How to Start a Concierge Medical Practice

Author

Dr. Stephen Cosentino

Running an independent medical practice is increasingly difficult these days, especially in primary care. Over the past 20 years, thousands of independent primary care providers have merged or accepted offers of employment with larger healthcare systems. Some have left the field entirely by retiring ahead of schedule or changing careers.

Others have charted a different path — one that allows them to continue doing what they love, and in many cases to keep most or all of their current patients. They’ve kept their practices open while transforming their business model to concierge medicine, also known as direct primary care.

Concierge medicine practices rely on patient-paid retainer fees rather than third-party insurance payments. With low provider-to-patient ratios and fewer time and resource pressures, they generally offer more personalized care that can include more bespoke medical services, such as anti-aging and regenerative medicine.

Starting a concierge practice isn’t quite as simple as it sounds, and it’s not a sure thing from a business perspective. If you’re planning to venture down this path, do your due diligence ahead of time and watch for these common pitfalls.

How to Start a Concierge Medical Practice — Tips for a Smoother Transition to the Concierge Model

You won’t learn everything you need to know to start a concierge medicine business from a single article. You’ll need to take a concierge medical practice tutorial and talk to other providers who’ve made the transition too.

But it doesn’t hurt to start thinking about how the rubber will meet the road. Here are six things you’ll want to do as you begin turning your concierge dreams into reality.

1. Conduct a Thorough Market Analysis Before You Begin

Every market is different. Before you invest significant resources in your concierge transition, make sure it’s feasible.

Identify other concierge providers in your geographic area and specialty. Assess demand for their services — do they have new patient waiting lists, for example? Look for signs that they’re struggling, which could suggest market saturation.

2. Take the Pulse of Your Patient Population and Implement Key Learnings

Survey your current patients to assess their overall satisfaction with your current practice model, covered services, care delivery, and so on. Use their responses to improve care and expand services (or restrict them, if that’s what your patients ask for) during the transition. You’ll inevitably lose some patients along the way due to discomfort with the new model or inability to pay; keeping everyone else onside is critical to your long-term prospects.

3. Develop a Long-Range Business Plan

If you’ve never developed a formal business plan before, enroll in a general practice management course to get comfortable with the process. Your plan should cover:

The new practice’s cost structure, including (potentially) a sliding scale based on patients’ ability to pay
Action steps to minimize patient abandonment, such as education around the transition
Projected panel size and patient volumes you need to hit to be profitable
Staffing plans, including staff providers other than you (if any), medical assistants, and office support staff
Plans to address new legal and compliance risks associated with direct primary care, up to and including retaining a compliance consultant

4. Market to New Patients Based on Your Practice Areas and Target Demographics

Begin planning early to replace the patients you’ll lose during the transition. Devise a marketing plan that aligns with your current or expected practice areas and menu of services, as well as the demographics (income, family status, and so on) of the patients you expect to serve. Consider hiring an outside consultant or firm with experience in direct primary care marketing. And budget accordingly.