posted by Mike Madison at 8:46 PM /
From last Saturday's Post-Gazette, on page 1:
"Beginning Jan. 1, [Dr. Joel Warshaw, formerly with Mt. Lebanon Internal Medicine] is starting the area's first "concierge" internal medical practice for adults and older children. A local pediatrician, Dr. Scott Serbin, established a similar practice for young people in 2004.
Patients will be able to call Dr. Warshaw directly, even on weekends and holidays. If necessary, he'll meet them in the emergency room or make house calls. And he promises same-day or next-day appointments, even for nonemergencies.
The service comes with a price: $1,000 to $1,500 per year for most adults, with discounts for couples and older children."
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07286/825167-114.stm
Link 2: www.warshawmd.com
Link 3: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_533798.html
Will Dr. Warshaw get enough subscriptions to make his new practice fly? Some physicians who opened concierge practices discovered that not enough patients signed up. Maybe concierge medicine, like the Cupcake Class (people with enough disposable income that they can waste it on $3 cupcakes), is another barometer of Pittsburgh's economic sophistication. Best wishes to Dr. W, and to all of his patients.
"Beginning Jan. 1, [Dr. Joel Warshaw, formerly with Mt. Lebanon Internal Medicine] is starting the area's first "concierge" internal medical practice for adults and older children. A local pediatrician, Dr. Scott Serbin, established a similar practice for young people in 2004.
Patients will be able to call Dr. Warshaw directly, even on weekends and holidays. If necessary, he'll meet them in the emergency room or make house calls. And he promises same-day or next-day appointments, even for nonemergencies.
The service comes with a price: $1,000 to $1,500 per year for most adults, with discounts for couples and older children."
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07286/825167-114.stm
Link 2: www.warshawmd.com
Link 3: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_533798.html
Will Dr. Warshaw get enough subscriptions to make his new practice fly? Some physicians who opened concierge practices discovered that not enough patients signed up. Maybe concierge medicine, like the Cupcake Class (people with enough disposable income that they can waste it on $3 cupcakes), is another barometer of Pittsburgh's economic sophistication. Best wishes to Dr. W, and to all of his patients.
6 Comments:
It looks as though the field of medicine is changing here in Lebo. On a recent visit to the CVS on Cochran Road, I noticed that they now have a MinuteClinic. Has anyone actually tried this out yet? If so, what did you think?
I think this is a great idea. I'd pay a little extra to get some decent service.
Do the math - for a family of 4, $4000-6000 to this physician takes the place of the $5500 I pay in yearly premiums at work. If Concierge Practices can provide more individualized and accessible care, it sounds like a great deal to me.
I'm all for this as it relates to minor stuff that you would ordinarily go see a doctor for. But Chris, seriously, don't think that this takes the place of insurance. My guess is that this doctor isn't going to bring an X-Ray machine with him if your kid falls out of a tree and he's probably not going to perform open heart surgery either. Insurance should be used to take care of the catastrophic events that occur in each of our lives. That's why the system became broken in the first place. If we paid for our minor medical care the way we pay for our Starbucks things would be far better today. Look at the areas of medicine that are thriving (plastic surgery, LASIK, hair transplantation), all of these fields have competition because insurance DOESN'T cover the cost of the procedures. Transparency and competition are the keys to success in a capitalistic system. Our country may have the best medical care and technology in the world, but it's leading us down a path to ruin.
Chris, by no means does this replace health insurance. You will still need it for everything that your internist/GP does not do - catastrophic or not. The monthly fee is designed solely to increase your level of service, the availability of the doctor and I suppose the $10 office visit co-pay. Read the FAQ's on the doctor's website and you will see that it does not replace traditional insurance. Specifically, the website states that traditional health insurance "will be necessary for all expenses outside of our office, including diagnostic lab work, x-rays, hospitalizations and visits to other doctors."
Agreed, but my insurance coverage stinks. I pay for most of those services anyway :)
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