The concierge medicine model maintains a good physician-patient bonding. A patient can avail physician services round the clock. The physician meets not more than 15 patients each day. The physician also earns a satisfactory income without toiling like the traditional doctors. The concierge model demands a fair amount of entrepreneurial and marketing skills. The situation is challenging because the physicians are not trained businessmen.
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The Choice of healthcare models:
Health care markets’ response to primary care providers
The scarcity of primary care givers will fetch a decision-making situation for the physician and the patient. This would force their practices into two entirely diverse models.
Each model is different and offers valid response to the patient surplus.
The two models create noticeably dissimilar experiences for both the physician and patient.
And each model depicts wide split in the doctor’s medical education.
Model 1:
Physician as the leader of the healthcare structure – heads a team supervising the Nurse Practitioners and Assistant Physicians
In general, the physician is considered the Chief of the service team.
The Physician’s Assistants and Nurse Practitioners initially treat the patients under the supervision of the Chief physician.
The expertise and knowledge of the Chief physician will be retained for highly complex cases during the day.
The major job of the new age physician will be in his commitment to directing and correlating the care pyramid of their subordinates.
Issues with this model of practice:
The lack of leadership skills education in medical colleges and residency training is the most challenging issue for physicians. Nearly 30-50% of their time is used up in management and leadership tasks for which they are not trained by medical schools. Organizational leadership should be regarded as a major topic for Continuing Medical Education (CME) in the future.
Model 2:
Having service as the main motive – Direct care model
The demand for concierge services:
Today, the popularity of concierge medicine is greater than before. Patients soon realise that they are allowed to see the main physician only on special and rare occasions. The patients are ready to pay an extra amount for the special privilege of being treated by the chief physician. The deficit in the number of physicians demands a huge extra remuneration to meet the patients’ needs. As there is seen a substantial move towards concierge medicine service and with that a fall in premiums more avenues within the concierge practice is now becoming available. The immense acceptance of the concierge model will indeed have another element which will be a driving force – the doctors themselves.
In this model the physician’s role is exactly the opposite of that of the physician in Model 1. In the concierge model the physician sees less than 15 patients a day, thereby enabling direct patient care and meaningful relationships with the patients. With the extremely low overhead of the concierge medicine model these physicians are able to make the same income as the doctors who are driven by volume without them having to see all these patients or having to supervise providers at various levels.
As a physician you would have to deal with the challenge of not having the necessary business acumen and training as well as lack of any grounding in marketing.
As a patient, you will be able to see your doctor at any time you are ill or in for a regular check-up or care. The doctor will be mostly practicing solo in a small office and will also provide you with more of his concentrated time and attention.
In general:
The concierge medicine model maintains a good physician-patient bonding. A patient can avail physician services round the clock. The physician meets not more than 15 patients each day. The physician also earns a satisfactory income without toiling like the traditional doctors. The concierge model demands a fair amount of entrepreneurial and marketing skills. The situation is challenging because the physicians are not trained businessmen.