Understanding Concierge Medicine3 min read
How Concierge Medicine Works
From the first phone call to the first bill: what actually happens when you join a membership practice, and where your insurance still does the work.
For patients and people exploring care
Explore Concierge Healthcare With Confidence
Learn how concierge and membership-based healthcare works, compare care options, understand potential costs, and search our provider directory.
Finding a practice
Find Concierge Healthcare
Search by location, specialty, or care model. No account is needed. These resources also show how to search on your own and check credentials.
Compare
Understand Your Care Options
Three common ways of organizing primary care. General descriptions only: terms vary by practice.
Concierge Medicine
A recurring fee paid to a physician practice. Many practices still bill insurance or Medicare for covered visits.
Direct Primary Care
A flat periodic fee, usually monthly, generally without billing insurance for included services.
Traditional Primary Care
Usually no membership fee. The practice bills your plan, and you pay your plan's cost sharing.
Costs
Compare Membership Costs
A fee is only one part of what you pay in a year. See how fees are structured, then compare a membership with what you spend now.
Coverage
Medicare and Insurance Information
A membership does not replace health insurance, and Medicare does not pay a concierge membership fee. Find out what still gets billed, and to whom.
From the guides
Browse Educational Guides
Membership Costs3 min read
Is Concierge Medicine Worth It?
Nobody else can answer this for you. These five questions will get you most of the way there.
Choosing a Physician4 min read
How to Find a Concierge Doctor Near You
Where to look, how to check credentials with official tools, and what to compare before you sign anything.
Other care settings
Explore Healthcare Specialties
Membership and direct-pay arrangements now appear outside primary care, with different rules in each setting.
- Specialties and ServicesWhere membership arrangements reach beyond primary care, and what to confirm when they do.
- Concierge Physical TherapyDirect-pay sessions, packages, and memberships, and the Medicare rules for therapists.
- Concierge DentistryIn-office membership plans and direct-pay dental care, and why neither is insurance.