What is concierge medicine? If you ask the man credited with creating the concept he will tell you that he "only came up with the concept, not the term concierge medicine", he would prefer it be called, "highly attentive medicine". This type of medical care is also sometimes referred to as direct care. Whatever you choose to call it, what has become known as concierge medicine is gaining popularity across the United States.
The basic concept of this new type of care creates a system where patients pay and annual fee in exchange for services from their primary care physician. Sometimes the plan is all inclusive and other times there are fees for extra care not covered in the annual fee. There are a wide variety of different plans that can all be classified as Concierge or direct pay medicine. Ranging from very expensive all inclusive care to lower fees that only cover the basic yearly check ups this type of medicine creates a personalized care for patients. The fees generally range from six hundred dollars a year to as much as five thousand a year or more per patient. When the initial fee is on the low end patients are usually expected to pay for each service provided. The fees on the higher end include most of the basic tests, check ups, and diagnoses that patient require within the year. Most of these practices do not accept any form of insurance and many of them operate on a cash only basis.
While it may seem counter productive or elitist for these doctors to not accept health insurance and only take cash, many of them argue that by eliminating the paper work and extra staff that insurance companies and credit companies require they can keep their own costs low and provide their patients with affordable care.
While the percentage of practices converting to this style of care is still relatively low there is a steady increase especially on the East and West Coasts. The highest rate of doctors among the concierge practices is those who practice internal medicine. They are followed closely by Family Practice doctors. Since early 2009 the fastest growing number of medical professionals converting their practices to this style of care giving is dentists and pediatricians. This makes sense since the main focus of these doctors is to provide direct personal care to their patients. Children often require several trips to the doctor's office every year and these trips rarely result in a hospital stay, more often they just need some sort of simple prescription or one of the many vaccinations required in early childhood. Having a doctor on call and available at a fixed price can save money in the long run.
A recent poll was taken to determine how the economy's down turn was affecting this type of medicine and the results may surprise you. Fifty nine percent of concierge physicians reported that their businesses were in a better financial situation than in the previous year. Only twelve percent indicated that business was down.
The basic concept of this new type of care creates a system where patients pay and annual fee in exchange for services from their primary care physician. Sometimes the plan is all inclusive and other times there are fees for extra care not covered in the annual fee. There are a wide variety of different plans that can all be classified as Concierge or direct pay medicine. Ranging from very expensive all inclusive care to lower fees that only cover the basic yearly check ups this type of medicine creates a personalized care for patients. The fees generally range from six hundred dollars a year to as much as five thousand a year or more per patient. When the initial fee is on the low end patients are usually expected to pay for each service provided. The fees on the higher end include most of the basic tests, check ups, and diagnoses that patient require within the year. Most of these practices do not accept any form of insurance and many of them operate on a cash only basis.
While it may seem counter productive or elitist for these doctors to not accept health insurance and only take cash, many of them argue that by eliminating the paper work and extra staff that insurance companies and credit companies require they can keep their own costs low and provide their patients with affordable care.
While the percentage of practices converting to this style of care is still relatively low there is a steady increase especially on the East and West Coasts. The highest rate of doctors among the concierge practices is those who practice internal medicine. They are followed closely by Family Practice doctors. Since early 2009 the fastest growing number of medical professionals converting their practices to this style of care giving is dentists and pediatricians. This makes sense since the main focus of these doctors is to provide direct personal care to their patients. Children often require several trips to the doctor's office every year and these trips rarely result in a hospital stay, more often they just need some sort of simple prescription or one of the many vaccinations required in early childhood. Having a doctor on call and available at a fixed price can save money in the long run.
A recent poll was taken to determine how the economy's down turn was affecting this type of medicine and the results may surprise you. Fifty nine percent of concierge physicians reported that their businesses were in a better financial situation than in the previous year. Only twelve percent indicated that business was down.
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Find out more about concierge medicine and learn how AAPP is working to improve private healthcare in the US.
