Franchise Concierge Medicine Keeps Prices Low -- Consultancies Enter "Red" Ocean

ATLANTA, GA, June 19, 2013

The competitive sea in the concierge medicine consulting marketplace is becoming more crowded. Not for every doctor, boutique practices remain a niche segment of the health care system but consultancies are now registering more physicians than ever. We've been covering this space for many years and when we see a consultant or company starting to do something that is innovative, we take notice and investigate. Journalism 101. What sparked my interest to revisit a previous article I wrote in November of 2010 is a concept developed years ago by Renee Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim called Blue Ocean Strategy. A blue ocean is a metaphor for companies operating in uncontested market space.

In the early 2000's, the concierge medicine marketplace was predominantly serviced by two or three consulting companies. In 2010, the number increased to over 20. Today, that number has grown into the high 30's - 40's.

Large franchise companies, like MDVIP, continue to capture a significant portion of the market share. They still have an edge, in that they helped build the existing sea they now sail in. These franchise concierge medicine consultancies like MDVIP and Concierge Choice help to keep prices low and competitive. Other successful, less franchised consultancies such as SpecialDocs, Cypress Concierge Medicine and Latady Physician Strategies continue to innovate, offering differing models, competitive fees and personal service within a doctor's practice.

Currently, there's a phenomenal opportunity for these companies to innovate and sail into clearer, bluer waters. We hear from concierge and DPC physicians every day who are frustrated with their consultant or transition experience. There is definitely a way for existing and future consultants to improve on service and price. Dyson made vacuum cleaners a tech-gadget with its futuristic design and disposing with flimsy one-use filters. Why can't concierge medicine consulting companies incorporate something from a technology-perspective just as unique?

The most common complaint heard about the concierge medicine consulting industry is poor customer service.

Nancy Latady of Latady Physician Strategies addresses this and says "for the implementation phase - the actual practice conversion - we either do everything for them (holding their hand throughout the process), or we provide coaching if they want to do most of it themselves. Our primary goal is to help physicians transition their practices successfully - by doing it right the first time, resulting in more patients, more quickly, and to achieve greater profitability."

Concierge Medicine Today (CMT) knows that physicians are being offered intolerable reimbursements from traditional insurance and health plan relationships. Years ago, 120% of the Medicare fee schedule was considered to be a frightfully low reimbursement. Insurers and managed care networks are now offering reimbursements at 75% of Medicare Rates or even lower in some extreme cases.

The language of strategy rather than the delivery of platitudes is more informative and effective with physicians when talking to them about how concierge medicine will benefit their practice, patients and bottom-line. For consultants to sail and compete in the concierge medicine ocean over the next two to four years, the company that will repeatedly give its physician clients something that feels refreshingly new and solves their problems in a way no existing consultant has done will exit the red ocean and begin trawling in blue waters.

Cypress Concierge Medicine is a Louisiana based healthcare consulting company that specializes in concierge medicine transitions. Cypress is unique in that it does not own or directly manage physician practices. Instead, they provide direction, oversight, regulatory support and control, on-going legal review and the expertise necessary for a physician to provide a positive experience for each patient encounter.

The number of physicians signing on with concierge practice companies continues to increase. The Concierge Medicine Research Collective ("The Collective") estimates concierge medicine doctors and direct primary care physicians number to be approximately 5,000-5,5000 in the U.S. and Canada. This according to analyses and a recent examination of the national marketplace by The Collective as well as interviews with corporate industry leaders.

Many doctors fly under the radar. CMT believes the growth rate will be high in the coming years - possibly as high as 15% plus of primary care doctors due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2013 alone, industry sources and concierge consultants tell us that they have seen as significant increase in physician interest to support this growth.

According to The Collective, concierge medicine doctors and direct primary care clinics across the U.S. now serve over 240,600 patients (June 2013).

"Even after 10+ years in this still rather exclusive space," says Roberta Greenspan of Special Docs, "I continue to have great enthusiasm for the successes and ongoing growth of the concierge model. Every day we hear another story from our physicians and their patients about how much this type of practice change has improved their lives."

As more and more companies and individuals sail in these waters and seek to find their catch, inevitably this will mean a price war and ultimately, the physicians moving into these practices will benefit the most.

About Concierge Medicine Today

Concierge Medicine Today (CMT), is the premier news and multi-media organization and the industry's oldest national trade publication for the direct primary care and concierge medicine marketplace. Their web site is the online destination for business, consumers and physicians to learn about the history of this industry, various business aspects of the marketplace, trends, breaking news and more that drive the conversation and generate the national buzz that concierge medicine and direct primary care is creating on a national and international level. For more information, visit: http://www.ConciergeMedicineToday.com.

About The Concierge Medicine Research Collective

The Concierge Medicine Research Collective is a research and data depository created by Concierge Medicine Today. The Concierge Medicine Research Collective is an independent health care research and data collection depository of the multimedia news and trade publication, Concierge Medicine Today based in Atlanta, GA. The Collective serves as an educational resource on all things concierge medicine and is geared towards those businesses, lobbyists, physician associations, health care advocacy groups and general consumers of healthcare who want to learn more about information available on the topic of concierge medicine. The Collective works in partnership with Universities, physicians, associations, businesses, individuals and even Graduate medical Students to further advance the educational awareness and facts surrounding unanswered questions about concierge medicine care in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit: http://www.AskTheCollective.org or http://www.ConciergeMedicineToday.com.