The standard healthcare system isn’t set up to allow physicians to provide high quality care to patients. Under the traditional system, doctors are often forced to take on more patients than they can reasonably handle. This causes several problems, ranging from delays in seeking care due to long wait times for appointments to short, often rushed physician encounters due to overbooking, which decreases the quality of care that patients receive.
Physicians who are frustrated with the traditional healthcare system may want to consider making the switch to concierge medicine. You and your patients can benefit when your practice makes the switch from large docs medical group to a concierge model.
What Is Concierge Medicine?
Concierge medicine is a new way to deliver healthcare to patients. Instead of relying upon a fee-based structure where patients and their insurance pay a set amount for each service or appointment, the concierge model takes a membership-based approach.
Patients of a medical concierge practice pay a fixed fee to receive primary care services from a physician. The fixed fee — which can be paid monthly, quarterly or annually — allows patients to have access to multiple conveniences, such as same-day appointments, access to physicians 24/7, and the ability to spend quality time with physicians during appointments. All these conveniences help improve the quality of care that patients receive by strengthening and enhancing the patient-physician relationship.
Thinking of switching to the concierge model? Learning more about the benefits of this type of healthcare arrangement can help you determine if it is right for your practice.
Provide Higher Quality Care by Being More Attentive to Patients
The traditional approach to healthcare doesn’t allow physicians to spend quality time with their patients. In fact, it is estimated that physicians spend approximately 16 to 20 minutes personally interacting with their patients. That is hardly enough time to get to the root of any health issue, let alone form a strong physician-patient relationship.
Switching to a concierge model allows physicians to be more attentive. The membership-based approach allows physicians to take on fewer patients without seeing a loss of revenue. Physicians can spend more one-on-one time with patients because they are not overbooked and feeling rushed.
Longer, more personalized appointments can help improve the quality of care that patients receive. Physicians can take the time to truly understand each patient’s concerns and health problems, as well as learn valuable information such as detailed medical history, lifestyle and unique needs. Having the time to learn this information allows physicians to create personalized care plans that not only address immediate health issues, but also help improve a patient’s overall health.
Some of your patients are probably already wondering, “Is there concierge medicine near me?” Answer their question and fill the need in your community — make the switch to the concierge model and see how your patients thrive.
Simplify Your Medical Practice by Reducing Collections and Coding Staff
Every time a patient under the traditional healthcare system visits his or her physician, he or she must pay a fee, depending on insurance coverage. In order to make sure these fees are paid and the proper paperwork is submitted to insurance companies, a physician needs to hire additional staff to handle the collections, coding and billing. However, that isn’t always necessary with a concierge approach to healthcare.
Concierge medicine simplifies how a medical practice is run. Patients pay a single membership fee in order to receive specific services. By paying only a single membership fee, a patient can visit her or his physician multiple times without having to pay for each appointment. Not only is this setup easier for the patient, but it is also easier for the physician. This way, you don’t have to go through the lengthy and time-consuming process of coding, billing and collecting for every office appointment.
In some situations, physicians may choose to provide direct primary care services instead of going through insurance. Direct primary care services require patients to pay a single flat fee directly to the practice. Once the fee is paid, patients have access to the agreed-upon services. By eliminating the insurance process, physicians can reduce their overhead costs by not having to hire additional office staff that handle insurance coding, billing and collections.
Transitioning Your Practice to a Concierge Model
Switching from a traditional healthcare business model to a concierge business model won’t happen overnight. In order for it to be done correctly, a comprehensive practice analysis must be completed. This analysis should give you valuable insight to help improve your chances of becoming a successful concierge medical practice.
A comprehensive practice analysis looks at all aspects of your medical practice, from your financial status to your marketing strategies. This analysis typically includes:
- A financial review of your practice
- An evaluation of your current business and financial model
- A review of patient demographics
- A survey of existing and potential patients
- An assessment of your marketing strategies
- A comprehensive look at competitors
If you are considering making the switch from the traditional healthcare model to the concierge approach, Specialdocs can help you with the transition process. Specialdocs has a proven track record of helping physicians with traditional independent practices make a successful transition to a concierge medical practice.
We are here to help with every step of the process from the pre-sale analysis and patient review to post-sale services. We also provide help with regulatory and legal review; marketing to potential new clients who are interested in switching doctors and who are wondering, “Is there a concierge doctor near me?”; establishing membership billing; and communicating with new and existing patients.
Let’s get the conversation started about switching to a concierge healthcare model. Contact us today to explore your options and see if this type of business model is right for your medical practice.
Interested in learning more about the Specialdocs’ Concierge Practice model?
Begin exploring the benefits of concierge medicine by taking our short Specialdocs Test for Evaluating Practices (STEP). Take the first STEP by clicking the button below.