What Does Concierge Medicine Actually Buy You?

Concierge medicine is primary care paid for partly by an annual membership fee, and what the fee buys is access: a physician who answers you directly, sees you quickly, and has the time to know your history. Here it is run by Dr. Ghavami and me.

Most people who ask me about it start with the price. I understand why, but I think the better first question is a different one. When did you last need your doctor and actually reach them?

A fair warning before the rest: we sell this. Membership is a fee we charge, so you’re reading the view of someone with an interest in the answer. What I can do in return is tell you where the case for it is solid, where it’s thinner than the marketing suggests, and who should keep their money.

Why is it so hard to see a regular primary care doctor?

Mostly arithmetic.

The most recent large measurement I trust looked at 21,770 family physicians between 2017 and 2023 and found a typical panel of close to two thousand patients per physician. That’s the number of people each of those doctors is, in principle, responsible for.

Now put that against the clock. A 2023 study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine estimated how long it would take one physician to deliver all the guideline-recommended care to a panel of 2,500 adults. The answer was 26.7 hours a day. Preventive care alone came to 14.1 hours, chronic disease care to 7.2, acute visits to 2.2, and documentation and inbox to 3.2. Even with a full supporting team doing everything that can be delegated, the estimate only fell to 9.3 hours a day.

Their panel was larger than the measured average, so the real gap is somewhat smaller. It’s still a gap no amount of goodwill closes. Something gets cut, and what gets cut is usually the unhurried conversation, the same-week appointment and the returned phone call.

None of that is a criticism of the doctors working inside that system. I’ve worked in it. Most of them are doing an impossible job well.

So is a concierge doctor a better doctor?

No, and be wary of anyone who implies it.

Fact vs. Fad: concierge physicians go through the same training, sit the same boards and use the same evidence as everyone else. What changes is the number of people sharing the physician’s time. That’s the whole mechanism. It’s a real one, and it’s enough on its own, but it isn’t magic and it doesn’t make anyone smarter.

I’ll also say plainly what I can’t give you: a strong trial showing that concierge members end up healthier. The outcome data that exist are limited and largely observational, and I wouldn’t sell you a membership on them. I’d sell it to you on access, which is something you can judge for yourself within a few months.

What does membership include here?

We cap the panel at 100 patients. Everything else follows from that cap:

• A comprehensive annual exam, long enough to actually cover your history
• Direct access to your physician by phone or email, not a call center
• An appointment within 36 hours when you need to be seen
• A response within a few hours for questions that don’t need a visit
• Lab and imaging orders when they’re clinically indicated
• Medication refills by phone or email where that’s appropriate
• Referrals to specialists we know, coordinated rather than handed off

It is not unlimited care, and I’d rather say that now than have it come up later. Membership covers access and routine visits through the year. If your needs are intensive enough that you’d want to be seen weekly, we should talk honestly about whether this is the right arrangement for you.

How much does concierge medicine cost in Philadelphia?

For 2026 our membership is $1,500 per person or $2,000 per couple, billed annually. Visits through the year are billed separately and are generally comparable to a copay.

Fees vary a great deal between practices, and so does what a fee covers. Some include visits; some include very little beyond the annual exam. If you’re comparing, compare what’s in the box rather than the number on it.

Two practical points people often miss. You can pay for visits with an HSA or FSA card in the office. And you’ll get a superbill you can submit to your insurer yourself. Depending on your plan, those visits may count toward your deductible, but that genuinely varies by plan, so check with your insurer rather than taking my word for it.

Do I still need health insurance?

Yes. Without exception.

Membership buys access to us. It doesn’t cover a hospital stay, an MRI, surgery, a specialist or your prescriptions. You still need insurance for all of that, and a concierge practice that suggests otherwise is setting you up for an expensive surprise.

A PPO plan works best alongside this model, because we can refer you directly to the right specialist. With an HMO, referrals usually have to route through an assigned primary care physician, which narrows what we can do for you. That’s worth knowing before you join.

And this isn’t emergency medicine. Chest pain, stroke symptoms and anything that belongs in an ambulance still belongs in an ambulance. Having my number doesn’t change that.

Who is concierge medicine not worth it for?

If a friend asked me whether to join, this is the part I’d walk them through first.

If you’re healthy, rarely see a doctor, and are content with urgent care on the odd occasion you need one, you’d be paying for access you don’t use. Keep the money.

If you already have a specialist managing your main condition and you’re happy with them, membership won’t replace that relationship. We coordinate with specialists; we don’t duplicate them.

Where it does earn its fee is for people managing something ongoing who are tired of explaining their history to someone new every visit. For people whose work makes a three-week wait genuinely costly. And for anyone who has left a seven-minute appointment realizing they never got to the thing they came in for.

How do I know whether it’s right for me?

Ask us. The first step is a conversation rather than a form, and part of that conversation is us telling you if it isn’t worth it for your situation. We would rather lose the membership than sell one that doesn’t fit.

The details, including what happens when the panel is at its cap, are on our concierge medicine page.

References

Bazemore A, Morgan ZJ, Grumbach K. Physician and practice characteristics associated with family physician panel size. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 2025;38(5):846–854. doi:10.3122/jabfm.2025.250070R1 (n=21,770 family physicians, 2017–2023)

Porter J, Boyd C, Skandari MR, Laiteerapong N. Revisiting the time needed to provide adult primary care. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2023;38(1):147–155. doi:10.1007/s11606-022-07707-x