Portage doctor doesn't accept insurance, charges patients a monthly subscription fee for unlimited v

[Sunlei]

Portage doctor doesn't accept insurance, charges patients a monthly subscription fee for unlimited visits

9/1/2017


PORTAGE — Dr. Timothy Ames had a traditional primary care practice for a quarter of a century, starting in 1987. He grew increasingly incensed by the bureaucratic obstacles being put in the way of doctors caring for patients. So he went nontraditional. At his new practice, he doesn't accept insurance of any kind. He charges patients a monthly subscription fee for unlimited visits. He is available by phone, by text, after hours.


"In this practice, if it does good to talk to a patient for an hour, I will. If the very best thing is to see them today, I have the flexibility to do that. If a telephone call is helpful, I don't have to worry about how to bill and code for a telephone call. It really allows me to think creatively about how I deliver care to my patients without worrying about how to document my appointments to meet the requirements of the insurance companies."


Ames practices so-called direct primary care, also known as concierge or subscription medicine. Marilyn Carter, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Medical Association, called direct primary care an "emerging and evolving" niche in Indiana. About a dozen, or less than 1 percent, of the association's 8,300 members work in concierge medicine. The nearest to Northwest Indiana are in Plymouth and Mishawaka.

The most recent update of the medical billing coding system increased the number of codes to 68,000 from 14,000. Plus, with the huge number of insurance policies, doctor's offices require now require large administrative staffs just to operate. That means they must see as many patients as possible in a day to pay for all that overhead.

http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/get-healthy/health-care/portage-doctor-doesn-t-accept-insurance-charges-patients-a-monthly/article_f1e57991-6878-549d-baf3-3252c81d1610.html

[leftofcool]

1. This is going to be a new trend for doctors

There are only two here that even take medicare.

[mitch96]

16. My buddy has a concierge Doc

She worked in the medical field and knows all about the run around with insurance. She has her regular health insurance that he accepts and she pays an extra annual fee for the concierge service.
She likes the fact that if something happens (she has many medical problems) she can just text him and he responds right away. Most times texting or a quick phone call resolves the problem and things move along quickly..
It kinda reminds me of the ancient Chinese.. They would pay the doctor to keep them well and if they got sick, they stopped paying!!! Great motivator for the Doc to keep you well and the cash rolling in.. Not the other way around like we have now..
m

[SHRED]

2. What happens when you need a specialist?

Or emergency room visit?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. He refers you and you go.

[SHRED]

4. With no insurance?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. Who says the his patients don't have insurance.

I bet most of them do.

And anyone using this as a form of insurance is either wealthy or an idiot.

The target market is upper income people that aren't too worried about the "free" checkup paid for by insurance. Probably people who have (by choice) high deductibles but want good service and access for their sniffles and anxiety meds.

They are still going to see their orthopedic surgeon for their tennis elbow or bad back. Or an allergist for their allergies.

[SHRED]

10. Oh

I didn't realize.
I thought this was in place of insurance.

[ret5hd]

5. Yeahhhhhhhhhh....that "monthly fee" to a primary care doc ain't gonna pay for surgery, chemo, etc.

[Sunlei]

7. or supplies/regular medicines like bandages,antibiotics & vaccines.

[cyclonefence]

6. This has been going on around here for quite a few years now

They call it "concierge" medicine here (near Phila.). You still have to have major medical insurance for stuff like hospitals. I suspect greed is the motivating factor.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. Yeah. A friend of mine's dad is a primary care doctor.

The mom was explaining how they do concierge for Medicare patients.

This was several years ago. I want to say the fee was $3000 per year. That's in addition to what Medicare paid. I assume this fee plus insurance is more than what you might find at an office in the OP.

Medicare patients obviously require more care. I wonder if the doc in the op even takes Medicare recipients or if it makes sense for an elderly patient. Or maybe he charges by age.

I guessing the target market is well insured younger single people, childless couples or maybe families with non pediatric age kids. Or most likely 50 ish with no dependents good income healthy-ish.

[sharp_stick]

8. How much is the subscription?

I couldn't find that in my quick scan of the article.

[LanternWaste]

13. Seems anywhere from $1500 to $15000 per year.

Some digging showed the average monthly rate is $150. One low-ball price was was Dr. Garrison Bliss in Seattle, Washington offering concierge care to patients for $39 to $79 per month depending on age.

Seems anywhere from $1500 to $15000 per year.

[Sunlei]

14. This Doctor-kids$20, $50/$60adults-Seniors. He said he doesn't take any insurance. so no Medicaid?

Sounds to me like this Doctor really wants to be my Veterinarian. about the same 'exam' prices.

[hunter]

12. Dealing with insurance companies is expensive and time consuming.

A single doctor can't do it, they have to hire expensive help in addition to the medical assistants, nurses, or physicians assistants they work with. For even a small private practice the insurance crap is more than a single office manager can handle.

Concierge medicine is not an unreasonable response to this madness.

The U.S.A. medical insurance industry is largely responsible for our crappy and expensive health care "system." The whole damned thing ought nationalized with extreme prejudice, and some of the highest paid executives of the industry probably deserve prison time because they have killed and maimed people because they don't care about the quality or cost of medicine, they care only about the volume of the money streams they control.

[Lee-Lee]

15. I've seen conservatives pushing this along with catastrophic insurance for specialists and

hospitalization as an alternative to the ACA of single payer.

In my view it's just a huge step in the wrong way. In fact, once we have single payer this nonsense needs to be outlawed. Otherwise you will have all these doctors refusing to take the single payer system or claiming it's too much paperwork and going to this model- and then you will have easy access for those who can afford it and everyone else fighting for 30 seconds with the few doctors taking single payer or Medicare for All or whatever it is once we get it.