Proportion of family physicians in solo and small practices is on the decline

Abstract

Although solo and small practices are a vital part of primary care, the proportion of family physicians reporting working in practices with 5 or fewer providers declined from 15% to 11% for solo and 37% to 34% for small (2 to 5 providers) practices from 2014 to 2018. These decreasing trends are concerning, mainly when a low proportion of family physicians have solo practices in rural locations given the access to care challenges in these underserved populations.