"The huge number of private medical practice
physicians who will be unable to afford to
stay in private medical practice as our
government gains control of healthcare,
will have to go somewhere to practice medicine
--primarily to concierge medical practice groups."
In a very short period ahead the medical profession will become comprised by two medical practice categories--physician employees and concierge physicians.
When the Medicare fee restrictions and regulations drop another 10%, I believe that the other 60% of physician holdouts that still continue to treat Medicare patients will have to stop their medical care of Medicare patients altogether.
Treating those patients will reach a point where Medicare patients are being treated for almost free, and physicians are subsidizing their medical care while severely compromising their private medical practice income enough to lose their medical practices for financial reasons.
Private medical practice as we know it now, won't exist. Our government's plan to take full control of our healthcare will necessitate the elimination of private medical practice. Private health care insurers will not be able financially to sustain coverage even for private patients. It's likely that health care insurers will convert to other insurance coverages to remain solvent. This row of dominos is well on the way to flat-lining--Socialized Medicine.
Even the most prestigious marketing and business experts are now looking at the health care industry economics and are prognosticating the rapid rise of "cash only" medical practices (Dan Kennedy being the most vocal about that).
My suspicion is that most of the physicians will procrastinate on performing any practice changes until they are forced by decreasing incomes to convert to one of the Concierge models of practice. Probably, they will follow the practice structures of plastic surgeons who are essentially in cash only practices now.
In my view, with the persistence of the frustrations physicians are now demonstrating about their practices will reach a tipping point where they will become burnt-out fighting the health care system and give up the medical practice ghost.
To my mind that means instead of physicians modifying their present practices to comply with the economic circumstances, fee restrictions, governmental control, and legal environment, physicians will completely change their medical practice, move if necessary, convert to a Concierge model at the blink of an eye. Using a little logic, it's not hard to recognize that the act of complying and modifying their practices will continue to be necessary over and over again.
It's far easier and much more sensible to completely transform their practices to a cash only basis at the start. Clearly, the fee restrictions will never be reduced and probably continue to increase over time. The best time to do the transformation is now, not later when hundreds of physicians are doing it at the same time.
The flourishing Concierge practices at the present time are primarily group practices composed of several concierge minded physicians with the same goals. A single specialty group would seem to be the least financially advantageous for physicians. Physicians will share the overhead, equipment, and personnel thereby avoiding the very slow growth of most solo concierge practices that must forage for income and patients the first few years of the practice.
Multi-specialty concierge medical groups certainly will do well, especially with cross referrals to each other. Patients love to have all their physicians in the same place, same building, same office complex. Other than sharing equipment and overhead costs, the most beneficial aspect of this model of practice are the internal referrals of patients.
Because cash only solo practices must be located in an affluent area to begin with, it restricts choices of where to set up a medical practice, and requires a great deal of research to find the best sites, free of competition, and with a large affluent population.
In the case of multi-specialty groups, they have many more choices of practice locations because they need a full age-range of patients to work with, but yet have to have money enough to contract with the concierge group for their care.
Both solo and multi-specialty concierge groups have a major disadvantage in that referral of patients from the local physicians to them is very uncommon. Patients with health insurance seeing a local physician may very well find their private health insurance costs rising to the point where
it is not affordable.
These patients, if they have jobs, may have access to HMO's for their care. However, patients my find that the cost of contracting directly with a concierge private physician group likely will end up being a fraction of what other health insurance carriers are charging, including the HMO
health plans.
The concierge medical practice system is expanding rapidly. The systems have been tested on many fronts and in many areas of the USA. People are already drawn to the system and like the services provided them that are way beyond those of our standard health care systems, even private practice.
When you as a physician look carefully at the concierge system of practice, you may be quite surprised at advantages gained by all these physicians. The standard concierge solo practice carry about 300 to 500 patients compared with 3000 found in the usual private medical practice.
When you multiply the approximately $2,000 per year charge per family for all their medical care for the year by just 300 patients, the gross $600,000 you earn is paid ahead and goes to your practice bank account instead of the health insurance company's.
It's much easier to convert your own medical practice patients you already care for over to a cash only practice, because they trust you. It can be done slowly as you present your patients with the options and advantages of a concierge system, that most patients have no knowledge about.
I advise all practicing physicians to seriously consider a concierge medical practice.
Be aware that Concierge practices still have to have the usual medical practice management and and medical practice business planning, the two most essential elements associated with maximum medical practice businesses. Medical practice marketing is just as important in concierge practices. The requirements include...
Requirements for maximizing your private medical practice income…
1. Good knowledge of medical practice management
2. Having the energy for continuous medical practice marketing
3. Medical practice business planning is important for direction
4. Marketing for physicians and their office staff is a winning set up.
5. Learn what makes a medical practice business successful
6. Your medical practice business system is essential.
7. Both practice marketing and physician marketing is rewarding.
8. Business success is the objective of all physicians in private medical practice.
9. My business teaching website—www.marketingamedicalpractice.com
----Professional Probe----
"For large numbers of private practice physicians,
the feeling like the sky is falling on them and
they have no place to hide is not a myth. Now that concierge
medical practices are expanding across our nation, there will be a wide availability for private practice physicians to grab a rope
and hang on to one of those, or start one of their own."
Articles©2013-2022/CGG INVESTMENTS LLC. All rights reserved. #139, 3-16-22
