By Stephania Jimenez
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX | November 21, 2014 - If you’ve been sick recently, you know it can take a long time to schedule an appointment with your doctor. But, there’s a relatively new service in town called MDVIP that’s changing the way you get healthcare.
“We’re getting healthier instead of our health declining, so it’s very encouraging,” said Amy Villarreal.
Villarreal has been an MDVIP patient since 2010. When she gets sick, she calls her Primary Care Physician (PCP), Dr. Gerard Boynton, and he sees her right away.
“Now people are seen the same day – no later than the next day. I schedule patients at 30-minute intervals and they get 30 minutes [with me]. There’s no wait time,” said Dr. Gerard Boynton.
No crowded waiting rooms and greater access to your PCP. That’s a key aspect of MDVIP, otherwise known as concierge medicine. There are a handful of companies besides MDVIP; such as Signature MD, Choice MD and Specialdocs that offer that type of exclusive healthcare, but it comes at a cost.
MDVIP charges each patient $1,650 a year. That’s in addition to what they pay for their healthcare plan. MDVIP members get: 24/7 access to their doctor via e-mail and cell phone, short wait times, at least 30 minutes with their doctor during each visit, and a two-hour comprehensive physical every year.
“We have all the time they need and I need to really get in to what their issues are,” said Dr. Boynton.
The reason MDVIP doctors like Dr. Boynton can guarantee such fast and easy access to their patients is simple: they exclusively treat MDVIP patients and can only have up to 600 of them; compare that to Dr. Jose Ugarte, a family physician in Kingsville, who treats about 3,000 patients.
“In the clinic, I see anywhere from 30-45 patients a day,” stated Dr. Ugarte.
Dr. Ugarte is not an MDVIP doctor, but worries about the effect concierge medicine will have on South Texas-a region that Dr. William Burgin with the City-County Health Dept. said has a doctor shortage and a high number of uninsured people.
“You’ve got the wealthy that can afford it, you’ve got the middle class who have some kind of access and then you’ve got the indigent, who have what’s left,” said Dr. Burgin.
Villarreal admitted that she and her family have to make financial sacrifices to pay for their MDVIP membership, but said the personalized care has literally saved her life.
“I did discover through Dr. Boynton that I did have some plaque build-up in my corroded artery. Had it gone untreated, it could’ve lead to stroke or possibly even death.”
You can find more information on concierge medicine here:
http://www.ConciergeMedicineToday.com/
SOURCE: http://www.kristv.com/news/special-report-concierge-medicine-in-corpus-christi/
