Concierge Doctors In Virginia

The last time I called the doctor's office, how long have you had to wait for an answer? How long usually wait for an appointment or wait an order to be called? Arriving at the office, how much time you spend in the waiting room and how long ago the doctor about you?

Do you have all the answers to your questions? How many seconds you at the beginning of his visit to explain their symptoms before the interruption? The nurses and doctors seem more interested in their computers or their cards than they are for you?

If your experiences are like most people, their answers to these questions are very flattering to the medical profession and the health care system in general. Most doctors do not really want to have their practices as well, but do not have much choice. Must have a high volume of patients to make ends meet financially. The high volume makes the clinic a very busy place and most patients do not feel as if a lot of attention.

In 1996, in Seattle, a doctor named Howard Moran thought that would be a better way. It launched the concept have a smaller volume care medical practice very closely, as a service for patients to change a provision, like many lawyers or accountants use. This right may be in addition to or instead of, office expenses which are billed to insurance companies. This concept allows the practice to remain solvent while providing better medical service more attentive to their low volume of patients (usually keep the number of patients one-tenth of a typical practice of care traditional primary.)

Unfortunately, health insurance companies currently do not pay for this service, which means that patients must pay out of pocket, but if the service is good, it may be worthwhile. Patients who join these practices are encouraged to maintain their usual insurance they need for visits to other specialists, laboratory tests, radiology tests and / or hospital services, if necessary.

Many concierge practices offer appointments the same day or next day, no long waits for appointments or prescription refills, direct access to your day or night, medical staff, home visits if necessary, ongoing care in case of hospitalization, complete physical exams, screening audiometry, cardiovascular research in cancer risk, more attention to preventive care, go without rushing, all questions answered, family meetings, if necessary, coordinate care specialists, provision of personal health records to CD or flash memories, etc, etc.

Depending on the type and number of services provided, the provision general can vary considerably from region to region, ranging from $ 100 to $ 20,000 per year, probably averaging around $ 1500-3000/year. There were only a few hundred of these doctors a few years ago, but there are over 5,000 of them nationwide. Many, but not all are on the homepage of the Academy American private doctors – http://www.aapp.org/ . Patients may be able Goalkeeper find a doctor in your area on this site.

It has been some controversy surrounding some of these practices, because some authorities believe that the growth of concierge medicine will result in a two-tiered medical system in this country – one for the rich and another for the not so rich. Furthermore, the current shortage of primary care physicians (PSP), with a growing number of concierge practices, the number of physicians available to traditional offices will be even lower, and access to care for patients served by these practices will suffer. On the other hand, students may be interested Drugs in primary care, if the chances of concierge medicine are available to them when they finish their residencies.

Some of these practices have been under fire from insurance companies who say that doctors are offering concierge essentially an insurance scheme for their patients without an insurance license to do so. The practices must be legally and financially structured in such a way as to avoid this criticism.

In general, the concept of Concierge medicine offers an alternative to the traditional model currently insufficient medical practice. The fee may seem high to some, but in most cases is probably much higher than the cost of local telephone or cable, about the same as that of a family pass to eat once a week.

Gregory J. Warth, MD, FACP
Virginia Beach Premier Medical – (A concierge practice)
http://www.virginia-beach-premier-medical.com
http://www.art-of-patient-care.com