Did you know that Americans spend $2.8 trillion on health care every year? The U.S spends more than any other country, yet we’re overwhelmed by chronic diseases and preventable deaths. The system is broken!

Simply stated, our current healthcare system isn’t designed to help us achieve optimal health and wellness. Too many patients are trapped in a complex and inefficient system incapable of delivering the personalized care they deserve. Insurance companies drive the medical professionals to spend more time on paperwork than treating the patient.

Concierge medicine is emerging as a popular alternative to the traditional healthcare system. By giving the power back to patients and their doctors, concierge medicine is transforming the way you can become the healthiest, energetic, and most productive version of yourself.

What is Concierge Medicine?

Concierge medicine is a relatively new concept, but it can easily be summarized as everything that the traditional healthcare system isn’t.

America’s standard healthcare system forces three strangers together:

1. The Patient
2. The Doctor
3. The Insurance Company

Somehow, these separate entities with completely different goals are expected to preserve, maintain, and improve the patient’s health effectively. The unfortunate truth is that the traditional healthcare system is impersonal, complex, and severely inefficient.

Insurance companies have all the power dictating how patients and doctors interact. They control which treatments doctors provide (including medications that can be used), how much money doctors make (forcing more impersonal rushed care), and ultimately the quality-of-care patients receive.

This is a backward system! The tail is wagging the dog!!!

The concierge medicine model flips traditional healthcare on its head by giving power back to patients and physicians, exactly where it belongs.

By receiving direct and personalized access to their private doctors, patients can enjoy private, customized, and efficient medical care.

When you partner with a concierge practice, you can expect a trusted advocate, friend, and professional who makes your health and wellness his/her very first priority.

What Are the Benefits of Concierge Medicine?

Concierge medicine offers many benefits that conventional practices are unable to provide. Every year, traditional primary medical care continues to devolve into a chaotic system. Financial pressures force doctors to treat a larger number of patients rather than cultivate high-quality relationships with their existing patients.

A growing number of doctors remove themselves from the conventional system and choose to become concierge medical practitioners instead, allowing them to better serve their patients.

Concierge Medicine Eliminates Complicated Rules

Our country’s conventional medical system is controlled by a complicated list of rules that delay — and sometimes prevent — patients from receiving the care they need . These restrictions also cause healthcare professionals to spend more time and energy complying with rules than helping patients. Concierge medical practices overcome these issues by working outside of the traditional system. Since concierge doctors aren’t forced to adhere to the complicated and counterproductive rules of insurance companies, they can provide the care their members need without thinking twice.

Concierge Medicine Is Quick & Efficient

Massive wait times are the curse of traditional medicine’s existence. It’s not unusual to wait weeks only to spend 10 minutes (if you’re lucky) with your physician.

This isn’t an issue for concierge medicine since your concierge doctor only takes a limited number of members, you can make an appointment that fits your schedule and receive the care and attention you deserve.

Time is the most valuable asset you have. We all get 24 hours in a day. No more. No less. Concierge doctors understand this, so members receive comprehensive medical care in a significantly more timely manner.

Concierge Medicine Creates A Meaningful Doctor-Patient Relationship

The traditional health care system has a built-in vulnerability regarding insurance companies. A regular doctor’s office receives a reimbursement (often limited and not taking into account additional overhead for the clinic) for every patient it treats. The only way to generate more revenue is to see more patients.

Providing superior care, which should be the PRIORITY, doesn’t generate more revenue. This process puts physicians in the uncomfortable, and dangerous, position of needing to see more patients in rapid succession thus limiting the time spent with each patient.

As the patient, it also puts you at risk of being overlooked. Your traditional doctor may not notice a warning sign of disease in his/her rush to see the next patient, or he/she might not have time to consider how unique stress factors in your life could be affecting your health. Also, with additional support staff you may not see the same person in different visits.

Since concierge doctors only accept a limited number of members each year, you are guaranteed personal attention, and all the time you need, during your appointment. Your concierge doctor is familiar with all aspects of your physical, emotional, and mental health. As a result, you can trust them to carefully monitor, evaluate, and treat you with personalized attention as opposed to a generic recommendation that satisfies the insurance company

Concierge Medicine Ensures Quality Of Care

Imagine receiving medical care in an environment where your doctor isn’t watching the clock or running late to his next appointment. Concierge care isn’t forced to manipulate insurance company rules, and this makes it possible for concierge doctors to provide the highest quality care to every patient. You can enjoy total peace of mind knowing that you’re being treated by a physician who knows your name, family, lifestyle, wellness goals, and medical risks. A concierge doctor is always available, even after regular business hours. They’re only one phone call or text away.

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Who Should Use Concierge Medical Care?

If you’re unsure whether you should switch from traditional health care to concierge medicine, these indications will help with that decision. Do the following ideas sound familiar?

You Want A Doctor To Dive Deeper Into Your Health

If you are suffering from a long-term health issue, or chronic problem that is impacting your quality of life, you need your doctor to do more than hand you a prescription and wish you luck. You need to have a doctor that can dive deeper into your medical history, find underlying issues, identify changes you’re going through real time and assess a treatment protocol that will be monitored consistently and effectively. It’s not enough to simply cover your symptoms with a band-aid solution. Diabetes, cardiovascular problems, chronic pain, and other common health conditions can all be improved and even reversed with the right type of personalized medical care.

You Want A Doctor To Help You Optimize Your Health

Health is more than the absence of sickness and disease. Health is unlocking your full potentially, thriving, being active and fit both mentally and physically. Do you remember the last time your primary care physician offered to help you become a better version of yourself? Or the last time the proactively asked you what you would like to improve? Concierge medicine at Invigorate MD does just that. We’re not “playing defense,” instead we’re focused on proactively helping you become the best version of yourself. Whether that involves improving sleep, addressing dietary restrictions, increasing sex drive or dialing in your productivity we focus on achieving your goals with practical treatment methods tailored for you.

You Want A Doctor Who Knows You By Name

Many patients who switch from traditional healthcare to concierge medicine do so out of frustration with a lack of familiarity and personal touch. Often passed around to other doctors within the same clinic and forced to re-explain their history multiple times, it’s impossible to achieve the quality medical care you deserve. When you switch to a concierge doctor they’re able to build a relationship, monitor results or changes and make adjustments that optimize your lifestyle. They spend time with you and take into account your lifestyle, family history, background and current changes. They’re there for you!

How Do You Find the Best Doctor for You?

Concierge medical practice is a growing field that continues to expand. You need to find a doctor that you can trust with your single most important asset, your health!

Choose A Doctor With Similar Values

It’s important to select a doctor who shares your values on the factors most influential to your health. Things you discuss with a potential concierge physician should include energy levels, diet, sleep, hormones, relationships, use of prescription medications and any other concerns. By understanding what’s most important and what you value most, you’ll be able to partner with a professional who you can trust to make decisions that align with your healthcare goals.

Choose A Doctor Who Will Listen

The best doctors don’t treat their patients strictly based on paper; they listen closely to what their members have to say. You need a doctor who subscribed to the sentiment, “If you listen long enough, your patients will tell you what’s wrong with them.” Your concierge doctor should have the ability and desire to listen carefully to every word you say. When you can have a full, unhurried conversation with your doctor at every visit, your health will benefit immensely.

Choose A Doctor With A Limit On Member-To-Doctor Ratios

One of the true benefits of concierge medicine is the personalization and ability for your provider to focus on you individually. To do that, any good practice will understand member care comes first and has structured their practice with a strict limit on his member-to-doctor ratio. Ask any potential doctor for their membership limit. If your provider accepts more than 200 patients per medical professional, you may want to keep looking. To offer the best, most comprehensive level of care, your doctor cannot split themselves between too many members.

Choose A Doctor With Convenient Availability

In the age before concierge medicine, the majority of doctors were only available between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. If you felt sick or had a health concern after the close of business, the emergency room and urgent care were your only options. By finding a trusted concierge doctor, you can benefit from rapid and attentive care based on your schedule. Most concierge members prefer to use a doctor who offers same and next day appointments, but the best doctors take it one step further by providing their personal mobile numbers. They will respond to questions and problems via text or call during the evenings and weekends, or even make house calls for urgent concerns.

Why Doesn’t Everyone Choose Concierge Medicine?

Concierge medicine offers numerous benefits, so why doesn’t everyone choose this method of care over our conventional healthcare system?

First, concierge medicine is a new and emerging method of care, so many Americans don’t know it’s an option. It’s only now coming to the forefront of the medical marketplace and has yet to become a household term.

Others who are aware of concierge medicine make the incorrect assumption that this medical care alternative is only for the wealthy. While there are certainly concierge programs catered toward the extremely wealthy, there are just as many concierge doctors who seek to attract average, middle-class families. Some adults, on the other hand, prefer to stay in the traditional healthcare system. Many of them are happy with their existing level of care and prefer not to take advantage of the types of programs available that would allow them to achieve optimal health.

The Bottom Line

Making the decision to visit a concierge doctor may just change your life. A concierge doctor is able to provide hand-crafted care to optimize your health, while still working quickly and privately to meet your needs. Rather than visiting a physician who is unable to take the time to get to know you, concierge medicine offers the opportunity to develop a meaningful relationship with your doctor. Invigorate MD understands that true insight leads to optimal health, which is exactly why we offer best-in-class concierge medicine to the greater Nashville, TN area.

Our members are treated like family. Meet with us today to enjoy the peace of mind that only comes from being connected to a compassionate physician who knows you by name.

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