Concierge Care Isn’t Just a Luxury

Private Access to High-Quality Care

Concierge medicine, also known as retainer-based medicine or direct primary care, is membership-based health care designed to reduce complexity, mitigate care barriers, and significantly improve the patient experience. Once considered a luxury reserved for an elite, “rich and famous” clientele, concierge medicine is rapidly entering the mainstream of patient care. In fact, recent surveys show that patients are leaving their traditional, plan-reimbursed doctors in record numbers, a sure sign that subscription-based programs across the U.S. and abroad are here to stay–and poised for growth.1 In fact, according to Scientific American, there are currently 12,000 concierge physicians practicing in the U.S. alone.

For a pre-determined fee, concierge patients gain direct access to health care professionals as a complement to insurance-based providers. They receive coordinated care from a team that may include a wellness coach, lifestyle experts, and other wellness professionals, all working together to address everything from hypertension and anxiety to weight management and athletic injuries. This patient-centric primary care model helps employees identify personal health goals and implement a dedicated doctor-guided wellness plan, all while eliminating barriers to the highest-quality of care. Used in conjunction to a fee-for-service model, concierge care offers executives and employees a unique “medical home” that supports whole-person wellness outside of the traditional model—all on the patient’s own terms and at their own convenience.

What’s driving the change? Many industry experts point to pandemic-related restrictions that began in 2020, forcing flexibility and innovation in the health care space. Social distancing, for example, created new demand for virtual telehealth services, while a shortage of primary care doctors encouraged collaboration among multi-disciplinary teams. Both are foundational elements of direct primary care.

Fast forward a few years, and many see a decline in quality of traditional care overall; not only are administrative burdens mounting, but the average wait to schedule an appointment with an insurance based primary care physician is approximately 24 days. When you consider that a typical primary care doctor has a patient panel of 4,000 people, it’s easy to see why scheduling delays are inevitable—and why clinical outcomes may suffer.

That’s especially important for busy employees—particularly C-suite executives and upper-level managers—with demanding schedules and limited time. With more work to do and fewer hours to do it, attention to personal health care can fall by the wayside, and negative impacts to wellness, productivity, and performance are far more likely.

Concierge care can help change that: by eliminating the complexities of appointment setting, insurance requirements and referrals—and providing direct access to a personal physician—treatment paths become clear. When care becomes accessible and convenient, engagement increases, and better clinical outcomes can result.

Attracting Top-Tier Talent

In an era of mounting competition for talent, concierge medical services are increasingly seen as an important part of an employee benefit package. Adding concierge care benefits indicates that the sponsoring employer is committed to offering services that support personal wellness and longevity—and prioritizes quality of life issues for its employees. With a growing number of job candidates citing improved “whole life” balance as a basis for job selection, companies that include concierge care benefits can have an edge when it comes to building trust and loyalty with employees who are in high demand. In fact, in a 2023 survey of employees conducted by SHRM, health care ranked #1 in importance at 89%, a clear indication that in order to attract and keep top talent in the executive ranks, employers must continue to adapt benefits packages to include the most desirable health care models