Medical Homes – Where Everyone Is Invited, Is Included, Is Important – Part 1

When was the last time your doctor inspired you to do the right thing for your health, yourself or the health of your family? I can tell you from one of own recent experiences that inspiration isn’t starting inside the waiting room of my PCP or on the phone disputing a claim with customer no-service and trying to talk to some big insurance company.

In the new world of medicine, medical homes and concierge medicine are delivering some big results. These health care providers and the businesses they operate are successful in today’s difficult marketplace because of timing, technology, relationship and the listening ear you receive from every physician you meet inside these practices.

So, what exactly is making medical homes (sometimes referred to as concierge care or concierge medicine) attractive, affordable and inviting to everyone? It’s summed up in five words. Price. Compatibility. Relationship. Technology. Accessibility.

Medical Homes Are: Affordable.

Concierge medical care and direct pay medical business models are on the forefront of modern business and innovation. Like Taco Bell, the originator of the ‘value menu,’ many modern medical practices across America are actually starting to list their prices to their patients before they buy.

Until recently, primary care and health care practices were one of the only businesses in America that rarely listed how much they charged for services and products. The eventual evolution of retainer based health care, direct primary care and concierge medical business models changed all of that. Then along came the recession in 2008 that changed the world as we know it. People started paying more attention to their credit card statements, health insurance claims, hospital bills and prescription drug costs.

An independent analysis of concierge medicine and direct pay primary care practices across the U.S. have shown that nearly 60% of physicians using this form of price transparency are costing patients less than $136 per month. Compare that to the insurance premiums of large health plan carriers and the savings are monumental. This is just one of the new ways to inspire hope in difficult economic times.

“People want ‘the deal,'” says one concierge physician. “We, the doctors, must be the first one to the market to be honest with their customer…we need to take the first step. For too long we’ve waited. Decades in-fact, for insurance companies and managed care organizations to provide some form of user-friendly price transparency. It just hasn’t happened. It’s simply become to complicated, until now.”

Medical Homes Are: Compatible.

An independent study analyzing concierge medical and direct pay health care practices across America for the past three years reports that 80% of these types of practices and physicians accept insurance. Sound like a contradiction? I thought the whole purpose of price transparency and direct pay health care was to do away with insurance complexities?

So, why are so many of these practices across America (80% in fact) allowing their patients to use their insurance too? Because insurance is still important to most people. You see, the physicians and business executives who operate these types of modern medical practices understand that you cannot take away the freedom of people’s choice to use their insurance, when necessary.

Despite the enormous complexity and erroneous amounts of work these insurance plans carry with them, it’s still every patients right to carry and use their health insurance beyond the retainer of fee they pay for comprehensive service from their physician.

“Patients continue to carry their insurance because of hospitalization or emergency room visits,” says one Texas family physician. “We encourage them to call us first if they have an allergic reaction or other severe health issue but if they need to go to the hospital, that type of service can’t be paid for inside our financial relationship with the patient. So, having that backup plan in your wallet or purse is more useful than you might think.”