Understanding Concierge Medical Services for Physicians
What is a Medical Concierge Service?
A medical concierge service is a premium healthcare offering that provides personalized and convenient medical assistance to patients. It offers services like appointment scheduling, specialist referrals, medical record management, and assistance with insurance claims. These services aim to enhance the patient’s healthcare experience and ensure timely and quality care. Concierge medicine is a trend that took physician practices by storm in the mid-to-late 1990s. Independent physicians in private practice wanted more time with patients. The HMO universe obstructed the doctor-patient relationship, and everyone suffered, including physicians. Many elected to leave private practice and launch a business in concierge healthcare services. Patients were invited to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to the doctor. Those patients and families in an affluent position (the top 1 percent), and who visited their doctor on a frequent basis, paid for the privilege of unlimited and direct access to their primary care physician.
This boutique service often included a price tag of $25,000 annually. That meant the doctor was basically on call to the patient, making house calls, scheduling appointments the same day, opening up evening hours, with 24/7 availability. The doctor’s benefit was more time with patients and the bonus of additional fees unencumbered by insurance reimbursement. The patient benefit, obviously, created a personal care team accessible at a moment’s notice for comprehensive and personalized healthcare services. Unfortunately, paying for daily access to a physician did not cover the costs of insurance premiums, hospitalizations or other specialists.
Value-based Healthcare vs. Fee For Service
The trend toward value-based healthcare delivery puts the onus on physicians, hospitals and other providers to treat patients with an eye on outcomes. Under such value-based care agreements, providers must play an active role in ensuring patients improve their health and treatment outcomes.
Essentially, recidivism becomes the elephant in the room; can a healthcare services delivery team positively affect the health outcome of the patient by providing value-based care rather than fee-for-service care?
In fee-for-service models, the doctor provides limited services against reimbursement guidelines based on the resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) by which Medicare reimburses physicians for services rendered.
This concierge medicine model is not conducive to a patient’s health outcomes as the doctor must spend a limited time with patients regardless of their illness, condition, or disease.
Concierge Medicine as Value-based Healthcare
The trend toward concierge medicine by physicians for patients has come to life in a variety of healthcare delivery models. Physicians want the opportunity to guide and counsel patients toward better and improved healthcare results. Patients certainly want and need more time with their healthcare provider. Patients regard their doctor as their life consultant guiding them on appropriate courses of action to improve their health conditions.
Nowadays, the concierge medicine model has gained additional traction for the general populace. Physicians featuring the concierge medicine model and concierge model healthcare have ratcheted down the price tag to make it more affordable. A member may pay about $200 per month which totals $2,400 annually.
Knowing that patients want access to their primary care physician sooner than the customary six-to-eight weeks wait, these physicians are now meeting patient demand with on-demand services. If a patient wants to see a physician within 24 hours, they can pay a flat rate on a monthly basis for that privilege.
Concierge Medical Services for Physicians
As innovative healthcare models, like value-based care, dot the horizon of healthcare delivery models and patients and physicians cozy up to deeper relationships to positively impact health outcomes, the question remains: if patients receive more benefit from their doctors with a retainer-based physician access model, how do physicians benefit themselves from a concierge-type medical service model?
Eric N. Rosado, founder of Karma Health, a nascent medical concierge growth partner for physician practices, developed a unique model of concierge services targeting 19 specialty physician practices. Based on thorough research and analysis of the gaps in physician practice management, Rosado identified that physicians are similar to patients. They need concierge services similar to what physicians are delivering to their patients.
Karma Health offers a variety of services to benefit the efficiency of physician practice functionality. From tech tools that streamline the backed of patient on boarding and engagement to fronted positioning and growth strategies, Karma Health brings teams of influences to the table, each targeting a specific service a physician practice requires for sustainable growth.
This concierge service for physician practice specialties provides the missing link for doctors and practice administrators. Anything that occurs outside the confines of customary patient healthcare delivery is where Karma Health steps in. When the medical staff is not equipped to manage the technical aspects of apps, software or tools, Karma Health provides the expertise or finds the solution.
Contact Karma Health for Concierge Medical Services for Physicians
Karma Health offers concierge medicine software integration with EHR systems, brings forms and tools to make patient scheduling and intake more efficient, provides methodologies for additional online reviews, ensures that lead generation programs target appropriate patient demographics, and positions the physician practice for sustainable growth and expansion.
Concierge medicine services for physicians provide a unique methodology not previously introduced to the burgeoning healthcare industry. Karma Health’s Founder and CEO Marianne Canero brings the expertise to approach growth strategies that significantly influence physicians’ missing links in practice operations.
Boost your practice with targeted strategies and captivating campaigns of Karma Health. Contact us today at 954-710-9100 and witness the power of effective healthcare marketing.
