Physician Practices

The 204,617 physician practices in the US consist of primary care and specialty practices. Primary care physicians are responsible for monitoring an individual’s overall medical care, performing physical exams, and treating minor illnesses. Primary care practices include general and family practices, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics/gynecology. Specialty practices focus on a particular area of medical care and may also perform surgeries to treat problems. Specialists include allergists, cardiologists, dermatologists, gastroenterologists, general surgeons, ophthalmologists, orthopedists, psychiatrists, and radiologists.

Lower Reimbursement Rates

Physician practices are highly dependent on reimbursements from private insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Adapting to Changing Standards

Practices must ensure their billing software is ready for new billing codes and claim submission requirements, or they face disruptions in their cash flow, aka revenue flow.

Oct 3, 2026 - Patients Give Billing Processes Low Ratings

• No US state scores even 2 out of 5 on patient sentiment about medical billing, according to a survey conducted by patient-experience intelligence company Tellex. Nationally, billing scored 1.75 out of 5, and 84% of what patients wrote about it was negative. California posted the best score at 1.87, while Wyoming came in lowest at 1.61. Overall patient satisfaction told a very different story, with every state scoring 3.79 or higher.
• The physician burnout rate decreased to 41.9% in 2025 from 48.2% in 2023, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). Nevertheless, 32% of physicians intend to leave their organization within two years, and 56% said they didn’t feel valued by their organization. Some physician specialties, particularly emergency medicine, continue to experience disproportionately high burnout rates. Inefficient workflows and administrative burdens as the primary drivers of burnout, according to the AMA.
• Fewer than half of Americans (49%) can consistently afford the care and medications they need, according to the latest West Health-Gallup Healthcare Affordability Index. Physician practices may be negatively impacted by decreasing health care affordability. The share of adults who are “cost secure” has decreased from a 2022 peak of 61%, and an estimated 2.8 million more people fell out of that category between 2024 and 2025 alone. Cost insecurity now reaches groups long considered insulated: just 61% of adults 65 and older are cost secure, down from 73% in 2021.
• Physician practice employment and average wages for nonsupervisory employees decreased slightly during the first seven months of 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Revenue for physician offices increased 3.6% year over year and 3.% quarter over quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the US Census Bureau. The Producer Price Index for physician practices increased 1.21% year over year in August, according to the BLS.

Industry size & Structure

The typical physician practice has a single location, 22 employees, and about $5.6 million in annual revenue.

• There are over 204,000 physician practices in the US with about $749 billion in revenue and over 2.9 million employees.
• There are over 435,658 physicians working in private practices.
• Over one billion visits are made annually to physician practices.
• There are two types of physicians - MD (Medical Doctor) and DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). Both are qualified to perform all types of treatment, including surgery, but DOs emphasize the body's musculoskeletal system, preventive medicine and holistic care.
• Education and training requirements for physicians include 4 years of undergraduate school, 4 years of medical school, and 3 to 8 years of internship and residency. There are 143 accredited medical schools in the US for MD degrees and 41 accredited schools for DO degrees.
• To practice medicine in the US, all physicians must pass either the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) for MDs or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Exam (COMLEX) for DOs.