Single-Specialty Group Practice

A single-specialty group practice consists of three or more physicians who practice the same medical specialty as a single legal entity. They share clinical and administrative facilities, patient records, and employees. Income and expenses are distributed among the physicians according to a prearranged plan. The AMA publication Medical Group Practices in the U.S. 1999 Edition reveals that the number of medical groups continues to increase. About 70% of all groups are single-specialty. The average size of a single-specialty group is 6.4 physicians, although 6.1% of primary care and 1.6% of nonprimary care single-specialty groups have more than 100 physicians.

One of the main challenges of a single-specialty practice is to create a group system of control in governance, personnel, financial, and other practice decisions. Single-specialty group practices create advantages over solo practices including revenue enhancement opportunities such as improved receivables management, improved managed care contracting, and opportunities to generate new revenue through the addition of ancillaries. Economies of scale associated with group practices create multiple expense-reduction opportunities, greater efficiencies, and additional cash flow through reduction of overhead percentages. Group practices also have more access to capital to invest in technology and information system upgrades.

Single-specialty group practices give the opportunity for physicians to have more palatable practices and personal lifestyles. The positive attributes include improved call coverage, easy access to consultation from other members of the group, and decreased personal responsibility for the daily administration of the practice. Groups are more likely to utilize midlevel providers who can leverage and optimize physician time.