Why independent medical practice is worth building

Independent medical practice is worth considering when you want a greater say in how your practice runs and are willing to take responsibility for the business behind it. I believe that choice should remain available to clinicians. Making it a workable choice means being honest about payment, staffing, paperwork, and what ownership asks of you.

I think about the decision in three parts: the work you want to do, the business that supports it, and the path from your current job.

Why independent practice, if fewer physicians own one?

Start with the practice you want to build, then ask what it would take to sustain it. Ownership matters to me because it gives the clinician a place in the business decisions that shape the work. It also brings decisions about hiring, spending, and how to handle a month that falls short of the plan.

The AMA's May 2025 report on its 2024 Physician Practice Benchmark Survey defines private practice as wholly physician-owned. It found that 42.2% of physicians worked in private practice in 2024, compared with 60.1% in 2012. Working in a physician-owned practice is different from personally owning a share of one.

The 2024 survey included 5,000 eligible patient-care physicians, and its estimates are weighted. Those results describe an ownership trend. They do not tell you whether a particular practice will succeed or whether leaving employment is the right move for you.

Before looking at software or office space, write down three decisions you want a greater say in. Your appointment schedule, the services you offer, and how you arrange follow-up might be on the list. Then identify the constraints that will still apply: your clinical scope, contracts, budget, and capacity.

Why do acquired practices say they were sold?

The business problems deserve as much attention as the ambition. In the AMA survey, 520 physicians who were present when their practices were acquired in the previous decade rated reasons for the sale. The leading reasons were:

Reason rated important or very important	Share of 520 physicians
Negotiate better payer rates	70.8%
Access costly resources	64.9%
Manage payer rules and administration	63.6%

Source: AMA report, Exhibit 4. Respondents could rate more than one reason as important, so the percentages are not shares of a single total.

For a prospective owner, I would turn that list into a planning exercise. Who handles a denied claim? Which costs continue during a quiet month? Who owns the task when a credential or contract needs attention? Put a name and a budget beside each answer.

My view is that independence becomes more realistic when those jobs have an owner. The startup-cost worksheet can help turn the idea into a budget. The employment-versus-ownership guide helps compare the responsibilities.

Can you start an independent practice before you leave your job?

Treat the transition as a sequence of decisions you can check. Start with your employment agreement and get advice on outside work, notice, restrictive covenants, and any coverage obligations. A launch plan should fit those obligations before you commit to seeing patients or leaving a salary. This is planning guidance, not legal advice.

You can launch your practice while you're still employed. That Vye option depends on what your contract and circumstances allow. To launch on VyeOS, you sign up, verify your identity and license, and complete credentialing. You see patients once credentialing clears.

I would work through the transition in this order:

1. Clarify your constraints. Know what your current agreement permits and what needs professional review.
2. Build a workable plan. Define the patient population, service scope, costs, and hours you can support.
3. Set conditions for the next step. Decide what must be ready before you reduce employed hours or give notice.

The private-practice launch guide covers the setup work in more detail.

Vye Health helps providers launch, run, and grow private practices. Vye manages licensing, credentialing, malpractice insurance, and your website, and payer contracts if you want them.

If you want to explore that path, apply to Vye Health. On the first call, we look at your current contract, notice period and any non-compete together, before you decide anything.