Concierge medicine is not an innovative concept in medical practice. It is a step back to the days when the doctor-patient relationship could not be intruded upon by external third-parties, such as an insurance company. How did this happen? Simple – the financial aspect of paying for medical care is handled directly between the doctor and the patient.

Modern medical practices are set up with two sets of parties in mind. The priority is the insurance company who pays for procedures and medications, and who must also be satisfied that what the doctor is recommending as a course of treatment. The second set of people a modern medical practice caters for is, of course, the patients.

How can patients be certain their doctor is recommending the most appropriate course of medical treatment, when someone else is saying what can and cannot be spent?

Are doctors truly happy with the standard of medical care they can deliver which is subject to artificial, financial constraints which owe more to an insurance company’s bottom line than to the needs of the individual patient?

In both cases, the simple and honest answer is that they cannot.

Insurance companies are extremely powerful and not only are the primary sources of revenue for medical caregivers today, but they are also the owners of many of the treatments and facilities where care is provided. There is a very clear conflict of interest here, which in all probability would not be allowed by medical ethics. Imagine a doctor who owned the hospital, employed and directed all the physicians, nurses and staff and supplied the medicines and directed which patient would get what care?

That is effectively the medical system we have in play today.

The solution is to return to the direct payment system where patients would pay a retainer to their doctor and arrange for the physicians remuneration directly. This is the system which existed before insurance companies took control over providing the financial aspects of medical coverage. By arranging to pay a doctor directly, the doctor was in a position where whatever medical treatment was required he could recommend. It was up to the patient to decide whether financial constraints should be applied to the treatment they were receiving (and not an insurance company).

With medical funding such a hot topic in the country at the moment, concierge medical practices are finding themselves in increasing demand. Concierge medicine is the only medical practice model which provides for absolute freedom of patient choice, without any external financial pressures or constraints being applied. In addition, because the extraordinary burden of administration imposed by insurance companies to process medical care and treatment costs, the overhead and cost base of a concierge doctor is far less than a traditional medical practice. This results in a reduced cost to the patient for their medical care.

Concierge medicine allows doctors and patients to assume direct control of the financial and medical services themselves. Some concierge medical practices do accept insurance payments and even Medicaid and Medicare payments; however this is on a strict non-interference basis. The sanctity of the patient-doctor relationship dominates every aspect of the concierge medical practice and nothing is allowed to come between a patient and their doctor’s best medical judgment.

Author Bio: Find out more about concierge medicine from http://www.aapp.org/

Category: Medical Business
Keywords: Health, Medicine, Medical, Doctors, Medicine, Health Insurance