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As many medical centers postponed elective procedures and routine examinations during the early days of the pandemic, there was one group of patients who mostly kept seeing their doctors as usual: those who are members of concierge practices.
Concierge medicine—where patients pay what amounts to a retainer fee for direct access to a doctor or doctors—has boomed during the pandemic. According to Kona Medical Consulting, which manages concierge practices, such doctors saw a 21% increase in new patient volumes nationally during 2020, adjusting for normal fluctuations.
“There was a marked increase for a number of reasons: People couldn’t get a hold of their own doctors, who were diverted to treating Covid patients. Tele-health is great, but it’s hard to get a Covid test that way,” says Thomas LaGrelius, a concierge doctor specializing in family and geriatric medicine in Torrance, Calif.