Mar
12
2007
Boutique Health Insurance
Author: Valeria WeberHealth insurance for the wealthy has arrived. MDVIP is one of the leaders in the small but growing trend toward concierge, or boutique, medicine – highly personalized care for patients who pay an annual fee.
Patients pay from $1,500 to $1,800 per year to join MDVIP. The product they’ve purchased delivers a full physical and wellness plan, 24/7 access to their doctor, wallet-sized CDs with their medical data recorded on it and other services.
They also get a doctor with only 600 patients, compared to about 2,500 at a traditional practice. MDVIP promises same-day or next-day appointments that last as long as the patient needs. The typical doctor affiliated with MDVIP sees half the patient load that their previous practice generated.
MD2 (pronounced “MD Squared”) is another boutique service that is even a little further upscale. Each affiliated doctor treats no more than fifty families. The offices don’t have waiting rooms and patients are encouraged to call their doctors directly when they need to talk to them. If a patient needs to see a specialist, the MD2 doctor will help find the best ones and may even appear for the appointment to consult.
MD2 costs a family of four about $24,000 a year. That fee would cover all doctor visits and any other services the office provides, such as X-rays, but outside treatment — an MRI, for example — would cost extra.
June 8th, 2007 at 12:50 am
OK… they are selling health care for the wealthy, but does it HAVE to be just for the wealthy? Dr. Gordon Moore, in upstate NY, has a medical practice that seems to be somewhat similar in many ways. He keeps his overhead extremely low, makes himself available to his patients with same-day service, and takes all his own call. He claims that his practice is more fulfilling and he provides better care… and he does not have to limit his clientele to the wealthy or those with great insurance.
I guess it depends, at least partially, on the goals of the physician, perhaps.