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Healthcare Insights

Largest family practice physician group practices

Physician groups play a vital role in enhancing stability for healthcare providers by connecting those with similar specialties. These groups don’t just improve care quality—they also offer flexibility in services and create a supportive environment where physicians can collaborate to solve shared challenges.

Beyond their appeal to providers, physician groups are also valuable targets for healthcare marketers. By reaching out to a physician group, marketers gain access to multiple clinics and providers all at once, making their efforts more efficient. With so many physician groups across the U.S., however, a targeted approach is essential. Focusing your outreach on factors like group size and specialty can make your efforts far more effective.

Detailed below is a list of the largest family practice physician groups. This information was compiled using PhysicianGroupView and the Atlas Dataset.

How many family practice physician groups are there in the U.S.?

The Definitive Healthcare database has identified 9,168 active family practice physician group practices in the U.S. However, large physician groups typically have multiple clinics, so the number of places where patients may receive services can be expected to be higher.

Why target family practice physician groups?

Family practice physicians provide comprehensive, cradle-to-grave care to people of all ages. They are often considered generalists who treat chronic conditions, offer preventative care, evaluate symptoms, and then refer patients to specialists as needed. Family practice doctors frequently serve as the first physicians that a patient sees, and their specialty requires that they have the proper equipment and technology to handle their large patient loads, perform necessary tests, and make wise referrals. If your company offers a product or service that can help them care for and manage their patients, it can be worthwhile to target family practice physician groups with your marketing.

As the point of referral for many other specialties, additional value can be found in targeting family practice physician groups because of their connections with other specialties, which can evolve into greater networking of your company and its offerings.

Beyond the benefits that come from targeting this specialty, in particular, there are also advantages to targeting physician groups versus individual providers. Specifically, physician groups centralize their purchasing decisions, meaning just one connection can lead to bulk sales and long-term partnerships with all the physicians and healthcare facilities that are a part of the physician group without having to target each one individually.

Largest family practice physician group practices by number of physicians

Rank Family practice physician group State Definitive ID # of physicians Explore dataset 
Ascension Medical Group IN 717580 15,873 Explore
Columbia Surgical Specialists (FKA the Spokane Ear Nose & Throat Clinic and Columbia Surgery Center) WA 636164 8,905 Explore
CHRISTUS Health Physicians (FKA CHRISTUS Physician Group) LA 746511 6,001 Explore
Lancaster General Health Physicians PA 550401 4,650 Explore
Mercy Health Physicians OH 1011464 4,380 Explore
Banner Health Physicians (FKA Banner Health Medical Group) AZ 550243 4,369 Explore
Prospect Medical Group CA 551989 3,885 Explore
UCHealth Physicians (FKA UCHealth Medical Group) CO 550540 3,539 Explore
Sentara Physicians (FKA Sentara Medical Group) VA 550585 3,481 Explore
10 OhioHealth Physician Group OH 553288 3,228 Explore
11 UNC Health Caldwell Physicians NC 1051313 3,076 Explore
12 Bon Secours Physicians (FKA Bon Secours Medical Group) VA 550261 2,937 Explore
13 PeaceHealth Physicians (FKA PeaceHealth Medical Group) AK 552261 2,689 Explore
14 Providence Medical Foundation CA 550605 2,683 Explore
15 Allina Health System Physicians MN 550231 2,653 Explore
16 Adventist Health Medical Group - Portland OR 550219 2,622 Explore
17 AdventHealth Medical Group (FKA Florida Hospital Medical Group) FL 550707 2,502 Explore
18 Prisma Health Medical Group (FKA Prisma Health Physicians) SC 735848 2,421 Explore
19 WVU Medicine Physicians WV 1013751 2,390 Explore
20 Private Diagnostic Clinic NC 609709 2,338 Explore

Fig. 1 Data is from the Definitive Healthcare PhysicianGroupView product. The number of practices represents only those listed as “active” in our database as of September 2024. Data accessed September 2024.

What is the largest family practice physician group in the U.S.?

Ascension Medical Group is the largest family practice physician group in the country based on the number of physicians, with 15,873 physicians. They are a part of the Ascension Health IDN, which is among the IDNs with the most physician group affiliations. Having this connection to 22 other physician groups can add to the marketing appeal of the Ascension Medical Group.

Columbia Surgical Specialists is the second-largest physician group, with 8,905 physicians in their network.

Finally, CHRISTUS Health Physicians is the third-largest family practice physician group, with 6,001 physicians.

Explore more

Check out our Healthcare Insights for analyses on other physician specialties or start a free trial of the Definitive Healthcare platform to power a more intelligent sales strategy.