Concierge Medicine: Benefits for Women’s Health

Many physicians with whom we speak express angst regarding converting to a concierge medicine model in today’s economic climate. Is it economic suicide to make this change today? We think not if the change is made intelligently. Across the board, consumers are reducing spending on goods and services. This affects discretionary purchases like Botox injections and laser eye surgery and is also affecting primary care services.

Concierge Healthcare and concierge medical practice have many stigmas following it since its inception out of Seattle in the ’90s, and many, if not all, of those stigma’s, are nothing more than urban myths. With the death of Elizabeth Edwards and the renewed focus in the media on women’s health issues, we wanted to look at how women’s health is an integral part of concierge medicine.

According to a recent survey, several disturbing health trends have emerged over the last three years, including:

The percentage of women who tested positive for sexually transmitted chlamydia increased from 6.3% to 7.4%.
The percentage of women who reported one or more binge drinking episodes within a month of being questioned increased to 10.6% from 7.3% in 2007. Binge drinking was defined as having five or more drinks on a single occasion.
The percentage of women that reported getting annual Pap smears declined from 86% to 78% during the same period.

Compared to three years ago, a higher percentage of women in the U.S. are also obese and have high blood pressure and/or diabetes.

In 2010, 26.4% of women were obese, compared to 24% in 2007. Both figures fall far short of the goal of a 15% obesity rate by 2010 set by government health officials at the beginning of the decade.

Having a health screening through a Concierge Doctor can be the first step towards a healthier and longer life.  And from the number of Americans around the country signing up for a health screening from their concierge doctors, I think it is safe to say that having a health screening through Concierge Physicians is one of the best steps forward you could take.

Concierge medicine and concierge medical practice have a lot of advantages. You can have your appointments scheduled on the following day or even on the same day you called it. No more long waits to get your prescription refills, and you can even have direct access to your physician. The number of physicians that delve into concierge medicine is now increasing in the country. You can find a list of doctors online to make your search a lot easier. The average retainer’s fee is from $ 1,500 up to $ 3,000 a year. This is money well spent knowing you have no access to personalize treatment, faster and high-quality health service.