Pandemic or not, it is business as usual for Concierge doctors and their patients. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many community family practices to close clinics and postpone appointments indefinitely.
Where productivity in membership-based models such as Concierge Medicine ran the opposite direction and thrived. COVID-19 paves the way for patients to recognize the benefits of a concierge medicine subscription.
It seems the pandemic serves as a major turning point for Concierge Medicine. Finally, more and more patients are beginning to realize the priceless benefits of having a Concierge Medicine subscription, especially during a time of uncertainty and constraint.
Concierge Medicine offers patients direct access to their doctors – a practice unheard of in the traditional, insurance-based health care model.
Imagine having your doctor on speed dial – that is the status quo in Concierge Medicine. It is like having a doctor in the family you can run to for medical advice 24/7.
A slew of many other benefits come with direct physician access. But, truth be told: the quality of health care increases when there is no intervention from medical third parties such as insurance companies and corporate hospitals.
A trustworthy, tight-knit doctor-patient relationship is restored when doctors and their patients can interact freely without billing codes attached to every service.
This doctor-patient relationship is crucial to the overall health and well-being, considering that the main goal of primary care is preventive care – nipping potential illnesses at the bud and keeping patients in the pink of health.
The mess of a system these third parties created has led to patients having little to no access to quality primary care, especially when they need it most. In the traditional, insurance-based model, emergency house calls, urgent appointments, or medical consultations via phone or video chat are nearly impossible.
Patients in the Concierge Medicine practice, on the other hand, can expect on-demand, reliable patient care, no less.
The Concierge Medicine practice has successfully created a convenient, conducive system favoring its most important stakeholders: doctors and their patients. Unlike the traditional, fee-for-service health care system, Concierge Medicine practices charge a monthly retainer fee in exchange for an all-inclusive, unlimited set of services.
These services include everything from telemedicine consultations, same-day appointments, house calls, diagnostic screenings, comprehensive health management plans to discounted out-patient services.
The first-class treatment and exclusive perks of Concierge Medicine come at a price, of course. Subscriptions cost anywhere between $101 to $4000 a month.
With over 1,000 practices in 48 states serving approximately 300,000 patients (as of 2020, according to NPR), more and more patients are now seeing the value of having a Concierge Medicine subscription.
Concierge Medicine advocates are happy to note that as more and more patients get familiarized with the membership-based model, this removes the stigma behind it being an outrageous luxury product. These days, subscriptions are no longer limited to the ultra-rich.
Patients now assess the cost vs. benefit of not having to stand in line in crowded waiting rooms, of immediately getting treatment from the best doctors available should they contract the virus.
The traditional, insurance-based model cannot provide these benefits, and the pandemic proves just how outdated the current system is.
The pandemic, has reinforced that, for all of the amazing and committed medical professionals pouring their hearts into their work, the healthcare system is an impersonal, bureaucratic behemoth. - Ben Kruger, co-founder of Sollis Health, a Concierge Medicine practice with medical centers in New York and Beverly Hills
Concierge Medicine getting public attention could not have come at a better time. While a small percentage of COVID-19 cases are considered severe and require hospitalization, most infected individuals, thankfully, only experience mild to moderate symptoms.
These mild to moderate cases can successfully be treated at home in isolation. No other physician is equipped to respond to these types of medical situations better than Concierge doctors.
Physicians in the Concierge Medicine practice are known to go above and beyond for their elite clientele, even swinging early access to rapid testing kits when supplies were limited at the beginning of the pandemic.
Traditional institutions just aren’t nimble enough to provide personalized and efficient care—especially during a crisis—and now people are actively searching for alternatives.
Concierge doctors have currently preoccupied fielding patient inquiries and exhausting professional connections with hundreds of incoming phone calls daily.
Once the vaccine is made available to other citizen groups such as essential workers, Concierge Medicine practices assure their patients that they will have more flexibility to secure the vaccine for them.
The pandemic may not be forever, but it sure has created a long-term demand for Concierge Medicine.
Never mind the hefty subscription fees – patients realize that what they are buying into are convenience, security, and a primary care physician with their best interests at heart.
As there is much relativity between Concierge Medicine and Covid-19 Vaccine. So FindMyDirectDoctor.com, a website that advocates membership-based models such as Concierge Medicine and Direct Primary Care, seems to help settle the need of the hour.
