Are Memberships Among Concierge Doctors Rising?
By Staff Writer, Concierge Medicine Today(CMT)
MAY 28, 2013 – As a concierge/direct care medical practice physician and business owner, you have to balance a lot of expenses like: leased space; staff; equipment costs; heat and air and many other costs. Leased/owned space and staff salaries are what most concierge doctors report to us as their highest annual expenditures. However, these are not the only expenses in a practice that can be critical to your bottom-line. Even small changes in overhead expenses can affect your bottom line. The more you have to pay for services, utilities and supplies, the smaller the percentage of your revenue gets distributed as profit.
“According to our data of over 1,000 confirmed, currently operating concierge practices in the U.S. in 2012 and 2013,” says Michael Tetreault, Editor-In-Chief of Concierge Medicine Today, “we’ve determined the national average annual fee for concierge medical services is between $1,400-$1,700 per patient, per year. Large networks of concierge doctors have claimed a significant portion of the concierge doctor market share and thus help to keep prices from inflating too high in major metropolitan markets.”
Concierge Medicine Today has found that some independent concierge doctors who are not part of a large group charge higher rates ($2,500 and up).
“Interviews with various industry sources indicates that the average patient or consumer of concierge medical services market can withstand a small annual premium increase of about $25 to $160 per year,” adds Tetreault. “The problem with raising prices for concierge patients, especially in private, direct-pay medicine and concierge medical clinics is that it causes patients to reassess how much value this care brings to their life, their financial commitment, their current quality of life, past experiences with the doctors’ staff, traffic and travel interruptions and how often they actually utilize services on an annual basis.”
Concierge Medicine Today (CMT) receives inquiries everyday from people looking to join a concierge medicine practice. CMT also regularly receives inquiries from doctors who are looking at how much they are charging for services. They are attempting to determine how they can balance those fees and still charge what their patients will pay without appearing to price-gouge their patients.
“Our opinion and that of our research arm, The Collective, is that there are approximately 5,000+ physicians nationwide,” adds Tetreault. “We believe the growth rate will be high in the coming years – possibly higher than 30% due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Although this is our opinion, we have certainly seen an increase in physician interest to support it.”
