You wake up with a massive sore throat. It’s so painful and irritated that you can’t swallow without flinching.
Ouch!
Desperate for help, you call your primary care physician to schedule an immediate appointment. As in you need to get in… NOW.
The answer? Not so good.
The wait is 10 days -- and that’s just for an appointment that falls in the middle of your already-swamped workday. A weekend appointment is booking out three months.
Unsure what to do, you head to a crowded quick clinic that feels anything but restorative. Your spine tingles as an out of control child screams next to her unconcerned mother. In truth, the screaming child monster makes your throat hurt worse.
After more than two and a half hour hours, you’re finally ushered into a room. “Ugh-I don’t want to talk,” you think as a rather rude nurse asks redundant questions about your health history. The more you talk, the worse you feel.
Four hours later, you leave with a prescription you know nothing about and little to no reassurance. In fact, no one even screened for strep, much less mono. (Yes, you’ve told them you’re extremely tired. But that went unnoticed.)
You feel like a needle in a haystack, lost in the world of modern healthcare. No one seems to listen, and you HATE it.
Later in the day, you run into your friend Gina, who is also ill, while picking up your prescription. It’s hard not to notice the scowl on your face.
“Bad day at the doctor?” she says, as you now start to cough. This is a new symptom.
“That’s an understatement,” you respond. My doctor couldn’t get me in for weeks, so I sat at a quick care clinic for almost four hours.”
“Let me in on a little secret,” says Gina. “You need a doctor who practices concierge medicine. My life couldn’t be easier. In fact, I got in the same day I called.”
“Say what?” you think. “What the heck is that?”
Welcome to the future of modern medical care, otherwise known as concierge medicine. These doctors are often referred to as private physicians, concierge physicians, or direct care doctors. And they make life while sick a heck of a lot easier.
Concierge medicine is a sort of VIP club that patients belong to. In the world of concierge medicine, physicians focus on fewer patients, which means more time for “yours truly.” In other words, if you get in with the right practice, the days of waiting just may become part of the past.
That’s because through concierge medicine, a physician’s caseload is drastically decreased. In fact, his or her caseload may go from thousands of patients to just hundreds.
“Many primary care physicians got into medicine because they wanted to help people, but with so little time to spend with each patient, and such a high demand to see as many patients as possible in the shortest time period, some doctors are looking for other options to help patients reach optimal health,” according to the American Academy of Private Physicians (AAPP).
Concierge medicine is a little different than traditional medicine in that patients pay a sort of membership fee. The AAPP says that “patients pay an annual fee (often in addition to insurance) to be part of a practice where the doctor has only a few hundred patients.”
There are a number of benefits to concierge medicine, the greatest being attention. When it comes to concierge medicine, you’re no longer a number. Instead, you’re a person with a known, remembered and understood health history.
“Fewer patients and more time with each patient means the doctor can really get to know each person’s health history, which can help them more accurately diagnose current symptoms and conditions,” according to the AAPP. “The result is better outcomes with fewer unnecessary tests or procedures.”
And best of all, your doctor may even be able to go to the hospital with you in the event of an unexpected stay. It’s been years since those privileges have been a reality for most patients.
“Many concierge physicians will accompany patients when they do need hospitalization, and can monitor their care during and after a hospital visit,” according to the AAPP. “With your physician by your side, you have an advocate during your hospital stay to inform the staff of your health conditions and history, keep your family updated on your progress, and provide a watchful eye to ensure that the correct care is administered by hospital staff.”
However, there are also drawbacks that you need to consider when investigating concierge medicine. The biggest of these is that if you do seek concierge medicine, your insurance may not pay for it.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “while some insurers are developing special health plans around concierge practices, most patients who see concierge doctors pay for it on top of their regular insurance.”
Consequently, many patients who want to engage in concierge medicine choose higher deductible insurance plans to save money. In addition, there’s a bit of a system when it comes to finagling this expenditure.
“Direct primary-care doctors say that a patient's best bet is to select a high-deductible policy with minimal premiums for emergencies, and put the money they save up front toward the concierge retainer,” according to The Wall Street Journal. “High-deductible plans are often paired with health savings account. The IRS, however, doesn't recognize direct primary-care fees as eligible HSA expenses, so patients might not be able to spend pretax dollars at the clinics.”
That said, not all companies leave employees with no options when it comes to concierge medicine and insurance. For example, The Wall Street Journal says that Expedia “has added a concierge clinic run by Seattle-based Qliance Medical Group to its Bellevue, Wash., headquarters.” And they say Cigna is working to create plans around the option of concierge medicine.
So just how do you find a concierge medicine clinic?
The AAPP offers a search tool through its Private Physicians website. This will point you in the direction of doctors who offer this service. Just remember that this is still relatively new, so many areas may not yet offer this option. In other words, keep doing your research if you don’t immediately find what you’re looking for.