"Members Only" Medicine Increases Across the United States

Concierge medicine is on the increase across the country, meaning that those who can afford to pay a member's fee might receive more one-on-one time with their physician, more flexible office hours and a purported higher level of care, according to various reports.

Kim Scott, an internal medicine physician practicing in Park City, Utah, is contracted with a company called MDVIP that charges members an annual fee for a higher level of care from participating physicians. Dr. Scott told Park Record she gets more satisfaction from practicing "concierge medicine" because she can spend more time with patients and provide more in-depth feedback.

And the change isn't limited to affluent neighborhoods: Brian Stein, MD, a private practice family physician in northeast Philadelphia who serves a largely blue-collar community, recently decided to change to the concierge model because of concerns that health reform will flood his office with newly insured patients.

An editorial in the Annals of Internal Medicine this spring questioned the ethics and quality of care delivered in concierge practices. But according to a recent editorial by Pauline Chen, MD, in the New York Times, the issue for many clinicians isn't the ethics of the practice, but rather whether concierge medicine has been successful and how a physician should best start a concierge practice.



Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars