What Is Concierge Medicine?

How does concierge medicine work?

In a concierge practice, the physician deliberately limits how many patients they accept — typically a few hundred instead of several thousand — and members pay a fee that funds that smaller panel. At Meyers Medical, Stuart Meyers, MD caps the practice at approximately [300] patients; the average traditional primary care physician carries 2,500+.

The fee changes the economics of the visit. A traditional practice is paid per encounter, so it survives on volume: short appointments, full waiting rooms, and little room in the schedule for “today.” A concierge practice is paid for the relationship, so the incentives point the opposite direction — toward prevention, availability, and time. When members call, the calendar has room. When they are seen, the visit runs 30 to 60 minutes. When something happens at midnight, the phone reaches their own physician.

Members keep their health insurance. The membership covers the primary care relationship; insurance continues to pay for hospitalizations, specialists, imaging, laboratory work, and prescriptions exactly as before.

What does a concierge membership include?

A full-service concierge membership typically includes 24/7 direct physician access, same-day or next-day appointments, extended visits, a comprehensive annual physical, personalized prevention planning, and coordination of any specialist or hospital care. At Meyers Medical, the $[X,XXX] annual membership includes:

• 24/7 direct access — Dr. Meyers’s personal phone line, answered nights, weekends, and holidays
• Same-day or next-day appointments that start on time
• Unhurried visits of 30–60 minutes, with no visit limits
• An annual executive physical — advanced labs, cardiovascular and cancer screening, fitness baselines, and a written prevention plan
• Longevity planning reviewed and updated every year
• Specialist and hospital coordination managed personally by the physician
• Telemedicine and house calls when appropriate, plus travel medicine support

What does concierge medicine cost?

Concierge medicine memberships in the United States generally range from about $2,000 to $10,000 or more per year, depending on the market, the physician’s experience, and what the membership includes. Meyers Medical in [CITY], [ST] charges $[X,XXX] per year — approximately $[XXX] per month — with every service above included and no per-visit charges.

Evaluating the price honestly means counting what the traditional model already costs you: urgent care and emergency visits for things a phone call would have solved, half-days of missed work spent in waiting rooms, conditions caught late because the yearly physical lasted twenty minutes, and the compounding cost of prevention that never happened. For many members — particularly executives, business owners, frequent travelers, and anyone managing a chronic condition — the membership fee is smaller than the waste it replaces.

Membership fees are paid directly to the practice. Depending on your plan, portions may be HSA/FSA-eligible; a tax advisor can confirm your situation. See our FAQ on cost and insurance for specifics.

Concierge medicine vs. traditional primary care

The clinical training is the same; the structure is not. The table below shows the practical differences a patient experiences over a typical year of care.

Is concierge medicine the same as direct primary care?

No — the models are related but distinct. Both charge a membership fee and keep panels small, but direct primary care (DPC) practices do not bill insurance at all and usually charge lower fees for a leaner set of services. Concierge practices typically offer a more comprehensive service level — executive physicals, 24/7 physician access, full care coordination — and may continue to bill insurance for covered visits.

Labels vary more than substance, so compare specifics rather than categories: exact panel size, who answers after-hours calls, what the annual physical includes, and what happens when you need a specialist or a hospital.

Who is concierge medicine for?

Concierge medicine fits people for whom health, time, or complexity make the traditional system expensive in ways that never appear on a bill:

• Busy professionals and executives who cannot trade half a workday for a ten-minute appointment
• Patients with chronic conditions — diabetes, hypertension, heart disease — who need genuine coordination, not a stack of referrals
• Health-focused adults who want prevention and longevity planning done seriously, with data and follow-through
• Frequent travelers who want their own physician reachable from anywhere
• Families and caregivers who want one trusted physician across the years, including for aging parents

It is a poor fit for someone who sees a doctor once every few years and prefers to pay per visit — and an honest concierge practice will say so at the meet-and-greet.

Is concierge medicine worth it?

For patients who use primary care more than trivially, the value case rests on three pillars: earlier detection (a half-day annual physical and a physician who knows your baseline), avoided waste (urgent care, ER visits, and lost workdays replaced by a phone call), and compounding prevention (a longevity plan actually followed for a decade beats any intervention started late). The membership converts an unpredictable stream of frustrations and hidden costs into one known fee — and converts your physician from a stranger with a chart into an advocate with time.

The honest answer, though, is that “worth it” is personal. It depends on your health, your schedule, and what you want the next twenty years to look like. That is exactly what a free meet-and-greet is for.

Concierge medicine in [CITY]

Meyers Medical provides concierge primary care to [CITY] and the surrounding communities of [NEIGHBORHOOD 1], [NEIGHBORHOOD 2], [NEIGHBORHOOD 3], [NEARBY CITY 1], [NEARBY CITY 2], [NEARBY CITY 3]. Stuart Meyers, MD is a concierge medicine physician with [20]+ years of experience; membership is $[X,XXX] per year and limited to [300] patients. To ask questions or schedule a free meet-and-greet, use the contact form.