Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctors Working In Private Practice At Lowest Level Since 2012, Survey Finds
Modern Healthcare: Physicians In Private Practices At The Lowest Level Since 2012
Private practice is slowly fading as a way to do business, going the way of landline phones, bank deposit slips and fax machines. An analysis by the American Medical Association found the percentage of physicians in a practice wholly owned by physicians last year to be at the lowest level since the survey began in 2012. The AMA examined data from its biennial Physician Practice Benchmark Survey, most recently conducted in 2024. (Broderick, 5/29)
KFF Health News: American Doctors Are Moving To Canada To Escape The Trump Administration
Earlier this year, as President Donald Trump was beginning to reshape the American government, Michael, an emergency room doctor who was born, raised, and trained in the United States, packed up his family and got out. Michael now works in a small-town hospital in Canada. KFF Health News and NPR granted him anonymity because of fears he might face reprisal from the Trump administration if he returns to the U.S. He said he feels some guilt that he did not stay to resist the Trump agenda but is assured in his decision to leave. Too much of America has simply grown too comfortable with violence and cruelty, he said. (Kelman, 5/30)
Fierce Healthcare: Healthcare Execs Gear Up For Policy, Business Volatility
Healthcare C-suite leaders are trying to keep pace with rapid changes in U.S. economic and regulatory policies in the first four months of the second Trump administration. Among 700 business executives across six industries, nearly half (48%) of business executives rank economic policy among the top three factors driving strategic change over the next one to two years, according to a new PwC May pulse survey. (Landi, 5/29)
Modern Healthcare: Private-Equity Deals Leave Some Physician Practices Skeptical
Private equity-backed companies promise to ease physicians’ administrative workloads, but doctors say many of those pledges have fallen short. Specialists are increasingly joining management services organizations, which are often funded by corporate investors such as private equity companies. Part of the sales pitch typically includes a competitive compensation package, as well as a commitment to take purchasing, billing, regulatory, technology and other day-to-day administrative tasks off physicians’ hands. (Kacik, 5/29)
Provider updates —
CBS News: Penn Medicine To Stop Providing Gender-Affirming Surgeries For Patients 18 And Under, Official Says
Penn Medicine will stop providing gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19 years old, the Philadelphia-based system said Thursday. Penn Medicine will no longer perform gender-affirming surgical procedures in plastic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and urology, as well as head and neck surgeries, PJ Brennan, Penn Medicine's chief medical officer, said in a statement. The change comes "as a result of current guidance established by the federal government," the statement says. (Fey, 5/29)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Cleveland Clinic Reverses ‘Pay Now’ Co-Pay Policy After Criticism
Before, Cleveland Clinic patients were going to be turned away if they couldn’t immediately pay their insurance co-pay. Now, in a reversal announced Wednesday, Clinic patients can once again see a doctor without paying first. (Washington, 5/28)
Bloomberg: Emory Floats $1 Billion Bond Sale For Campus, Hospital Projects
Emory University is considering borrowing more than $1 billion of municipal debt to finance projects for its campus and hospital system. The bond sale for the Atlanta-based private institution is expected in mid-June and will be managed by an underwriting group led by RBC Capital Markets, according to a securities filing that outlined the potential borrowing plan. The tax-exempt debt, which would be issued through Georgia’s Private Colleges and Universities Authority, would also refinance outstanding obligations. (Bonilla Ramos and Shah, 5/29)
Stat: Vivodyne Raises $40 Million For Work On Animal Testing Alternatives
The world looked a little different when bioengineer Dan Huh first began exploring whether it was possible to replace mouse testing with small-scale replicas of human tissues. (DeAngelis, 5/29)
Also —
The Boston Globe: Mass General Brigham Primary Care Union Effort Slowed By Trump
Federal officials in Boston on Friday will count the ballots of roughly 240 primary care doctors deciding whether to form a union at Mass General Brigham. The answer is likely to be yes, but it won’t settle the fight over the proposed bargaining unit at the state’s largest health system. For months, primary care physicians at MGB have said they are overworked, underpaid, and demoralized by the “corporatization of medicine.” Last November, many of them filled out cards notifying the National Labor Relations Board that they want to join a union called the Doctors Council. (Saltzman, 5/29)
The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins Selects New Dean Of Public Health After Global Search
Johns Hopkins University is selecting Keshia Pollack Porter as the new dean of its Bloomberg School of Public Health after a global search for someone to fill the role. (Conrad, 5/29)
