Are you aware that physician burnout is now reportedly affecting 50% of primary care physicians? Today’s topic addresses how private medicine models such as Direct Primary Care and Concierge provide excellent antidotes to this grave and worrying trend.
Primary care physicians are struggling. They’re squeezed by declining insurance reimbursements and increasing operating costs, forced to see ever-increasing numbers of patients each day, frustrated with the bureaucracy, constraints, and paperwork demands of insurance companies, and held to quality standards while not having the necessary time to spend with patients. The list goes on and on. More and more are feeling trapped by the system and are experiencing serious burnout.
What’s a solution?
Private medicine, structured as Direct Primary Care (DPC) or Concierge models, offers a tremendous opportunity for physicians wanting to alleviate burnout, rediscover the joy in practicing medicine, and achieve financial security too.
Here are 5 major benefits of Concierge or Direct Primary Care (membership) medicine:
Spend time with patients
Practicing the art of medicine requires taking enough time with patients — to get to know them and understand their concerns, and drill down to the root of the problem rather than just treating a set of symptoms. A much smaller, patient-centric practice allows you the time to provide more compassionate and personalized care for your patients. More time can be spent studying and incorporating new techniques to better focus on prevention and wellness. By building a strong doctor-patient relationship, and engaging the patient in their own care, you can better help them reach their health goals where traditional practices often fail.
Freedom from insurance constraints
Some types of private medicine practices continue to take insurance, but more and more physicians are moving to DPC models and eliminating the restrictions and hassles of insurance reimbursement altogether. These physicians are happy to say they are now “working for their patients, not the insurance companies”.
Determine your own destiny
Membership medicine provides physicians a way to have a positive impact on patients’ lives and practice as they intended to when they chose medicine as their career. Those who have seized the opportunity to transition to private medicine have built thriving practices and are enjoying both the financial and emotional rewards of practicing on their own terms.
By developing innovative models, they are re-connecting with their passion and redefining the meaning of health care. No longer constrained by the bureaucracies of hospital management or large group practices they can create and shape their concierge or DPC practice as they’d like. And know they’re building reliable revenue streams that create a sellable practice asset down the road.
Lower overhead
As these models are structured to allow physicians to see many fewer patients, there is much less need for office space, equipment and the number of staff necessary to manage phone calls, paperwork, and insurance requirements. As a result your overhead costs can be dramatically reduced with more money coming to your bottom line.
Better compensation
Many primary care physicians are already providing concierge-level services in their traditional practices because they believe it provides patients with the best care. They’re just not getting paid for all the extra time and attention they give. A membership model can solve that problem. For example, offering patients phone, email or video consultations provides greater convenience and eliminates unnecessary office visits. And because everyone is a paying customer, they recognize the value of you helping them stay healthy, and you’re never working for free.
According to the 2013 Medscape Concierge Physician Compensation Data, concierge physicians earned salaries comparable to specialists, with 46% earning between $200,000 and $400,000+ — all while seeing fewer patients and doing work they love.
