What's the Difference Between a Concierge Doctor and a Primary Care Doctor?

When it comes to care decisions, there are not many differences between primary care physicians operating in traditional fee-for-service models and concierge primary care physicians, who charge a membership fee for their practice. 

The experience, however, can be completely different.;

How Modern Primary Care Works

In a traditional primary care setting, patients join a physician’s practice. When they go in for a sick visit, they may see their physician or another medical provider, like a different doctor, a nurse practitioner or physician assistant.

Patients pay a fee for that visit based on their insurance policy. This fee may be a fixed copay or coinsurance, a percentage of the overall fee. Their insurance covers the rest of the visit cost.

This is what most Americans are used to when it comes to primary care.

Single physician practices have an average of 2,300 patients – and many have hundreds or thousands more. This is one of the reasons appointments are hard to schedule and often start late. Physicians often see more than 25 patients in a single day, and those appointments, which are booked in just 15-minute intervals, may run over, so there’s little guarantee your appointment will be on time.

Between the volume of patients and the administrative burden of running large practices, traditional primary care doctors are often hurried, which means even when you get an appointment, you may not get all your issues addressed or questions answered.

How Concierge Primary Care Works

By contrast, concierge primary care practices are typically much smaller, often just a few hundred patients. With fewer patients, doctors can offer more conveniences, including same- and next-day appointments, availability by cell phone after hours and longer visits.

In addition to conveniences, some concierge practices offer other services, including wellness resources, telemedicine, treatments not paid for by insurance like aesthetics and hormones, on-site phlebotomy and pharmacy, wellness coaching, nutrition counseling and many other benefits. Some physicians may admit and treat patients at a hospital where they have privileges or do house calls.

Though combinations of these services are advertised by many concierge programs, there’s no official guide to what concierge practices offer.

Concierge primary care practice also charge a fee – ranging from a few hundred dollars a month to $25,000 or more per year.

MDVIP Offers Concierge Benefits But Isn't Concierge

The 1,100-plus practices affiliated with MDVIP offer many of the same convenience- and wellness-focused benefits of concierge practices. But they go beyond concierge by having a consistent and well-defined preventive program, the MDVIP Wellness Program.

The annual fee pays for the advanced diagnostics and screenings in the MDVIP Wellness Program, which are not typically covered by insurance. Physicians also create a custom wellness plan, based on the results of the program.

They also offer same- and next-day appointments that start on time and last as long as needed. And patients in the program can reach their doctors after hours for urgent needs. There are other benefits to being members in the MDVIP program as well.