Healthcare Insights
Number of physician group practices by state
Physicians have a lot of decisions to make when considering where they want to practice medicine. These include the type of practice and its geographic location.
Physician groups offer a range of benefits for both patients and providers. Many physician group practices offer a one-stop-shop model, meaning patients can receive many different types of care in a single, convenient location. Operating out of a physician group practice can also help individual physicians increase their income, reduce burnout, expand their access to patients, and more.
Using PhysicianGroupView, we found the number of active physician group practices in each state tracked in the Atlas Dataset.
Number of active physician group practices in the U.S.
Fig. 1 Data is from Definitive Healthcare’s PhysicianGroupView. The number of practices represents only those listed as “active” in our database as of January 2024. Accessed January 2025.
How many physician group practices are there in the U.S.?
According to our database, there more than 330,000 currently active physician group practices across the U.S. as of January 2025. It’s important to note that a physician group may have several different locations. Doing so helps physicians remain competitive in the market while giving them access to more patients.
The top five states with the most physician group practices are:
And the five states with the least number of practices are:
For more insights on physician group practices, check out the IDNs affiliated with the most physician groups and the largest HCA physician groups.
What is the largest physician group in the U.S.?
According to PhysicianGroupView, Ascension Medical Group (Definitive ID 717580) is the largest currently active physician group in the country we track in our database. It has 1,097 locations and more than 15,000 physicians within its network.
What is the difference between a solo practice and a group practice?
There are a few different types of medical practice settings in which a healthcare worker may be employed.
As the name implies, a solo practice is an office with only one physician. According to the American College of Physicians (ACP), these locations are characterized by their small staff and limited patient base. While physicians can develop close relationships with staff and patients and grow the practice they like, the sole burden of running the practice rests on them. In addition to delivering medical care, the physician is responsible for making agreements with insurers and documenting that the practice complies with federal laws and regulations.
A group practice, in contrast, has two or more physicians providing care in an office. Group practices may be further divided into single-specialty or multispecialty, which is determined by whether the physicians provide one specific type of care or various types. The ACP states that the increased number of physicians in the group offers greater flexibility than a solo practice, as more people are available to work nights and weekends. The administrative burden of running a practice may also be spread among the physicians.
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