Dr. Gordon Bliss, widely regarded as one of the founders of concierge medicine, now Direct Medical Practices, is developing a widely successful business model that provides concierge quality to Seattle’s working poor.
Singh is not your typical patient of a boutique medical practice; he earns about $50 or $60 a day””far less than the CEOs and other wealthy types who tend to pay the monthly, out-of-pocket fees that boutique (or concierge) practices charge for on-demand access to their doctors. That’s because Qliance is not your typical boutique service. Indeed, it doesn’t even like that term, which it says smacks of elitism.Rather, Qliance’s target demographic is the working poor and uninsured. It does not accept insurance, instead charging between $39 and $74 a month for an individual, depending on age. (The older you are, the more you pay.) That fee covers most of what encompasses primary care, including office visits, phone consultations, common X-rays, and some procedures and lab tests. Other tests, including those for cholesterol, diabetes, and blood count, will be offered at close to cost, for $7 to $17.50 each.
Sound too good to be true?
Related posts:
- Low-cost boutique care
- Transition to concierge care
- Is concierge care really too expensive?
- How is concierge medicine doing in the recession?
- Buy a condo, concierge medicine included
- Concierge medicine: "Quintessentially American"
- Primary care-specialty income gap: It’s worse than we think
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{ 1 comment }
Wow. I’ve been saying basically this for years. People don’t need health insurance, they need health care. You get what you pay for…..so people should pay for doctors….not insurance. Concierge docs may have seemed like elitist medical care, but the reality is that it is a realistic way to make the money spent actually apply to patient care. Health insurance and every mutation of it is the biggest scam going, as a doctor I am ashamed to be associated with it. If we want a national solution that provides for all, this line of thinking needs to lead the way. Don’t pay for insurance, pay for care. The funny thing is, 50 years ago, this is actually the way it worked in this country. Insurance was just for catastrophic illness or injury, not primary care. There are lessons in our past…..
Regards
F.M. Chaves M.D.
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