Boutique Medicine

(Dr. Andrew B. Chung said:

This came up in the threads that discussed what doctors could do about
HMOs and/or managed care.

Is this the future of American medicine?

http://www.nbc10.com/health/2001310/detail.html

Maybe for the well heeled, but not for Joe and Jane Average. It only makes
sense for people with chronic health problems who can afford it, or those
with money to burn who are willing to pay the fee just to avoid an
occasional inconvenience.

The question is, do the doctors practicing this accept anyone who can afford
their fee?

Carey Gregory <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Dr. Andrew B. Chung said:

This came up in the threads that discussed what doctors could do about
HMOs and/or managed care.

Is this the future of American medicine?

http://www.nbc10.com/health/2001310/detail.html

Maybe for the well heeled, but not for Joe and Jane Average. It only makes
sense for people with chronic health problems who can afford it, or those
with money to burn who are willing to pay the fee just to avoid an
occasional inconvenience.

The question is, do the doctors practicing this accept anyone who can afford
their fee?

Presumably while they have "room" in their practice. My understanding
is that they "close" after enrolling a few hundred patients.

Regards,

Andrew
--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
http://www.heartmdphd.com

In article <[email hidden]>,

(Dr. Andrew B. Chung said:

Quoted message said:

The question is, do the doctors practicing this accept anyone who can afford
their fee?

Presumably while they have "room" in their practice. My understanding
is that they "close" after enrolling a few hundred patients.

My understanding, too. One of the reasons for BM (sorry but I couldn't
resist) in all of the articles is the desire to see less patients but spend
more time with each. In addition to the desire to get rid of as much paper
work as possible.
Of course, even "traditional" docs don't take everyone coming in the door.
My doc has a certain number of patients he will take from HMOs, a certain
number from BC/BS, etc. on a risk/yeild basis. Sorta like how they only have a
certain number of cheap seats on the flight you want.

----
"There was an exponential rise in the use of the
apples and oranges metaphor over the last 20 years followed
by the inevitable tail off. When researchers tried to find a
reason for the tail-off, they noted the same thing was seen
in the NASDAQ yearly closing prices for the same time period."