This is a common question we get as Concierge Medicine gains increasing popularity. We think it’s helpful review what a physician is in the first place. The titles of ‘Physician’ and ‘Medical Doctor’ are synonymous and used interchangeably.
A Medical Doctor is someone who has graduated from a medical school (4 years of post-graduate medical education), completed residency specialization education & training (additional 3-8years depending on specialty), and may have even gone on to complete fellowship training (additional 1-3 years) at an accredited program. As you can see, we get a lot of education and training given the nature of our work.
These days, it’s hard to even see an actual doctor as profit-driven corporate health systems resort to using cheaper, often unqualified midlevel providers which is quite dangerous as data in numerous studies has shown. For the purposes of this article, we won’t go into details. But if you’re interested in learning more about why it’s important to see a well-trained medical doctor, you can do some reading here, and here, has been proven in numerous studies to be dangerous. The American Medical Association has also stressed the importance of having a medical doctor directly involved in the care of patients (Physician-led teams deliver the care patients deserve, Difference in MD vs NP, What’s the difference between physicians and nurse practitioners?).
Think of your typical doctors visit, a lot of forms, waiting, co-pays. More often then not, patients are waiting about an hour to see their doctor, or midlevel provider, and then get just a few minutes of facetime with them before they’re rushed out the door with a bunch of prescriptions and referrals to other doctors. This is not the case with Concierge Medicine!
As Concierge Physicians we take healthcare to the next level. Visits are never rushed, you receive as much time as medically necessary with your doctors. Patients do not wait weeks or months to see their doctors. Furthermore patients have access to their doctor via text, email, and virtual visits. Our patients don’t have to go through a series of automated messages and endless prompts and then end up talking to a random administrative assistant. When you call the phone number of your doctor, your doctor answers.
Our doctors spend the time it takes to make sure you understand your health, and are meeting your health goals. To ensure that you’re getting the best care around, our doctors actually talk to your other healthcare providers directly to ensure everyone’s on the same page. This limits medical error, and prevents patients getting lost in the complex healthcare system. Sometimes patients do need a referral to outside experts, when that is the case we communicate directly with the other physicians in a multidisciplinary discussion to ensure they get a complete picture of what’s going on and coordinate the care to ensure our patients’ speedy recovery and wellbeing.