Have you ever waited months to get an appointment to see your primary care doctor? Once you get an appointment, do you then have to wait a long time at the office to get into an exam room only to have the doctor spend a few minutes with you? Have you found that your doctor is too busy to really remember you and your medical history?
If this describes you and your frustration with the tradition primary care setting, it may be time for a drastic change. Another option for receiving care is concierge medicine. Concierge medicine is a paid service where patients have access to personalized care.
As Sarah Gerstner describes in a Kiplinger article, the paid service is either a monthly or annual fee that can range from $1,200 to $5,000 per year. In return for the fee, the concierge primary care physician only takes a limited number of patients. A tradition primary care physician can see anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 patients per year while a concierge doctor sees around 500. The current strain on primary care physicians is only expected to get worse with the physician shortage and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Traditional physicians are already over capacity for their patient loads and are having to turn individuals away from their practices.
Concierge medicine is a field that is continuing to grow at an increasingly fast pace. In fact, the American Academy of Private Physicians (AAPP) found that in 2012, there were 4,400 concierge doctors in the United States. This was up 30 percent from the previous year. The concierge practice is both beneficial to the patient and to the physician. The physician makes a higher salary than traditional primary care doctors and the patient get the one-on-one care he or she deserves. Patients can also use their insurance for yearly testing so there is not an excessive amount of expense on top of the annual fee.
Some of the benefits of concierge medicine for patients include having the ability to see a physician on short notice. In fact, if a patient is truly sick and needs to see the doctor right away, concierge physicians will make house calls to provide care. A patient pays to have exclusive accesses to his or her physician and in return receives quality medical care more quickly. The medical care is also at an elevated level because the physician knows the patient’s history and therefore can make more informed decision on treatment.
The benefits for physicians practicing concierge medicine include making an equal or higher amount of money than traditional primary care doctors while having a better work-life balance. Concierge physicians see a significantly lower number of patients per day than doctors in other types of practices. By seeing fewer patients, they are able to find more balance in their life and are less likely to suffer from physician burnout. There is also a need for current concierge practices to bring on more physicians. This allows a concierge physician to expand his or her practice by bringing on partners or employees and therefore increasing their revenue.
Concierge medicine is growing and we will continue to see its impact on the primary care market. Are you currently seeing a primary care physician? Does this sound like something you would be interested in? It may be time for you to look into receiving personalized care through a concierge practice.