Saturday, May 17, 2008

More on concierge medicine

As regular readers know, I'm extremely happy with my new doctor and the concierge medicine program. It's worth every penny of the monthly fee ($125). Recently, he referred me to an orthopedist; I have an appointment at the end of the month. I made the appointment, let my doctor know, and he took the initiative to call up the orthopedist to have a lengthy, in-depth discussion about my health concerns and his goals for the appointment. Now I feel as though I can go into the office and spend the time talking about management options instead of having to go through the history.

Similarly, he sends me a copy of my medical records whenever they're updated. He made a point of noting in them that I displayed no drug-seeking behaviour. One of my biggest frustrations was feeling like I had to clear that hurdle with every specialist I saw, and I think having the notation in my chart will be a big help. It was done spontaneously too, I made no special requests.

If I were perfectly healthy, I wouldn't see this as a needed expense. But $125/month is a minor expense if it makes me feel not quite so alone in facing down my condition.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the information on concierge medicine. I'm glad that concierge medicine seems to be the right choice for you.

    We recently wrote an article on concierge medicine at Brain Blogger. Concierge medicine is a rising tred in medical practice. But is it worth the cost for the patient or the effort fo the doctors?

    We would like to read your comments on our article. Thank you.

    Sincerely,
    Kelly

    ReplyDelete