The following opinion piece appeared in the online and print newspaper editions of Hearst Media Connecticut on July 23, 2025.
By: Margaret Chustecki, MD, MBA, Internal Medicine of Greater New Haven
In today’s healthcare landscape, it’s getting harder to tell who’s actually in charge of patient care: doctors, or the corporations that employ them.
Across the country, we’re seeing a rapid shift—more and more medical practices are being bought up by hospital systems, insurance companies, or private equity firms. These entities may bring financial resources and scale, but they also bring something else: a focus on revenue that can compromise the quality, independence, and humanity of the care patients receive.
As a practicing independent primary care physician and a member of Southern New England Healthcare (SoNE HEALTH), a physician-led network in Connecticut, I believe there’s a better way forward—one that puts patients and doctors back at the center of healthcare.
Unlike corporate-run organizations, SoNE HEALTH is owned and governed by practicing physicians. That means clinical decisions are made by those who actually see and treat patients—not by executives prioritizing profit margins. It’s a structure that protects professional judgment and helps ensure that the care we provide is based on medical need, not financial return.
Independent medical practices like mine offer something too rare in today’s system: time, attention and personalized care. As independent physicians we are not beholden to quotas or pressured to move patients through the door quickly. We can, and do, build real relationships with our patients, taking the time to listen and tailor care to the unique needs of each person who walks through our doors.
But practicing independently doesn’t mean practicing alone. Networks like ours give us access to tools that are typically only available within large systems—data analytics, care coordination support and resources to participate in value-based care, among others. These shared services allow us to maintain autonomy while still delivering high-quality, efficient care in a system that increasingly favors consolidation.
And let’s be clear: the trend toward consolidation is troubling. When large hospital systems or private investors take over community practices, costs often go up, but care doesn’t necessarily improve. Studies show that services cost more when performed in hospital-owned facilities. Worse, these systems often pressure physicians to refer only within their network, regardless of what’s best for the patient.
Private equity’s growing involvement in healthcare raises even more concerns. These firms are typically focused on short-term returns, not long-term patient outcomes. That often means cost-cutting at the expense of care—shorter visits, fewer staff, and pressure to increase volume, not value.
This shift isn’t just affecting patients. It is also wearing down doctors.
Physician burnout is now a national crisis, and much of it stems from loss of control. Excessive administrative demands, productivity pressures and rigid protocols have disconnected many physicians from the reasons they entered medicine in the first place.
Independent practice offers a way back. It gives physicians the freedom to shape their work around their values, their patients and their community. When we can control our schedules, make clinical decisions based on experience and ethics and build long-term relationships with patients, the work becomes meaningful again. That isn’t just good for doctors—it’s good for patients and for the sustainability of our entire healthcare system.
So what does a better model look like?
It looks like value-based care—an approach that prioritizes outcomes over volume. Instead of rewarding physicians for doing more tests or procedures, value-based care rewards prevention, coordination and real improvements in health. Patients benefit from a collaborative approach to care, one that allows for more personalized attention and better communication with their doctor. Physicians benefit from incentives that align with what we’ve been trained to do – and want to do, which is help people live healthier lives.
Transitioning to this model requires the right infrastructure—data tools, population health programs and quality improvement systems that many small practices can’t afford on their own. That’s where independent networks come in. By banding together, independent practices can meet the demands of modern healthcare while preserving the values that matter most.
We don’t need more bureaucracy in medicine. We need more trust—between doctors and patients, and between professionals working together toward a common goal. Independent, physician-led networks help restore that trust. They give doctors a voice in how care is delivered. They give patients more choices. And they give communities a healthcare model rooted in accountability, compassion, and long-term thinking.
The healthcare system isn’t just about hospitals or insurers. At its heart, it’s about people—patients who deserve to be seen, heard and compassionately cared for by physicians empowered to deliver care with purpose and integrity in a trusting relationship with their patients.
To nurture that relationship and restore joy and integrity to the practice of medicine, we need to protect space for independent physicians to thrive.
To view the article as it appeared in print, click here.
