Visiting the doctor’s office may not top the list of favorite activities for most consumers, but eliminating common stressors such as juggling one’s schedule to squeeze in an appointment, spending too much time in the waiting room, and then maybe seeing the physician for only a few minutes, can make the experience much more pleasant.
What if the majority of this stress could be alleviated? According to the American Academy of Private Physicians (AAPP), use of “concierge” or retainer-based physicians can be part of the solution. In fact, the number of these types of physician services has doubled in the past two years, according to AAPP.
“Concierge medicine is a new style of practice with old roots, in which doctors limit their patient base in order to provide patients with personalized service, high quality care, 24/7 availability, and other amenities. In exchange for this enhanced personal attention, patients pay physicians an annual fee,” says the Concierge Medicine Association. “The annual fees vary widely, from $600 to $5,000 per year for an individual, with the lower annual fees being in addition to the usual fees for each service and the higher annual fees including most services.”
“In a typical practice, a family physician might have 1,000 patients or more. In a concierge practice, 400 is more typical,” says AAPP. “For patients, that translates into longer appointments, less waiting, and more personal attention. For doctors, it means a more satisfying and less stressful work day.”
“Most retainer physicians offer an in‐depth annual physical, lasting an hour or longer, which focuses on preventive care,” says a recently released report. “Retainer practices also emphasize that their patients have increased access to their physicians. This usually includes longer office visits, same‐day visits, and access to physicians’ cell phone numbers.”
While there are many proponents to the niche of this boutique form of medical care, there are also many that worry this could eventually lead to a type of insurance ‘caste system’ where those that are unable to afford to pay the doctors’ retainers for concierge service would be without medical care.
According to a recent article, “Medicare recipients, who account for a big share of patients in doctors' offices, are the most vulnerable. The program's financial troubles are causing doctors to reassess their participation. But the impact could be broader because primary care doctors are in short supply and the health law will bring in more than 30 million newly insured patients.”
Concierge medicine is a relatively new arrangement in the health care industry and the impact this form of practice will have on the American population, especially those on Medicare, is still unknown. “The greatest argument against concierge medicine is that it undermines cross subsidized care because the system attempts to spread Medicare and Medicaid patients, with their lower reimbursement rates, across all physicians,” says a recent Medicare report.
Only time will tell in regard to the impact concierge medicine will have on the health care industry, it will be interesting to see if this niche of medicine will eventually evolve into a paradigm shift in the world of health care.
BenefitMall will continue to bring these issues to your attention as they arise. Please visit www.benefitmall.com to view past Legislative Alerts. Or, you may visit www.HealthcareExchange.com for blog posts, polls, surveys and numerous resources.
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Concierge medicine will be an
Concierge medicine will be an integral part of our healthcare future. Even before the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act goes into effect in 2014, many doctors are limiting new medicare patient appointments causing a wait for an initial appointment to be as long as 3 months. These are the same doctors that have been saved temporarily from the 27% reimbursement reduction, known an the "Doc fix". In addition, many doctors are opting out of medicare, closing their practices entirely, or merging with other practices.
With 30+ million new enrollees expected to enter the healthcare system in 2014 the wait to see a doctor and obtain medical services will make the current situation worse.
Medicare patients are the
Medicare patients are the primary candidates for concierge medicine. As Doctors reduce the amount of Medicare patients they will accept, making waiting times for appointments stretch out to weeks and even months, stop taking Medicare entirely, or close their practices due to low reimbursement rates, availability of medical care for this segment of the population becomes critical.
With the Baby Boomers retiring and the need for medical care rising, having an adequate number of providers is crucial. Assuming the individual mandate goes into effect in 2014 and 30+ million people are added into the healthcare system, where do we get the Doctors, physician assistants, medical assistants, etc. to take care of the added utilization.
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