According to the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA) Cost Survey for Multispecialty Practices: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data, medical practice operating expenses went up by 53% between 2001 and 2010.  That is an annual rate of increase that is more than twice the 2.2% rate of general inflation over the decade.

So, besides practice expenses accelerating at a high rate for ten years, MGMA also reports that revenue increases for multi-specialty groups over the same decade were 46%, materially less than the rate of expense increase.

You don't have to have a degree in accounting, finance or economics to understand that independent physicians fell even further behind in the decade.