A concierge doctor receives an annual retainer or fee from his or her patients. This yearly payment may be made in addition to other charges for direct services. This form of practice is called many different names. It may be referred to as direct practice or membership medicine, direct primary care, direct care, cash only practice, or concierge health care. Prices vary by practice as well as services provided. In the United States there are between 800 and 5,000 concierge type doctors.
Concierge physicians may provide patients with enhanced care they cannot find with other doctors. This is because these doctors have at most 1,000 patients. In contrast, the average physician can have up to 4,000. Because of this, they are more readily available and have more time to devote to each individual. Most are accessible by cell phone or by email at all times. They can provide special services that go beyond normal care given elsewhere where doctors have fewer available resources.
Annual fees that are charged can be as low as $600 to as much as $5,000 for each patient. Lower fees often are paid in addition to costs for services rendered. The more pricey fees usually cover all charges.
Some practices do not accept any forms of insurance and are therefore called cash only practices. Working with insurance companies raises overall costs for business so this saves money. This in turn makes health care more affordable for patients as they are charged less. Cash only business are considered concierge only if they get regular fees on top of or in place of medical services.
Other practices do accept insurance. But they also request annual fees for services not covered by insurance companies. Annual fees cannot be considered a substitute for medical insurance and they fail to cover many things. Among these are outside consultations, laboratory work, medicine, hospitalization, or emergency room care from other providers. All of these costs would need to be paid in full by patients.
Some find this form of medical practice unfair. They believe this is because it favors the upper class and burdens the less well to do with a larger bills. Furthermore, physicians that would otherwise provide care for the poor are no longer doing so. It provides doctors with more money and the few patients they have with better care, but at a cost. It simultaneously makes good care less accessible for the poor who cannot afford the annual fee.
Concierge doctors get yearly payments from their patients. Some also charge for treatments on top of this amount, others do not. These doctors also offer higher quality care as they have fewer patients and therefore more time to devote to each. Unfortunately, some argue that this robs the poorer population of access to these qualified doctors. They cannot afford the annual fee and therefore cannot take advantage of this type of medicine.
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