Concierge Medicine (CM) is a concept where patients pay an annual fee, similar to a retainer fee that attorneys receive, that allows the payee constant access to their personal physician.  The fee can range from $1000 to $15000 per year, but averages $1500-1800 per patient.  For this fee the patient receives 24/7 access to their personal physician, priority scheduling, and maybe discounts on routine and preventative screenings.  It sounds like a good deal for the patient, but what are the advantages and disadvantages for the doctor?

Doctors don’t like insurance companies. They generally accuse insurance companies of eroding their autonomy, unnecessarily increasing red tape and continually assaulting their incomes. The question must be asked, however, how did doctors ever get themselves in this position and more importantly, how do they get themselves out of it? It’s not difficult to understand how doctors got trapped into their predicament. It IS difficult, however, to understand why doctors continue to enslave themselves to their insurance company masters.

The laser (Light Amplified Stimulated Emission of Radiation) recently had its 50th birthday. As an interesting historical twist, this technology was first called Light Oscillated Stimulated Emission of Radiation or “Loser”. This was never going to work, so the name was quickly changed to Laser. It’s a good thing, because Laser Therapy is a winner! I can tell you from personal clinical experience. Over two years I have had the opportunity to treat dozens of different conditions with Laser Therapy with remarkable success.

One of the main complaints registered by doctors on the Glenn Beck forum was the intrusion of insurance companies in their lives. Many physicians were outspoken about how screwed up the system is because of a third party payer. We could not be more in agreement with this conclusion. However, the public and most doctors are addicted to the insurance drug. They have no idea how to get along without it. Patients expect everything to be covered (and somehow don’t get that full coverage causes exorbitantly high premiums) and doctors don’t have any idea how to run a cash medicine practice. But the tide is turning. Estimates are that nearly 20% of family practice physicians are looking at going cash. New models for cash medicine are emerging. PriceDoc is one that allows patients to bid for doctor services. Conceirge medicine is gaining ground. Medical societies are being created that focus on lifestyle medicine for cash. We think the 80/20 rule applies. 80% of physicians will stay in the old system and go along with whatever the government imposes on them (and keep complaining) and 20% will look to innovative strategies to change, such as moving to cash. Let us know your thoughts on this topic.

“Regrettably”, said the medical device rep to the M.D., “there isn’t a good code for this. It’s not reimbursable.” The physician quickly responded, “Good. Once it gets a code, then my compensation goes down.” What? No code? Non-reimbursible is a good thing? This statement reflects the growing trend among physicians to implement cash medicine in their practice. Here’s why. Multiple forces are converging to drive this change.