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Melissa Gifford

By: Melissa Gifford on November 6th, 2023

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Top 5 Reasons Why Patients Switch to a Concierge Doctor

Concierge Medicine | Membership

Pretty much everyone who thinks about switching to concierge medicine has something in common: They’re ready to ditch 7-minute medicine, so they start looking for alternatives to traditional primary care

The question is, why now? Why is now the time to make the jump?

While there are many reasons you may decide it's time to find a new primary care doctor, a few stand out, again and again, among our patients who’ve already made the switch. We want to share their themes with you.

We hope that hearing their rationale for moving to concierge medicine helps you reflect on your thoughts and feelings, even if your motivations are uniquely your own. You might be surprised to know how many people have experiences like yours.

Let’s look at the 5 main reasons for joining a concierge practice.

1. You are a high achiever and enjoy the individualized care concierge medicine offers.

Do you feel like your traditional doctor can’t keep up with their high-achievement lifestyle? Not because they aren't a talented physician, but because their schedules just make it difficult. A traditional doctor cannot see you long enough, or know you well enough, to be the teammate you need.

If you’re the type of informed consumer and health advocate who wants a proactive outlook, not a disaster relief mentality, from your physician, then you’re fitting in with many who choose concierge care.

female concierge doctor talking with patient

2. You have an existing condition that requires attentive care.

If you have a condition that necessitates a doctor’s in-depth attention, then 7-minute medicine is likely driving you crazy, bankrupt, or both.

It’s not just that it’s not enough time to adequately discuss and manage your condition, it’s also that it’s just not convenient to be seen in the first place. You can’t afford to have to wait days or weeks for an appointment.

Concierge doctors have more time to look at the big picture of your health. It’s one of the major pros of concierge medicine. They can review your full list of medications and assess how they interact with one another. They can coordinate care with your other specialists and providers and investigate treatments, including new and cutting-edge methods.

Do you have a condition, whether chronic or complex, that requires a lot of contact with your physician? Are you in search of new solutions to a lingering problem? You’re in strong company with the many others who choose concierge medicine.

3. You experience a medical scare that creates urgency.

We find that plenty of people choosing concierge care came from a moment of reckoning.

  • Maybe you have a jarring experience that makes you re-examine your decisions.
  • Maybe a milestone birthday leads you to think about aging and death.
  • Maybe a scare comes from someone else’s health lapse.
  • Maybe your parents are struggling, and that struggle reminds you of worrisome aspects of your family medical history.
  • Maybe an acquaintance from long ago passes away suddenly. “If it can happen to them, it can happen to me,” the thinking goes.
  • Sometimes, a familiar celebrity gets sick or passes away, and the news reverberates in a way they never could have predicted.

These moments of reckoning make us want to protect ourselves — from our joints and bones to our sense of memory and life itself. If you’re having this experience, you’re not alone. It’s a common reason people look for doctors they can access often.

concierge doctor talking with male patient

4. You're done waiting.

The traditional primary care model is broken. There are fewer and fewer primary care doctors – The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates there will be a shortage of 21,400-525,200 primary care physicians by 2033 – caring for more and more patients.

That’s where the waiting comes in. You wait days or weeks for an appointment and then wait again in the lobby or exam room, simply because your traditional primary care doctor is juggling 20-35 patients per day.

Many patients who switch to concierge medicine do so for convenience. It removes the hassle of having to wait for an appointment when sick – most concierge practices guarantee you will be seen for acute care appointments either the same day or the next day.

Most concierge practices guarantee virtually no waiting in the lobby or exam room. If your appointment is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m., you can expect that you will be seen at 10:00 a.m. (or a few minutes after at the latest).

5. You want peace of mind – for yourself or your loved ones (or both).

COVID-19 affected many things in our world. It brought the importance of preventive, convenient, personalized healthcare to the forefront.

Did you find yourself wondering who you would call for trustworthy guidance if you started showing symptoms? What about your loved ones – who would your children, your parents, your grandparents call?

For many, the deeper relationship with a physician and the 24/7 access to care provides peace of mind. You know you, or your loved ones, will get the care they need, when they need it, whether it’s the middle of the day or the middle of the night. And that can be invaluable.

Take an active step today. Learn more about concierge medicine.

Do you hear echoes of your feelings in these common themes? The patients we are describing took a big step to improve their situation by moving to concierge care. What’s your next step?

One thing you can do right away is to get more information on concierge care.

Download our free “Understanding Concierge Medicine” guide to understand the features, fees, and other particulars of concierge care.

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