We’ve reached a point where there are three distinct types of medical groups: shareholder-owned, health systemowned, and corporate-owned. Of these three, corporate medical groups are the fastest growing model. As of January 2024, corporations own 30.1% of all physician practices, slightly surpassing health system ownership.¹

Corporate medical groups differ from the other groups because they are affiliated with an external parent company, such as a health plan, private equity firm, or retail chain. However, funder alone doesn’t determine corporate medical group strategy. For example, health plan-backed groups operate differently across markets, and private equity deploys a different playbook in primary and specialty care.

Instead, we recommend categorizing corporate medical groups by growth model. This organization reveals each group’s growth ambitions and their strategy to realize them. This also allows us to forecast their trajectory and impact on incumbents.