These are challenging times not only for patients, but also for primary care providers.Thousands of doctors are scrambling to save their practices. Almost three quarters of all practices have reported a 50% or greater drop in patient visits. More than half report that they do not have the resources to keep their offices open.

These harsh realities are particularly painful when it comes to independent
providers — those who are not part of a hospital-owned health system or a large corporate practice. The good news is that for those independent physicians who operate concierge practices like Weisz Concierge Medical, the same factors that enabled us to withstand health care reform, are now enabling us to survive the current COVID-19 crisis. What are these factors?

Patient Loyalty

Concierge patients are more reluctant to leave their physician and this fact helps to create a more stable and consistent patient base. According to current surveys, the patient renewal rate among concierge practices, 96%, is far higher than that of traditional primary care practices.

Smaller patient panels

On the average, an Internal Medicine or Family Medicine physician cares for more than 1,600 patients. With panels this large, doctors have limited time to manage the care of and effectively communicate with each patient — even in the best of times. Today, considering the number of COVID-19 questions and cases has often proven overwhelming, making efforts to educate patients on new office visit procedures or telehealth options very challenging.

By contrast, a concierge physician typically cares for between 250 and 600 patients, making communication and care much more manageable. During the COVID-19 emergency, Weisz Concierge Medical has been able to promptly and effectively employ digital communication and telehealth to serve our patients, especially the elderly and those with chronic conditions.

Operational benefits

Traditional primary care practices are not well positioned to weather crises like COVID-19. Recent surveys show that 48% of independent physician practices have temporarily given leaves of absence to their employees, while 22% have permanently laid off staff. Even when the current emergency abates, traditional practice models designed to treat 1,600 patients may not fit the new post-pandemic world we will be living in.

Concierge practices are lean by design, typically consisting of one physician who manages up to 600 patients or fewer with two or three staff members.
The long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis on primary care medicine is still to be determined, but a few lessons may be concluded at this point:
1) Systems and practice models that have functioned effectively for years can no longer be depended on moving forward.
2) By offering more flexibility, more stability, more personalized care, and greater patient and physician satisfaction, Concierge Medicine is playing a key role in reshaping the primary care landscape of the future.

“Why the concierge model is resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic” by Dave
Farr. Medical Economics. May 11, 2020. Vol. 97, Issue 9.