Not all concierge practices are alike. Our practice for example, has the one flat retainer fee which covers a large number of services including unlimited office visits and phone calls, 24/7 access, no waiting ever, home visits, ER visits, continuity of care from office to hospital, routine vaccinations, complete health and wellness evaluations, etc. We do not charge extra for office visits, EKGs, audiometry screening, and we also provide a nutritionist consultation. There are no copays and no bills to patients except for the retainer fee. Other concierge offices may provide different services and charge a different retainer fee. Some offer massage and personal trainer services, for example. Some charge only a small monthly fee to cover more personal access and expedited service, but not a lot of other things. Every one is different except for the retainer fee concept. Ideally, in a perfect world, these services would be available in all traditional doctors' offices but this is not economically feasible. Traditional offices have to have a high volume of patients in order to pay overhead and make ends meet due to low reimbursement from insurance companies. Concierge practices are modeled so that the retainer fee allows the doctor to see fewer patients and spend much more time with them than in the traditional model. This gets us back to the way medicine used to be practiced. Patients are much more satisfied with their medical care. They get their questions answered. Their medical problems are dealt with much more effectively and expeditiously. And, for most of these practices, you don't have to be rich to afford it, either.
