The days of doctor-owned medical practices are probably over now that the Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") increases the costs for doctors to practice individually. Physicians are now becoming hospital employees more frequently, which reduces quality of care and productivity, says Scott Gottlieb, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
- ObamaCare shifts money to favor "accountable care organizations" that provide outpatient care and turns physicians into hourly employees.
- As hospital employees, doctors will no longer be reimbursed for how much care they deliver, which is theoretically supposed to limit unnecessary medical procedures.
- By next year, an estimated 50 percent of U.S. doctors will be working in hospitals. This represents a nearly 75 percent increase in the number of doctors employed by hospitals since 2000.
- Physicians who do remain independent will be mandated to install expensive information technology systems that will drive up costs.
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