The State of Private Medicine 2026 NextMD Annual Report

This is an Annual Report for private medical markets in the United States for 2026.

Our market report was generated by proprietary research on 4,651 practices and 6,872 individual physicians verified to hold MD (Doctor of Medicine) or DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) credentials as of April 2026.

Executive Summary

Five findings shape the 2026 landscape:

1. Concierge and DPC are solo-physician industries. 79.9% of practices operate with a single physician. Less than 100 practices in the entire country have more than 10 doctors.

2. Price transparency is inverse to price. 75% of DPC practices publish their monthly fee. Only 47% of concierge practices do. Performance medicine and specialty concierge drop to 19% and 16%. The top of the market systematically hides its numbers, which means the published $194 concierge median understates the true average because expensive practices are disproportionately absent from the disclosed sample.

3. The top 10 metros hold 29% of the national universe. New York Metro leads with 234 practices, followed by Miami (172), Washington DC (167), Los Angeles (153), and Dallas-Fort Worth (127).

4. This is a mature physician pool. The median doctor in US concierge/DPC completed residency between the late 1990s and mid 2000s, representing 20 to 25 years of clinical experience. Concierge is not a movement of new graduates. It is a movement of mid-career and senior physicians.

The Market in Numbers

Finding 1: Concierge/DPC Is a Solo-Physician Industry

79.9% of US concierge/DPC practices operate with exactly one doctor. Another 17.9% have 2 to 5. Only 0.5% have more than 10.

Concierge medicine is often framed as a corporate movement led by network brands like MDVIP, SignatureMD, and Concierge Choice of America. The data disagrees. These networks run franchise-style relationships with solo physicians rather than employing them directly.

When you choose concierge or DPC, you are choosing a specific doctor, not a brand. Exceptions like Mount Sinai Doctors Concierge Care (22 physicians), PartnerMD (21), and Private Medical are outliers, not templates.

Finding 2: The Model Mix

Across 4,651 practices, concierge accounts for 57%, DPC for 32%, and the remainder splits across hybrid, specialty, and performance medicine:

Model mix varies by state. Texas leads DPC share at 34.2%. New York skews heavily concierge at 73.6% (DPC only 10.5%). Florida runs 2:1 concierge-to-DPC. Performance medicine clusters in California and Texas; most practices in that category were founded post-2015 and command the highest per-patient pricing ($4,000-$6,000/mo for longevity-focused clinics).

Finding 3: Price Transparency Is Inverse to Price

Popular coverage of concierge medicine cites $25,000 or $50,000 per year, numbers drawn from ultra-premium practices that represent less than 5% of the market. The published medians are lower. But the medians themselves are incomplete because only a portion of the market discloses pricing at all, and that portion skews toward the cheaper end.

Disclosure rates by model (the core finding):

Three-quarters of DPC practices publish their monthly fee. Fewer than half of concierge practices do. Performance medicine and specialty concierge drop below 20%. The top of the market systematically hides its numbers.

What this does to the published medians. The $194 concierge median comes from the 47% that disclose, and those 47% are disproportionately lower-priced. True concierge average across the full market is almost certainly above the published $227 because the ultra-premium tier ($500 to $1,500+/mo) lives mostly in the undisclosed population. The DPC $99 median gives a more accurate market representation as: 3 in 4 DPC practices publish prices.

Practical rule. A published price is close to what you'll pay. An unpublished price is likely above that model's disclosed-tier average. Treat $194/mo as a typical-concierge floor, not a market ceiling. More on how concierge medicine pricing works.

Finding 4: Geography

Top 10 metros hold 29% of the national universe

Using US Census Metropolitan Statistical Area boundaries, the top 10 US metros collectively contain 1,335 practices, 29% of the national universe:

We used slightly tighter geographic restrictions on our report than we used on the homepage of our website. This choice was made to focus on statistical accuracy over website usablity.

Density tracks retiree wealth more than raw population. Naples, Florida (metro population 417,000) has 57 practices, one per 7,300 residents. Chicago metro (9.4 million) has 93 practices, one per 101,000. Highest per-capita density markets are retiree-wealth enclaves, not major cities.

DO adoption varies 9x by state

DO share of physicians in US concierge/DPC practices varies dramatically across states, tracking the presence of osteopathic medical schools more than any cultural or demographic factor:

The 9x spread between Michigan and Maryland is the sharpest inter-state variation of any credential pattern in the data. Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine anchor the two highest-DO states.

Finding 5: The Physician Bench

Of the 6,872 physicians tracked, 64.6% have a disclosed medical school in their public bio and 62% have a disclosed residency program. Clear patterns emerge from the disclosed subset:

Top medical schools feeding US concierge/DPC practices:

Two Caribbean medical schools rank in the top 5 US feeders, together feeding 104 physicians. Caribbean-trained physicians pursue careers combining clinical autonomy with alternative practice models at higher rates than US-trained graduates.

The physician pool is deeply experienced:

The median physician completed residency between the late 1990s and mid 2000s (20 to 25 years of experience). This is not a movement of fresh graduates. It is a movement of established physicians who built traditional-medicine experience and chose to leave insurance-based practice.

Finding 6: The "Preventive Medicine" Label Problem

The raw specialty field shows Preventive Medicine as the #1 specialty in US concierge/DPC, on 3,395 physician records. This is misleading: nationally there are roughly 5,000 board-certified preventive medicine physicians total. Most of our 3,395 are actually board-certified in Internal Medicine or Family Medicine who position their practice around prevention as marketing.

For patients: look for underlying board certification (American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine, or American Board of Preventive Medicine specifically) rather than the specialty label on the practice website.

Market Outlook for 2026-2030

The US concierge medicine market is projected to reach $13.23 billion by 2030, growing at a 10.33% compound annual rate from 2025, per Grand View Research. Growth drivers cited: rising chronic-disease prevalence, physician burnout accelerating practice conversions, and patients' willingness to pay for premium access in a worsening insurance-quality environment.

DPC is on track to cross the 1% adoption threshold by 2030. Industry analysts project DPC practices will serve roughly 3.5 million patients, approximately 1% of the US population, by 2030. Current footprint is 2,800+ DPC offices and 1.4+ million members. The Primary Care Enhancement Act of 2025 (HR 1026) made DPC fees eligible for Health Savings Account (HSA) payments, removing a long-standing structural barrier to HSA-holder adoption.

NextMD's practice-level data supports both projections. Three patterns we track:

Hospital-system concierge is the industry's one scaling path. Mount Sinai, Inova, Cleveland Clinic, and Northwestern run concierge lines onboarding 5 to 10 physicians under a single brand. The main counter-trend to solo dominance.

Metro concentration is intensifying. The top 10 metros already hold 29% of the universe. Network effects pull additional physicians into markets where the model is visible.

Consolidation is not materializing. No practice employs more than 42 physicians. MDVIP uses a franchise model, not employment. Private-equity roll-ups reshaping traditional primary care have not replicated here, likely because solo-physician authenticity is the value proposition.

Sources and Methodology

• NextMD database: We use our proprietary database of private medicine practices, along with high level market research across a broad group of data points. We use a combination of AI research and a team of high level humans to write and review our reports.

• Errors and Inaccuracies: It is reasonable to assume a 5% error rate in any and all of the data. We believe our data is directionally accurate and have used our best measures to provide a source of truth, however our data like all data is subject to errors, omissions or inaccuracies. Our use of AI could create flaws or hallucinations.

• Growth projections: Grand View Research, "U.S. Concierge Medicine Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report 2025-2030" (projects $13.23B US market, 10.33% Compound Annual Growth Rate). DPC News, "The 1% Threshold: Why 2026 is the Tipping Point for Direct Primary Care" (projects 3.5M DPC patients, 1% of US population, by 2030).

• Regulatory: Primary Care Enhancement Act of 2025 (HR 1026).

• Metro definitions: US Census Bureau Metropolitan Statistical Area, Vintage 2025 population estimates released March 2026.

• Specialty classifications: American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS); practice self-reported specialty labels normalized where possible.

• Pricing data: self-reported by practices on their own websites where disclosed. Monthly-equivalent values derived from annual pricing where needed. Only 54.6% of practices disclose a specific dollar figure; disclosure rates range from 75% for DPC down to 16% for specialty concierge. All published medians and averages reflect the disclosed subset and should be read as lower-bound estimates for concierge, hybrid, performance, and specialty segments.

• Report cadence: refreshed monthly or whenever the underlying database is updated materially. Current edition: April 19, 2026.

For data corrections, research inquiries, or bulk-data access, contact the NextMD research team at nextmd.ai.

Thank you for taking the time to read our market industry report

Cheers

Josh Bobrowsky