Thursday, April 21, 2005
Concierge medicine not only for the rich
[Kathleen Longcore, "A new kind of care: 'Concierge' medicine grows as a reaction to insurance-dominated doctoring," The Grand Rapids Press, 17 April 2005.]
Concierge or boutique medicine is catching on around the country, but not necessarily with those who you might expect. The availability of such an option is attractive to those with high-deductible insurance policies who are looking to cut the costs and uncertainty of traditional care:
Linda Berens works three days a week as a Holland hotel clerk and can barely afford to put gas in the car or food on the table. It takes all she makes to pay for high-deductible health insurance that provides only hospitalization and no basic care.
So the 51-year-old Allegan County resident was intrigued when she saw Dr. Mark Newberry's newspaper ad promising primary care for $1,500 per person or $2,000 per family for a year.
Berens, who has asthma and allergies, had been shelling out $50 a week just for allergy shots. So she called Newberry's Holland office.
Newberry answered the phone.
"He's the first doctor I've ever had that answered his own phone," Berens said, and she got right in for an appointment. "He spent an hour with me."
When Berens bought Newberry's basic care plan -- which covers the cost of the shot, though she pays for the prescription -- she became part of a trend in health care known as concierge medicine. It's also called boutique medicine, retainer-based medicine and membership-based medicine.
Concierge doctors say they're making a good living with 150 to 500 patients instead of the 2,500 to 5,000 many doctors carry on their rolls.
They don't have to rush their patients through office visits, which both improves relationships and cuts down on the potential for mistakes, they say.
And by cutting out insurance companies, they say they can do what's best for their patients. They don't have to see what the insurance company will cover.
No matter the market force, consumer-driven health plans, including health savings accounts, will keep changing the health care industry, [Physicians Organization of West Michigan executive director Dave] Silliven said. And doctors will have to respond in order to survive.
He predicts prepaid medicine will become "a booming area of private practice" as more workers lose health insurance or switch to high-deductible plans.
"Medicine is a business. And the marketplace will determine acceptance of these new ways to pay for health care," Silliven said.
[Greg Scandlen, "Choice is revolutionizing health care," The Flint Hills Center, 28 September 2004.]
[Kathleen Longcore, "A new kind of care: 'Concierge' medicine grows as a reaction to insurance-dominated doctoring," The Grand Rapids Press, 17 April 2005.]
Concierge or boutique medicine is catching on around the country, but not necessarily with those who you might expect. The availability of such an option is attractive to those with high-deductible insurance policies who are looking to cut the costs and uncertainty of traditional care:
Linda Berens works three days a week as a Holland hotel clerk and can barely afford to put gas in the car or food on the table. It takes all she makes to pay for high-deductible health insurance that provides only hospitalization and no basic care.
So the 51-year-old Allegan County resident was intrigued when she saw Dr. Mark Newberry's newspaper ad promising primary care for $1,500 per person or $2,000 per family for a year.
Berens, who has asthma and allergies, had been shelling out $50 a week just for allergy shots. So she called Newberry's Holland office.
Newberry answered the phone.
"He's the first doctor I've ever had that answered his own phone," Berens said, and she got right in for an appointment. "He spent an hour with me."
When Berens bought Newberry's basic care plan -- which covers the cost of the shot, though she pays for the prescription -- she became part of a trend in health care known as concierge medicine. It's also called boutique medicine, retainer-based medicine and membership-based medicine.
Concierge doctors say they're making a good living with 150 to 500 patients instead of the 2,500 to 5,000 many doctors carry on their rolls.
They don't have to rush their patients through office visits, which both improves relationships and cuts down on the potential for mistakes, they say.
And by cutting out insurance companies, they say they can do what's best for their patients. They don't have to see what the insurance company will cover.
No matter the market force, consumer-driven health plans, including health savings accounts, will keep changing the health care industry, [Physicians Organization of West Michigan executive director Dave] Silliven said. And doctors will have to respond in order to survive.
He predicts prepaid medicine will become "a booming area of private practice" as more workers lose health insurance or switch to high-deductible plans.
"Medicine is a business. And the marketplace will determine acceptance of these new ways to pay for health care," Silliven said.
[Greg Scandlen, "Choice is revolutionizing health care," The Flint Hills Center, 28 September 2004.]
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