Boutique plans: The future of primary healthcare?

[sweeps]

Diana Moore learned the news through the neighborhood grapevine. Her family's primary-care physician of seven years would no longer accept Moore, her husband and daughter as patients - unless the family paid a $4,500 annual fee.

The physicians at Charter Internal Medicine in Columbia (MD) are overhauling the practice, ditching the insurance-dependent model and instead charging a flat yearly fee in exchange for the promise of 24-hour access to doctors, unhurried appointments, home visits and state-of-the-art annual physicals.

Known as "boutique" medicine or "concierge" care, the national trend appears to be sweeping across Maryland as primary-care doctors feel the financial crush of rising costs and low insurance reimbursement rates. Physicians say the model allows them to trim their patient loads and give patients quality care without worrying whether insurance will cover it.

For a little more, the doctor will see you now

[Caoineag]

Interesting. Not sure if I would go for it or not.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I would consider that, but we'd still need hospitalization insurance and perhaps insurance to help with diagnostic & treatment procedures not offered by the primary doctor.

[jIM_Ohio]

This is common- on another board I am on, this thread reached around 6-10 pages.

THe doctors, especially primary care, have a low profit margin (relative to other medical specialties) and insurance is reducing the profit margin to point where it is tough to keep office open.

Makes sense to me.