The Emergiblog Review: MDVIP - Beyond Concierge Medicine
I have been asked to review the website MDVIP/Beyond Concierge Medical Care/Preventative VIP Medicine.
I have received compensation for this review from MDVIP. They do not, however, know the contents of this review. They are seeing it for the first time, just as you are now.
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An MDVIP physician is one who has chosen to limit their practice to no more than 600 patients in order to provide personalized service to each individual (a normal practice may have up to 2000).
They offer 24/7 access, often via private phone numbers, hospital care, same day or next day appointments, unhurried visits and some will even do house calls.
The focus is on preventative medicine and health, which according the website results in fewer hospital admissions.
It seems not every doctor who applies can become an MDVIP, only the best are chosen. And, if you are a physician with the usual 2000 patient practice, you must decrease your number to no more than 600 and MDVIP helps you find care for your patients with other local doctors.
Basically, by helping doctors practice medicine the way they’ve always wanted, they enjoy their private practice and are able to have a life outside of medicine. Surprisingly, they get very few after-hours calls from their patients!
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Patients receive personalized care, including a comprehensive yearly physical,
- a personalized wellness plan,
- a mini-CD with all their medical information on it (including EKG) that is playable on any CD (except vertical),
- a personalized MDVIP website,
- Travel Advantage (if you get sick while traveling and you are near an MDVIP doctor, you get the same personalized care),
- the Medical Centers of Excellence program (in other words, they are hooked up with major medical facilities across the country and will assist you in obtaining appointments - your own insurance kicks in here and if it doesn’t cover, the patient is responsible for the charges), and
- assistance with any insurance or prescription questions
Since the focus is on preventative care and healthy behaviors, the patients are assumed to be motivated and interested in living a healthy lifestyle based on their personal wellness plan.
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Now, MDVIP is not insurance. It is also not a free service. Patients pay a membership fee of $1500 - $1800 dollars a year (average) for access to the advantages of an MDVIP doctor.
Patients still need insurance - the membership fee covers the preventative tests that most insurances will not cover in a physical and it also pays for the increased access and time the MDVIP doctor is able to give their patients. The MDVIP plans work with most insurances and with Medicare.
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The site is one big advertisement, which isn’t necessarily a negative. One section is for physicians, the other for patients and still yet another for business executives (Executive Health Plus).
But it was very hard to find out the cost - I had to drop all the way to the bottom of the site and click on the “Press Room” link, then click the “About MDVIP” link on the left sidebar, then click on the “Corporate Fact Sheet” and then scroll down to “Patient Services” for the cost.
I would suggest putting the cost right up front after all the explanation of benefits in the “Patient” section.
Patients want to know. They don’t want to (1) have to send in for information or (2) download the brochure which said all the same things and never mentioned the cost!
In my own personal opinion, the cost is not excessive so there is no reason to make it so hard to find. By doing so, the site came across as a sort of “baiting” sales pitch and that left an initial negative first impression on me.
MDVIP needs to put ALL their information right up front on the pages their potential patients will see and that includes the cost of membership.
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So, would I sign up?
Heck yeah!
Except that I am extremely pleased with the physician I see now (who happens to be within walking distance from one of the MDVIP doctors, a local MD with a wonderful reputation, by the way).
If my primary ever goes the MDVIP route, I’ll pay. If he retires or closes his practice, I’ll see if the local MDVIP wants to take on a very opinionated ER nurse/patient!
Just get that cost up front on the website! It will change the look of the site from one of a sales pitch to an informative look at an alternative to primary care. First impressions are important. Don’t bait the readers - inform the readers.
#1 Dinosaur
February 27, 2007 at 5:03 pm
If I ever do give up, this might be the way to go. Thanks for pointing it out.
Sherri
February 28, 2007 at 7:13 am
I liked how your disclaimer states that the paying company has not seen your review until you posted it. And of course that this is a paid review.
I sub to a site that posts a lot of gardening topics. They posted about a product, without going into detail, thar probably took months to complete. No admission of paid review, but it set all my red flags sky high. I felt a little creeped afterwards, because it reaked of paid review, but didn’t admit it anywhere.
But your way of reviewing is up front and refreshing 8^)
I’m going to add my 2cents about MDVIP:
I had difficulties reading MDVIP’s site because I’ve configured my browser’s SMALLEST TEXT SIZE to larger than average. The paragraphs overlap when I viewed the ABOUT page.
MDVIP should rewrite their site so that increasing text size doesn’t render MDVIP’s site unreadable to visually impaired viewers!
Linda
March 2, 2007 at 7:36 am
What about the medical ethics of disproportionate access to medical care for the poor? Just because you can pay an extra 1500-1800 a year for increased service is that right? If all the “best doctors” are accepted and choose to go this route for providing care there is going to be an increase in the doctor shortage that is expected.
Can the doctors in the area who “absorb” the patients of the doctors who choose to be an MDVIP provider provide the same service level to all patients even if they are now taking care of 2200 patients on average?
I am not opposed to paying for and getting an increased level of medical care - but in this country it seems like a bad conversation when we have SO many people without any medical care. Is this just one more advantage of class?
What do you think?
Rob
March 3, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Ethical? Yes. It is their right to do this type of care as long as people will pay them.
The problem with this is that if this type of practice catches on, it will destroy the medical system, creating a two-tiered system where people with perfectly good insurance will not be able to find physicians (someone from NYC posted on my blog that they had this very problem).
The fact is, medical technology would allow physicians to do a lot of these types of services for most patients. This is part of the rationale of getting docs on computers and reporting their quality.
The concept of having only this number of patients and charging a lot sounds attractive, but it is not a legacy I would want to leave.
The key would be that the system needs to start paying for good care and prevention. The system presently penalizes docs for spending time on prevention and taking better care. It is this system that makes it necessary for people to have to shell out huge amounts of money for something they should take for granted.
Rob
ConciergeDoc
March 21, 2007 at 10:50 pm
As a physician, I have the right to decide who I will treat. If I can treat highly motivated patients who wants someone to optimize their health as they get older, than I consider myself a very lucky physician. This, ultimately, is what we want all our patients to become.
To specifically address one arguement, “Just because you can pay an extra 1500-1800 a year for increased service is that right?” The answer is absolutely yes in my mind. I understand her concerns about healthcare for all citizens. However, the goal should be to focus on raising the basic level of care for all citizens WITHOUT taking away that priviledge for those that can afford it.
Would I use one for my parents? Absolutely. My parent’s PCP is ok for now, but his 30 patients a day ritual will not work for my patients who want to be educated about their chronic conditions, as well as how they can prevent futhur complications. Just as many seniors are taking financial planning more seriously now, many want to use those finaces to help their health planing.
While I don’t propose this as a solution to raise all boats, if people take a close look at Dr. Vic Wood’s pilot medicAID project in West Virginia, we can all learn something with an open mind.
http://www.myconciergedoc.com
Scott Bodenheimer
August 4, 2007 at 9:21 am
It’s ironic that there’s this specialized premium program that emphasizes preventative medicine, when preventative medicine should be the bedrock of any universal healthcare program.
Every American citizen should have that MDVIP thorough physical exam at least every two years.
Physicians have swum right along with the Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical companies all these years, and basically now since they’re getting the short end of the stick some of them want to carve out the profitable, unharried, and unhurried practice they wish they had. That’s understandable.
But the battle for universal health care is going to come. And doctors and nurses and health technicians need to be on the right side of that battle - for the patients and for preventative health care, and not on the side of the Pharmaceutical Industry which loves nothing better than a chronically ill patient that needs scores of pills every day. And as far as the Health Insurance Industry, Physicians should be wholly ashamed that they ever colloborated with these rapacious thieves. Take away the costs drained by the Health Insurance Industry, and suddenly our spending on health care is commensurate with other industrialized nations, countries whose citizens have much higher life expectancies.
Kevinh76
November 10, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Ethical for doctors to charge for their services? I have yet to see my dentist, my lawyer or my vet blush when I am writing out a check for many hundreds of dollars. Rob, if you are not able to find a physician who accepts your perfectly good insurance, perhaps your insurance isn’t as perfectly good as you think it is. What about plastic surgeons? Do you think they give away their services for free? People are just going to have to get used to this. Doctors won’t be working for insurance companies or the government for too much longer.
ModernMed
December 19, 2007 at 1:17 pm
After exhibiting at the recent SIMPD (Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design) conference in Washington D.C. we have found that many physicians are frustrated with current state of primary care. As of Jan. 1st Medicare will be cut another 10%. Where does this leave physicians that are already on roller skates with their patients? What will happen to these physicians when they cannot afford their overhead? Or worse, have the quality of their care hinder their exhaustion from seeing 40-55 patients a day.
With not many positive options for PCP’s we are proud to be an educator and facilitator for the movement of “retainer” or “concierge” practice models.
ModernMed is a forward-thinking health care service firm designed to create a better primary health care experience for patients, physicians, and businesses.
Unlike the competition’s models, we offer two extremely flexible practice solutions for the physician. While working with the physician to design the new practice ModernMed can assist in pre-conversion, during conversion, and post-conversion processes. We also encourage our physicians to offer a percentage of their panel to scholar patients who might not have the resources to join the new practice.
Please visit our website for more information: http://www.ModernMed.com
ReTodd
January 31, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Sorry, but I will not be paying my doctor another $1500 a year to give me a physical. My doctor has lost all respect from me, and his other patients. I generally only see my doctor 1 to 2 times a year, so tell me how is this worth the extra $$$.
Jan
February 13, 2008 at 2:16 pm
This January, my doctor announced he’s joining MDVIP. My decision of whether or not to stick with him was made easy by the fact that I trust the guy. I believe my doctor to be a gifted practitioner and caring human being. Everyone has to make their own evaluation but, for me, a doctor is something worth spending money on. The fee comes to $125 a month. Frankly, less than what I spend on my phone bill. I’ll make whatever cuts or adjustments I have to to make this work for as long as it makes sense to me. I’m in my late fifties and, knock on wood, very healthy. Let’s hope that lasts!
Carole Calvert-Baxter
March 17, 2008 at 7:11 am
Is there a directory that lists concierge physicians around the country?
Margie Parsons
April 24, 2008 at 6:50 pm
This is a question more than a comment…My husband and I have Medicare and TriCare for Life. We do not pay for anything, whatever Medicare does not cover, TriCare pay the remainder. Why should we pay $1500-$1800 a piece, a year, when we now do not pay anything?
I love my Dr. and have been going to him for 30 years, but we live on fixed income so this will be a hard sell for us.
kevinh76
April 24, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Marjorie,
MDVIP is not for everyone. That is by design. Your doctor will have to decrease his patient panel from 2000 or more to just 600. You obviously value free medical care over the enhanced services and access provided by MDVIP. Depending on where you live, you may have a hard time finding a new primary care physician that accepts Medicare since Medicare is cutting payments by 10% on July 1st.
brain21
April 29, 2008 at 9:09 pm
My Dr. is becoming an MDVIP Dr. The way I look at it is like the school system.
Why pay for private school when you can get a public school education for free? Well, in a private school you get much greater individualized attention that public school simply cannot give. Rather than a student trying in vain to keep up with pace, or being bored because the curriculum moves too slowly, a private school will cater to each individual students’ needs. And it costs money to go to private school above and beyond the portion of your taxes that go into the public school system regardless.
It’s the same thing here.
That being said, sometimes the public school is simply the best bet. There are times when students at certain public schools run into that “special” teacher that really affects them and what they do for the rest of their lives. That is the exception rather than the norm. It’s the other way around in private schools. So for some staying in public school is the best thing. For others it’s not. It’s an individual choice.
And the tuition for private schools carry essentially the same “ethical concerns” as Linda was asking about. Linda (or anyone else of the same mindset), do you think it’s unethical for those with the extra money to be able to go private schools? THink about it like that and you might have a different answer or perspective!
Also, this really is like having your own “private” doctor. I don’t mind long waits at Dr.s office, and I generally haven’t had a problem in getting appointments in a timely manner, so that is not an issue for me. However someone that takes the time to not just examine what is going on with you at the moment, but rather to look at the whole picture and history to better put your ailment in perspective, to me can potentially provide far better service than the rest, and in certain cases this can very well lead to a prolonged life!
$1500 per person is a lot of money to me. My tax stimulus check will likely pay for the first 6 months, and I’ll use my FSA/HSA account next year to cover the rest. Even still, it seems worth it to me. It’s about the same amount of $$$ I spend on my cell phone or my cable+internet per year. My docter has a much better chance at helping my health than cable tv!
Knowing that he or she is available almost 24/7 is a tremendous piece of mind too, IMHO
Sevoflurane
June 18, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I was recently abandoned by my physician of 15 years because the group he is with decided to switch over to this form of elitist healthcare. In this case, the greedy third party outsider that brought this all about is MDVIP. If I wanted to continue on with my physician, I would have to sign a contract and pay MDVIP $1,500.00 per year simply to have access to my doctor. My primary insurance company would still be forced to pay for all office visits, lab tests and any in-house procedures. In retrospect, I never needed a third party outsider to get quality care from my physician and I’m not about to line the pockets of some greed driven outsider who has absolutely no interest in my well being. This concept is very unethical and patients are the real losers under this particular business model. Medicare and all insurance companies should refuse reimbursing physicians who adopt this approach to patient care.
kevinh76
June 18, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Sevoflurane,
You are already lining the pockets of a greedy third party that has no regard for your wellbeing- it’s your insurance company. And don’t misrepresent the product. You are getting a comprehensive physical exam with all lab tests paid for the $1500 annual fee. Not just access. You were obviously not abandoned since you received ample notice and help finding a new primary care physician. You are too used to medical care being “free”. Now, most primary care types are having a hard time paying their bills in a time of declining payments from the greedy third parties and government. Hey, this is not for you. Don’t get so worked up about it just move on.