Medicine Health

Do you or your kids suffer from bad moods when you leave the doctor's office? Does having a doctor's appointment effect your mood for the entire day when you know you're going to have to take time off of work or get a sitter for the kids just to be left waiting in a waiting area with old magazines? Well, your not alone but you're in luck because there is a cure.

In the mid 1990's a new form of primary and family medicine was reinvented to work in today's busy health care marketplace. It's called concierge medical care or direct pay health care. It's actually really simple. If you want to see the doctor, you call him and he or she actually pick up the phone. You tell them what you need and determine the urgency of the situation and most often, you're seen in as little amount of time as it takes you to get to their office. Sometimes, the doctor will even come to your home, your office or schedule a time to video chat with you over a secure internet connection.

How Do I Pay The Doctor?

This is the amazing part. These visioneering physicians accept cash and many times, will tell you how much their service costs before you buy anything. Simple, right? Up until just the past few years, the health care marketplace was the only industry in America where consumers of service (ie patients) had no idea how much things cost. And, a survey summary released in July of 2010 reports that nearly 60 percent of these types of physicians cost as little as $136 per month.

What About Insurance?

Most physicians operating within this new way of doing business in their medical practice accept insurance. Eighty percent actually according to independent studies released in 2010.

If you have health insurance, your concierge doctor may submit claims for treatments that are not covered under your membership.

What Services Are Included In The Annual Retainer Fee?

A lot of these physicians have common services they offer to their patients throughout the year that are included in one low annual fee, payable in the form of monthly, quarterly or semi-annual payments. Those services typically offered are: comprehensive physical exams, routine blood work, unlimited visits to the office, same or next day appointments, phone-in prescription renewals requests, casts, routine vaccines, 24-hour-a-day phone access and e-mail, house calls, coordination of care when you travel, immediate family counsel for those family members visiting you and much, much more.

What If I Need To Go To The Hospital or Emergency Room?

Independent polls among concierge physicians across the U.S. show that over 90% of concierge medical physicians help patients navigate through the emergency room faster and more efficiently because the admitting physician (ie their very own concierge doctor) had hospital privileges and not only that, knew that patients exact medical history, current prescription usage and more.

As it relates to insurance, patients of concierge medical programs are encouraged to maintain their insurance for hospitalization or emergency room visits. Those type of services are not included in annual fees paid to a concierge physician.