Concierge Medicine is Not Starbucks

It’s no different than hitting Starbucks every day. That’s usually what you hear when the talk turns to concierge medicine. Paying for concierge medicine involves nothing more than giving up your daily latte, and it’s healthier too. Well, not all concierge medicine is as pricey as a coffee a day.

Well, it’s no wonder that doctors are transitioning to concierge medicine in masses. Leaving paychecks and reimbursements in the hands of the big insurance companies hasn’t worked too well for family doctors. Many of them are using different avenues to keep their doors open, serve their patients, and keep their mortgage paid.

Opting for cash only payments from patients allows concierge physicians some room to negotiate. They can reduce their stress by shortening their workload and word days, spend more time with the patients they care for, and basically do what they went to school to do; treat their patients to the best of their abilities. When relying on the big insurance companies to reimburse them, doctors are filling up their schedules to the brim in order to assure at least some insurance money will come their way.

Not too many years ago, there were only about 250 concierge physicians around the nation, serving 100,000 patients. Today, that number has grown to over 5,000 serving 500,000 patients. It’s a trend that is exponentially taking over family practices.

Many times, it’s not even the money insurance reimbursement that causes doctors to transition to concierge medicine; it’s the entire health care system. Check this out from a recent MSNBC article on concierge medicine:

…it was the grueling pace of insurance-dominated care, where high demand and low reimbursements had her seeing 40 patients a day and reviewing charts until 2 a.m.

Worse, it was barely possible to assess illness, let alone prevent it, which attracted Debin to primary care in the first place.

“I was passionate to do this and to practice a certain kind of medicine.” Now, she says, she can.”

But, when the talk turns to concierge medicine it almost always promotes the doctor’s side of things and rarely the patient’s. The patient is the one forking out the cash every year to stay in the capable hands of the doctor who has transitioned to concierge medicine. The patient is the one who has to decide if they want to pay the yearly fee, or continue to trust in their insurance company and stick with premiums and deductibles.

What’s the pay-off for patients with concierge medicine? I think the statement from Dr. Debin above says it all. With concierge practices, it’s all about the patient. No more of this system of meeting with your doctor for ten minutes before they race off to the next patient. Concierge patients are truly given the vip treatment, offered longer appointments and preferred scheduling, as compared to insurance patients who get shorter appointments yet a longer wait.

There is always two sides to every story, however with the high cost of deductibles, co-pays, prescription drugs, and the constant fear that your insurance won’t even cover the half of it, concierge medicine doesn’t seem like a bad option.