Thoughts on concierge medicine?

Sue22
Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:28:24 +0000

My husband was considering joining a concierge program so he called his prospective PCP to discuss to the possibility. He was a really healthy guy but played a lot of sports and was proactive about his health. In the course of the conversation he mentioned that he had an appointment with his current PCP in a week or two to investigate some soreness he had in his armpit. The MD2 doc said that concerned him and offered to see him for a free initial consult/exam the next day. The soreness turned out to be lymphatic involvement from advanced melanoma, a very scary cancer. His new doctor smoothed every step of the way, from getting him rush appointments, to attending oncology consults and giving him a second explanation of results, to literally walking a biopsy sample through the system, without which we wouldn’t have been able to go on a long-planned and much needed vacation, to checking on both him and me post-surgery. He was literally a life saver.

He’s also provided less important but still very nice services, such as providing my husband with a comprehensive travel medicine kit. He has encouraged us to use the kit for other family members when we’re abroad with the caveat that we call him first for a [free] consult to determine the best course of medical treatment. We’ve texted him multiple times in the middle of the night not expecting a call until morning but have received a return call in less than five minutes.