ABSTRACT
Concierge medicine, a practice model in which the patient pays an annual membership fee or retainer for services that won't be covered by insurance, is garnering more attention from physicians.
Subject(s)
Concierge Medicine/statistics & numerical data , Health Services Accessibility/economics , Physician-Patient Relations , Practice Patterns, Physicians'/trends , Humans , Primary Health Care , TexasABSTRACT
Direct primary care (DPC) is an emerging practice alternative that (1) eliminates traditional third-party fee-for-service billing and (2) charges patients a periodic fee for primary care services. We describe the DPC model by identifying DPC practices across the United States; distinguish it from other practice arrangements, such as the "concierge" practice; and describe the model's pricing using data compiled from existing DPC practices across the United States. Lower price points and a broad distribution of DPC practices were confirmed, but data about quality are lacking.
