Posted on 10/27/2013 7:08:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Dr. Neal Mogk thinks he has found a better way to manage his medical practice that improves the service he provides to his patients.
Dr. Mogk, a board certified family practice physician, has decided to change his Beaver Street Family Practice to what he calls a “concierge-style” that, by reducing his patient roster, will give him more time to spend with each one.
“I will be able to get to know my patients better,” he said.
He said not everybody wants “aggressive” or interventional care. For example, some people with an aching shoulder might want to be treated with therapy and others may want a “surgical fix.”
Knowing the patient better will help him decide which treatment is best to suggest, he said.
Starting in January, he will charge each patient a $600 per year fee that lets them enjoy his “concierge” service. The fee can be paid in smaller installments. He will still bill a patient’s insurance and collect co-pays as before.
Signups will be on a first-come, first-served basis until the reduced roster is full. He said his patients who do not want to use the concierge service can still stay with the practice and be seen by Amy Clark, D.O. in his office or his nurse practitioner at no extra fee, he said.
24/7 PHONE ACCESS
The concierge service entitles the patient to longer office visits, guaranteed same-day appointments for urgent problems, house calls in Flagstaff area when needed, 24/7 phone calls returned personally unless he is out of town, and some other special treatment.
The doctor said he decided to make this change because he was seeing 16-20 patients a day generally only for 15-minute visits. Although the visits were short, he was working 10- to 11-hour days.
He said this change is “more about time than money.”
“I could make less money doing this, but I can get my life back,” he said. “I would like to get home by 5 p.m. instead of 6:30 or 7 p.m.”
In order to spend more time with each patient, he said he will have to reduce the number of patients he sees.
“The $600 fee will reduce some of the patient load” and the additional money from the fees will pay for the overhead since he will be seeing fewer patients, he said.
The doctor said this patient model has been around for 10 years. It is becoming more popular, although he does not know of any other practice in Flagstaff doing this.
There will be fewer doctors, less time for patients under Obamacare.
The "wealthy" will always be served.
Obamacare was sold as bringing in the 30,000,000 (now stated as 50,000,000) underserved so that they could have what had been "reserved for the wealthy few."
Right.
A lot of Americans are now finding out that they are "wealthy!" Millions are having their health insurance yanked out by the roots. The U.S. healthcare system is set up to fail under Obamacare - 1-800- FU.
It was left out deliberately at first in order to get more doctors to swallow the slightly less bitter taste of this crap.
It will be in by 2016, unless you live in the DC Metro area. (Waivers will be issued)
Absolutely they will try to outlaw this sort of thing.
We have to be as vigilant as possible, the Democrats will try to sneak language into unrelated bills or make outlawing such “private practices” part of “non-negotiable” budget deals that are put together at the last minute.
Not sure what planet you are on.
The CONGRESS does not make the law.
That is done by SCOTUS and Executive Orders
and changes by unelected Czars and Czarrinos.
The question is why a lot of Americans are finding out they are wealthy. What’s behind that?
Face it the whole purpose of Obamacare is to usher in a single payer government run health care system like in the UK or Canada. There will be no private practice physicians or private hospitals...think of a nationwide VA system giving healthcare for everyone except of course the elites. The Mayo Clinic will still provide world class care, but only for cash paying foreign patients and government elites with their own Cadillac health care plans. The rest of us will be waiting in long lines at a dingy government clinic for a 10 minute visit with a nurse practitioner or physician’s and might wait weeks or months to see a physician or specialist provided we get a referral.
'Cause the Democrats always sell everything as "doing it for the little guy" - "sticking it to the man - the wealthy." A lot of people thought Obamacare would help them, they'd see their costs drop but now they find out they don't qualify for subsidies and that their premiums and co-pay have gone up - WAY UP!
Sen Cruz says the biggest lie we must be attacked is that the Republican Party is "the party of the rich."
“The CONGRESS does not make the law.
That is done by SCOTUS and Executive Orders
and changes by unelected Czars and Czarrinos.”
I stand corrected.
This sort of concierge medicine will most likely be eliminated through endless regulation and harassment by the IRS. And yes, there will be waivers for Federal Government workers and their corporate sponsors. I expect that Washington DC and its general metropolitan area will become the one place in the United States where truly high-quality health care will be readily available to those who can afford it.
You really think doctors are going to obediently abide by Obamacare? They’ll find some way to get around the system and go underground.
I had an excellent primary care physician back in Atlanta in the mid 2000’s. He went to “concierge” service provided by MDVIP. It was $1800/year and I elected to take a pass. Here in South Florida I have a primary care physician that I like and have high regard for, but I just got his announcement that he is going to MDVIP’s program. I don’t know the precise price of admission (I’ll guess $1500-$1900/yr.), but I will likely look elsewhere.
For the MD it provides a block of say $900k/year to defray office staff costs. By adding the increment of cost in annual the concierge fee you are selecting out the healthy and young folks who do not have particularly intensive needs, and concentrating in your practice the people who have greater needs and can lead to more $ billed to the insurance company per average visit. I visit my primary care physician about 2x/year, just to talk about cholesterol management. The 15 minutes I spend with the physician each visit might bill at $150, which the insurance company whittles down to $82 (after I pay a $30 encounter fee.) Better to spend that 15 minutes with someone with greater demands, who might produce billing, through different treatment events, of 4-5x that much in the same 15 minutes.
It will be very, very difficult for the Marxists to eliminate private practice at least in the short run. Right now, like it or not, the Left needs private practice to continue as a way to buffet the dwindling supply of physicians. If private practice was made illegal all at once, access would be a problem for everyone, creating lots of turmoil. We would also have to have an even bigger and more aggressive police state to ensure that the black market does not flourish.
Many might say, we’ll that’s what the left will do, just create a crisis requiring martial law and entrenching the dictatorship. Perhaps. But, I believe that the totalitarians want a slower and smoother glide path to tyranny. After all, it took them nearly a century to get this crappy health care law. Progressivism as opposed to revolutionary communism is based on incrementalism; that way the backlash will be weaker and less effective. It’s Fabian tactics, wear down your enemy over time without a direct confrontation.
And if the Left tries anything stupid, they will have to get our guns first.
What will he do when hospitals deny him practicing rights for surgeries, which is surely what Obama and Congress will do by law?
The first thing that the great communist revolution undertook in China was to kill or imprison all the doctors, teachers, and finance people. They killed most but kept a few really good doctors in prison just so they could treat party members of the government on an as needed basis.
Who knows, Obamacare might just push America to develop an actual “free market” health-care system - although I doubt it. Accepting non-3rd party payments will probably be made illegal at some point in the future.
If this more to concierge practice proves too popular, watch for the medical boards to threaten to yank their licenses to practice...unless they join the Collective.
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