is solved than $200 where something is actually done about the problem (such as treatments or tests, which they would also probably have to pay for).

Liability insurance. If a small practice gets sued (and they will get sued), the insurance gets too expensive for the practice to be a going concern. Only way to survive this is by joining a large conglomerate who has their own legions of lawyers. Source: father-in-law who had a successful general surgery practice for 30 years before being essentially forced into retirement or to join a huge system. He chose the former.