The Benefits of Concierge Medicine for Patients & Doctors

Concierge medical service is rising in popularity as an alternative way to access healthcare versus the private healthcare insurance marketplace. In these times of healthcare scenarios, individuals pay a monthly fee to be part of a membership at a particular doctor’s practice instead of paying for health insurance. There are a few reasons why people do this so let’s get down to it.

What are Medical Concierge Services?

Concierge medical service works very similarly to the way many other concierge services work. You will have a doctor and you will be able to contact them by phone or email at any time of the day. You will be able to receive medical services and only pay for them whatever you actually need them instead of paying for them over time as you would with insurance.

Benefits For Patients

For the patient the benefits breakdown primarily into three categories. These relate to easier access to care, more care options, and increased cost-efficiency.

1. Easier Access To Your Healthcare Provider

Because doctors that operate concierge services do not take on the same load of patients that other doctors take on, they have the ability to dedicate much more time to each individual patient. In many cases, you will actually be able to have meetings with your doctor that have no set time limit so you can speak with them for as long as you feel is necessary. This is great because it allows you to build a better relationship with your healthcare provider and develop the trust that is essential for a successful relationship between a doctor and a patient.

2. Greater Availability Of Preventative Care

In a lot of healthcare settings in today’s economy, the only type of service that is offered is reactive care. This is the type of medical treatment that occurs after something has already gone wrong. Concierge doctors are much more able to provide quality preventative care to prevent the development of any health problems in the first place.

3. Can Be More Cost-Effective

Because the quality of care that patients are able to receive whenever they are working with a concierge doctor is so much higher than the quality of care found through other healthcare avenues patients will often show markedly better results. Because they will improve more quickly they can often cease treatment much more rapidly, thus saving money in the long run.

Benefits For Doctors

Do not think that the patient receives all of the benefits when it comes to the concierge medical industry. There are many reasons that doctors also enjoy offering their services through the concierge market. Most of these benefits relate to the enhanced autonomy that doctors are able to work their practice with when they are not under the pressure of conforming to insurance company requirements.

1. More Time To See Your Patients

Doctors go into their profession in order to heal people. Most of them do not enjoy spending time on the phone with insurance companies or dealing with the paperwork that is associated in most other healthcare settings when they are providing treatment to someone. Because they are able to operate independently when they offer concierge service doctors are able to have much more time for each of their patients.

2. Cut Out The Middleman Of Insurance Companies

It is no secret that insurance companies are notoriously difficult to work within the healthcare industry. There are entire divisions of hospitals set up to help negotiate with insurance companies. When a doctor is offering service through the concierge model they are able to sidestep the insurance companies entirely. This has several benefits. It is able to eliminate wasted costs thus lowering the overhead associated with running a practice. Eliminating the insurance company middlemen also allows the doctor to provide a greater range of care as they are no longer constricted by the requirements of insurance-approved procedures and treatment lists.

3. Other Benefits To Concierge Medicine

There are a few other benefits that are available to members of the concierge services. Now, these benefits are going to vary depending on the concierge service you are currently working with. There could even be benefits that are not included on this list. So make sure that you check with your healthcare provider what all benefits they have available to offer.

4. Home Delivery Of Medications And Other Medical Services

In the past home delivery of medical treatment was commonplace. This was when towns were much smaller and it was a little more feasible for doctors to go and visit the residents of their town. Today home delivery of both medical prescriptions and services is becoming even more popular thanks to concierge service. Members of a concierge service will be able to have their prescriptions delivered to their homes. There are also doctors that offer house visits for their concierge members. This can be great for individuals that have limited mobility due to age or disability as well as individuals that have easy schedules or work from home.

5. No Waiting In Lines At The Doctors Office

One of the least popular aspects of going to a hospital or doctor’s office is the waiting room. They are not exactly designed to be incredibly comfortable. Luckily, as a member of the concierge service, you will no longer deal with lines when you go to the doctor’s office. Again, owing to the decreased number of patients, the doctor as they are better able to schedule their appointment times so that patients are not stuck waiting in the lobby room for hours. While this does not necessarily directly save you money it will end up saving you time and that is certainly worth something at the end of the day.

The Bottom Line On Concierge Medicine

Concierge medical services like AccessEliteNow.com have been growing in the healthcare marketplace in terms of market share as an alternative to traditional healthcare avenues. It’s impossible to say definitively that the reason for this shift in market share is any one thing but it is quite clear that people are drawn to concierge service for some reason. The biggest benefits of concierge service relate specifically to the elimination of the insurance company middlemen. This allows significant cost savings for both the consumers of healthcare and the providers of healthcare.

Under the concierge model, doctors are freer to prescribe the treatments that they believe will best treat their patients instead of being forced to comply with antiquated insurance industry guidelines. This has had even more profound effects perhaps than any other aspect of the concierge model on the healthcare quality that is capable of being provided to the patients of practices that offer concierge service. Because doctors are free to choose the treatments that they believe will best suit their patients they are far more likely to offer preventative treatments. This is essential in creating better long-term health care outcomes. It is a well-known fact that the earlier you can treat a condition the better the outcomes will be. It is impossible to get any earlier when you are talking about treating a condition then by treating it before the condition exists in the first place. Take some time to talk to your doctor about possible concierge service options.