Doctor's office switching to "concierge" (additional cost outside of insurance)

[Anonymous]

My health insurance premium is going up 10% this year. If you look at Kaiser Foundation data they show average premiums are up over 20% in the last 5 years and almost 50% in the last 10 years to $25k per family.

If doctors aren’t getting that money then it’s the insurance companies’ fault, not the ACA (which actually requires that at least 80% of premiums be spent on care).

Also $25k (or more) isn’t “pixie dust”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised that you’re surprised by this. Over the past 5 years lots of PCPs have moved to a concierge model. My doctor explained that she would now be able to see 400 patients instead of the 2200 she was previously seeing. It’s up to you to decide whether the premium is worth it. My doctor still took my regular insurance so there were no surprises there.

I decided it wasn't worth it. I see several specialists for a complicated condition and a PCP doesn't add much value, especially for $2200. I'm not sure what they're going to do during the superduper annual check up. They certainly do not coordinate the specialists, and when I was diagnosed the PCP knew less about the condition than I did from Dr Google.

My suggestion would to find a PCP who uses the same portal as your specialist. Having them share records is the best care coordination for me.

This would make sense to me if you’re regularly seeing a specialist. My PCP also does all my routine GYN stuff so in a typical healthy year, she’s the only doctor I see. Oh except the dermatologist. But if I were going to an OB/GYN annually, I would probably skip my PCP annual visit a lot.

[Anonymous]

Concierge is a scourge.

It is ruining healthcare and making it so only rich people can afford medical care. USA is a third world S hole.

[Anonymous]

It's so frustrating that you have to pay for "concierge" services to get the level of care that should be given to everyone.

[Anonymous]

$2200. Is low. We had concierge for several years. But he was cutting back to working two days a week. He is in his 70s. We knew we would need a new doctor eventually.

We switched to a hospital-based PCP and all hospital docs on the same portal. It is good but not the same as a dedicated, long term doctor.

[Anonymous]

I don't see the value.

What they are calling "concierge" is what used to be the normal standard of care.

[Anonymous]

because what we consider standard of care as being normal is not what it used to be. you have to pay for what you want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank ACA.

This isn’t an ACA thing. It’s a privat insurance thing.

I would MUCH rather have a government bureaucracy making decisions about my health coverage and claims than a private enterprise trying to meet quarterly earnings targets.

Oh my God. You have obviously never worked with the government.

My mom was a VA nurse for 38 years. You do NOT WANT THE GOVERNMENT MANAGING YOUR CARE. So many unnecessary deaths due to poor docs. There was one surgeon they called "Dr. Death" because he nicked organs like weekly, leading to people dying of sepsis unnecessarily. Did the VA stop him from operating? Nope. He continued on for 15 more years doing this until he retired.

Same in private insurance care.

It’s not nearly as bad. It’s all fine to say it’s the same until it is your family member who dies at the hands of a butcher. This doc was kicked out of private practices. No doc chooses the VA

[Anonymous]

I’m a doctor in primary care. If you want an MD pcp doctor in the future with good appointment times and someone who has time to listen etc this is what the future holds. For many it’s either this or leaving medicine all together because the current landscape is not sustainable.

In the future it will be either MD via concierge for the rich and a rotating group of NP/PA with less training for everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a doctor in primary care. If you want an MD pcp doctor in the future with good appointment times and someone who has time to listen etc this is what the future holds. For many it’s either this or leaving medicine all together because the current landscape is not sustainable.

In the future it will be either MD via concierge for the rich and a rotating group of NP/PA with less training for everyone else.

nah, we dont want to pay and think $50 for a annual PCP visit is more than enough SMH at how brainwashed the patients/consumers are these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a doctor in primary care. If you want an MD pcp doctor in the future with good appointment times and someone who has time to listen etc this is what the future holds. For many it’s either this or leaving medicine all together because the current landscape is not sustainable.

In the future it will be either MD via concierge for the rich and a rotating group of NP/PA with less training for everyone else.

Or maybe the AMA and AAMC should be treated as cartels that they are and busted up? It’s absolutely insane we cap the number of physicians degreed per year when the entire country is facing an access crisis. Of course the docs don’t want to take a hit to their salaries though, so we have this insane system limiting the number of accredited schools and graduates every year. They also need to msssively increase the number of residency slots available every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a doctor in primary care. If you want an MD pcp doctor in the future with good appointment times and someone who has time to listen etc this is what the future holds. For many it’s either this or leaving medicine all together because the current landscape is not sustainable.

In the future it will be either MD via concierge for the rich and a rotating group of NP/PA with less training for everyone else.

nah, we dont want to pay and think $50 for a annual PCP visit is more than enough SMH at how brainwashed the patients/consumers are these days.

$50 is more than enough. It’s shocking how brainwashed Americans are. People on South Korea or Japan go to the doctor every year for free, or when they need to pay it costs something like $5-10 per visit. US healthcare blows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email:


Dear {insert patient name},
[sic. That's what the email said]


We are writing to announce an important practice change. We will convert to a concierge/personalized care practice model.

Unfortunately, in recent years the healthcare environment has made it almost unsustainable to practice medicine as independent physicians due to the mandated constraints placed on doctors.

Continuity of care and personalized communication have become more difficult. This is not the way we want to practice medicine.


As a member, you will enjoy phones answered live by caring staff, scheduling appointments quickly and at your convenience, having extended unhurried visits, receiving dedicated follow-up between visits, and directly communicating with us after hours for urgent issues.


In order to realize these goals, our practice size will be limited and there will be an annual membership fee
------

Fee amount not announced yet.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a lot of words to say "we need more profit per patient."

So now we get a guaranteed fixe price to pay PLUS still get surprise bills for treatment.

We got a very similar email from Marshak medical group. A few sentences were different from whay you posted.

I wonder if something changed that suddenly broke all the camels' backs at once. We just got this letter too, and I came here searching for previous experiences. We like our doctors, but we usually don't go often enough to warrant a concierge fee. If it's a fee per person, that's several thousand for our family... not going to happen. And now everyone will be squeezing into the smaller pool of non-concierge practices...

[Anonymous]

Thanks donald trump

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a doctor in primary care. If you want an MD pcp doctor in the future with good appointment times and someone who has time to listen etc this is what the future holds. For many it’s either this or leaving medicine all together because the current landscape is not sustainable.

In the future it will be either MD via concierge for the rich and a rotating group of NP/PA with less training for everyone else.

Or maybe the AMA and AAMC should be treated as cartels that they are and busted up? It’s absolutely insane we cap the number of physicians degreed per year when the entire country is facing an access crisis. Of course the docs don’t want to take a hit to their salaries though, so we have this insane system limiting the number of accredited schools and graduates every year. They also need to msssively increase the number of residency slots available every year.

This should be more widely known. It's not the ACA's fault that more people have access to healthcare now. The alternative is that these people do NOT have access, and that is not the solution. The problem is that there is more demand, and yet the supply has been frozen for years. Decades even. The residency issue is bananas. So few spots, and then they pride themselves on crushing the residents to dust. The whole system is f-ed up.