15 Questions to Ask Before Starting Concierge Medicine [2026]

Medical Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare provider for decisions about your care. Some links in this article may be affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Switching to concierge medicine is one of the bigger healthcare decisions you'll make. You're committing real money — sometimes thousands of dollars a year — to a single physician relationship. And unlike picking a restaurant or a gym, the stakes are your health.

The problem? Most people sign up based on a brochure and a gut feeling. They don't ask the hard questions until they're six months in and surprised by a bill, a policy, or a gap in coverage they didn't expect.

We've talked to patients, physicians, and practice managers across the concierge medicine landscape. From luxury practices like William Pittman, MD in Los Angeles to accessible DPC models like Greenlake Direct Primary Care in Seattle, the range of what "concierge medicine" actually means is enormous.

These 15 questions will help you cut through the marketing and figure out whether a practice is genuinely the right fit — before you sign anything. If you're brand new to the concept, start with our beginner's guide to concierge medicine first.

1. What Is the Total Annual Cost — and What Does It Actually Include?

This is the question everyone asks first. But most people don't ask it precisely enough.

The headline number — the retainer or membership fee — is just the starting point. Concierge medicine membership fees in 2026 range from roughly $1,800 per year on the low end (direct primary care models) to $10,000–$25,000+ for premium boutique practices (Concierge Medicine Today, 2025). Mid-tier practices charging $3,000–$10,000 annually represent the largest market segment, accounting for approximately 39% of all concierge memberships (Towards Healthcare, 2025).

But the retainer is rarely the whole picture. You need to ask:

What's bundled into the retainer?

• Unlimited office visits, or a set number per year?
• Annual comprehensive physical exam (and how long is it — 60 minutes or a full-day executive health screening)?
• Basic lab work (CBC, metabolic panels, lipid panels)?
• Telehealth and virtual visits?
• Prescription refills and medication management?
• Vaccine administration?

What costs extra?

• Advanced labs (hormone panels, genetic testing, food sensitivity tests)
• In-office procedures (skin biopsies, joint injections, minor surgeries)
• Specialist referral coordination fees
• Home visits
• Travel medicine consultations

Some practices include nearly everything in the flat fee. Others charge the retainer for "access" and then bill insurance or charge out-of-pocket for every clinical service on top. The difference between these two models can be hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.

A practice like Daniel Benhuri in Los Angeles, for instance, operates at the premium end where comprehensive services are bundled. Meanwhile, a DPC practice might charge $150/month but include unlimited visits and basic labs — potentially a better value for someone with simple healthcare needs.

Pro tip: Ask for a written fee schedule. Any practice that can't hand you one is a red flag. For a deep dive on pricing across models, see our concierge medicine cost guide for 2026.

2. Do You Accept My Health Insurance — and How Does Insurance Work with the Membership?

This question trips up more new patients than almost any other. The relationship between concierge medicine and health insurance isn't straightforward, and it varies dramatically between practice models.

Here's the landscape in 2026:

Concierge + Insurance (hybrid model): The most common setup. You pay the retainer for enhanced access and extended visits. The practice also bills your insurance for clinical services — office visits, labs, procedures. Your retainer covers the "extras" that insurance won't pay for: same-day availability, longer appointments, direct physician communication, comprehensive wellness planning. About 70% of concierge practices operate this way (Specialdocs Consultants, 2025).

Direct Primary Care (DPC): No insurance billing at all. Your monthly membership covers all primary care services directly. The practice doesn't accept insurance, doesn't file claims, and doesn't deal with insurance companies. This keeps overhead low and prices transparent. Practices like Greenlake Direct Primary Care use this model. You'd still carry insurance for specialist visits, hospital stays, and emergencies.

Concierge-only (no insurance): Premium practices that opt out of insurance entirely. You pay the retainer plus full out-of-pocket fees for clinical services. These tend to be the highest-cost practices but offer the most physician autonomy and typically the smallest patient panels.

The questions to ask:

• Do you bill my insurance for office visits, or is everything covered in the retainer?
• If you bill insurance, which plans do you accept? Are you in-network with my carrier?
• Will I still have copays or coinsurance on top of the membership fee?
• Can I use my HSA or FSA to pay the membership fee? (Answer: it depends on how the practice structures the fee — some qualify, some don't.)
• If I have Medicare, how does the concierge model interact with my coverage?

Understanding this upfront prevents the most common source of frustration in concierge medicine: patients who assumed the retainer covered everything, then received separate bills for services their insurance didn't cover. For a detailed breakdown of how these models differ, check our concierge medicine vs. DPC comparison.

3. How Many Patients Are in Your Practice — and Is There a Cap?

This is the question that separates real concierge medicine from practices that slap a "concierge" label on a traditional patient load.

The entire value proposition of concierge medicine rests on one thing: your doctor has fewer patients, which means more time for you. But "fewer" is relative, and not all practices limit their panels equally.

Here's what to benchmark against:

• Traditional primary care: 2,000–2,500 patients per physician. This is why your appointments last 7–12 minutes and you wait 3 weeks for a slot.
• Standard concierge practices: 400–600 patients per physician. This is the most common range and allows for 30–60 minute appointments and same-day availability.
• Premium concierge practices: 100–200 patients per physician. Physicians like William Pittman, MD in Los Angeles operate at this level, offering deeply personalized care with near-unlimited access.
• DPC practices: 400–800 patients per physician. Slightly higher than traditional concierge due to lower price points, but still dramatically fewer than conventional practices.

According to the American Academy of Private Physicians, the average concierge practice maintains a panel of approximately 450 patients — roughly one-fifth the size of a traditional practice (AAPP, 2024).

The follow-up questions matter just as much:

• Is there a hard cap? Some practices promise a maximum of 500 patients but don't actually enforce it. If revenue pressures mount, panels creep up. Ask whether the cap is contractually guaranteed.
• What's the current panel size? If a practice caps at 600 but currently has 350 patients, you'll get even more attention now — but the experience may change as the panel fills.
• How many physicians are in the practice? A solo physician with 400 patients is different from a three-doctor practice with 1,200 patients. In the latter, you may be seeing a different doctor some visits.
• What happens when the panel is full? Do they maintain a waitlist? Do they add another physician? Do they raise the retainer fee?

The panel size directly correlates with appointment length, wait times, and how well your doctor actually knows you. If a practice won't give you a straight answer on their panel size, walk away.

4. What Does After-Hours Access Actually Look Like?

"24/7 physician access" is one of the most common promises in concierge medicine marketing. It's also one of the most loosely defined. What happens when you text your doctor at 10 PM matters. What matters more is what happens at 2 AM on a Saturday.

Get specific:

During business hours:

• How quickly can I get a same-day appointment? Is it guaranteed, or "best effort"?
• What's the average wait time once I'm at the office?
• Can I reach you by phone, text, or email during the day? All three?

After hours:

• If I call at 9 PM with a non-emergency question, who answers? You personally, or a covering physician?
• Is the after-hours line a direct cell phone, a secure messaging app, or an answering service?
• What's the expected response time for after-hours messages? Under 30 minutes? Under 2 hours?
• Do you charge separately for after-hours consultations?

Weekends and holidays:

• Are you available on weekends and holidays, or is there a covering physician?
• If a covering physician handles my call, do they have access to my medical records?
• Can you handle prescription refills on weekends?

When you're traveling or on vacation:

• What happens when my primary physician is out of town?
• Is there a designated covering physician, and have I met them?
• Do you provide telemedicine visits when I'm traveling domestically or internationally?

Real emergencies:

• What's the protocol if I think I'm having a heart attack or stroke? Do I call you first, or go straight to the ER?
• Do you have hospital privileges? Which hospitals?
• Will you meet me at the ER or coordinate my care remotely?

A 2025 survey by Concierge Medicine Today found that 86% of concierge patients cited "direct physician access" as the primary reason they joined — making this the single most important promise to verify before signing up (Concierge Medicine Today, 2025).

The honest truth: most solo concierge physicians can't be personally available 24/7/365. The good ones have a well-structured coverage system and are transparent about its limitations. The bad ones make promises they can't keep.

5. What Happens If I Want to Cancel — and What Are the Contract Terms?

Nobody talks about this during the sales pitch. But the contract terms matter more than you think, especially if your financial situation changes, you move, or the practice doesn't live up to expectations.

Here's what to ask:

Contract length:

• Is this a month-to-month agreement, annual contract, or multi-year commitment?
• Most practices operate on annual contracts with payment upfront or quarterly installments. DPC practices are more likely to offer month-to-month.

Cancellation policy:

• Can I cancel mid-year? If so, do I get a prorated refund?
• Is there a cancellation fee? Some practices charge a fee equivalent to 2–3 months of membership.
• What's the notice period? (30 days is standard; some require 60–90 days.)
• If the physician leaves the practice or retires, can I cancel without penalty?

Refund policy:

• If I pay annually upfront and cancel after 4 months, do I get 8 months back?
• Are there any non-refundable portions (enrollment fee, onboarding fee, initial assessment)?
• What if I'm dissatisfied within the first 30–90 days — is there a trial period or satisfaction guarantee?

Price increases:

• Can the practice raise the retainer mid-contract?
• What's the typical annual price increase? (3–8% is common in the industry.)
• Is there a cap on how much the fee can increase year over year?
• Do long-term members get loyalty pricing?

If the doctor leaves:

• What happens if my physician retires, moves, or leaves the practice?
• Am I transferred to another physician automatically, or can I cancel?
• Do I get to meet the new physician before committing?

Get everything in writing. Verbal promises from a practice manager aren't worth the paper they're not printed on. Read the actual membership agreement — not the marketing brochure — before you sign.

6. How Do You Handle Chronic Disease Management and Complex Medical Conditions?

If you're generally healthy and just want a better annual physical, almost any concierge practice will work. But if you're managing a chronic condition — diabetes, hypertension, autoimmune disease, heart disease, cancer surveillance — the practice's approach to complex care becomes the most important factor in your decision.

This is where concierge medicine can genuinely shine. With smaller panels and longer appointments, your physician has time to actually manage your condition rather than just monitoring it every 3 months.

Ask these specific questions:

Proactive management:

• How often will we meet to review my condition? Monthly? Quarterly?
• Do you develop a written care plan with goals and milestones?
• Do you track my metrics between visits (blood pressure trends, glucose logs, weight, symptoms)?
• Will you adjust medications proactively based on data, or wait until I come in?

Care coordination:

• How do you coordinate with my specialists? Do you actively communicate with them, or just send referrals?
• Will you help schedule specialist appointments and share records directly?
• After a specialist visit, do you follow up to review results and adjust my overall treatment plan?
• Do you attend or call into my appointments with specialists if needed?

According to a 2024 study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, patients in concierge practices were 34% more likely to have their chronic conditions optimally managed compared to patients in traditional primary care settings, largely due to increased visit frequency and care coordination (Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2024).

Technology and monitoring:

• Do you use remote patient monitoring (RPM) devices — continuous glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs, wearable data integration?
• Can I share data from my Apple Watch, Oura Ring, or other health wearables?
• Do you have a patient portal where I can track my metrics over time?

Medication management:

• How do you handle prior authorizations for medications? (This alone can be worth the membership fee.)
• Do you help navigate prescription costs — recommending generics, compounding pharmacies, or manufacturer assistance programs?
• For DPC practices: do you dispense common medications at wholesale cost?

A physician who actively manages your chronic condition — rather than just reacting to lab results every few months — can prevent complications, reduce ER visits, and improve your quality of life significantly. Practices like Daniel Benhuri in Los Angeles are known for this level of chronic disease management, integrating advanced diagnostics and regular follow-up into their concierge model.

7. What Does Your Annual Physical or Wellness Exam Include?

The annual physical is often the centerpiece of a concierge membership. But "annual physical" means wildly different things depending on the practice.

At a traditional primary care office, your "annual wellness visit" might last 15–20 minutes. At a concierge practice, it could be 60 minutes, half a day, or even a full day of comprehensive testing.

Ask for the specific breakdown:

Basic (included in most memberships):

• Comprehensive medical history review
• Full physical examination (60–90 minutes)
• Standard labs: complete blood count (CBC), comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), lipid panel, thyroid function, hemoglobin A1c
• Blood pressure, BMI, basic vital signs
• Age-appropriate cancer screenings (colonoscopy referral, mammogram referral, PSA if applicable)
• Vision and hearing checks
• Immunization review and updates

Mid-tier (included in $5,000–$10,000/year memberships): Everything above plus:

• Advanced lipid panel (particle size, Lp(a))
• High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)
• Vitamin D, B12, iron studies
• Nutritional consultation and personalized diet plan
• Exercise stress test or cardiovascular screening
• Body composition analysis (DEXA scan in some practices)
• Mental health screening
• Sleep assessment

Premium (included in $10,000+ memberships): Everything above plus:

• Full executive health panel with 50+ biomarkers
• Genetic testing and pharmacogenomics
• Advanced cardiac imaging (coronary calcium score, carotid ultrasound)
• Full-body MRI or CT screening (select practices)
• Longevity-focused assessments (biological age testing, telomere length)
• Personalized wellness and longevity plan
• Coordination with specialists for follow-up on any findings

The U.S. concierge medicine market was valued at approximately $7.35 billion in 2024 and is growing at a 10.33% compound annual growth rate, driven in large part by patient demand for comprehensive preventive care that goes far beyond the standard 15-minute checkup (Grand View Research, 2025).

Key follow-up questions:

• How long is the physical appointment? (Anything under 45 minutes should raise questions.)
• Do you provide a written summary of findings with actionable recommendations?
• How quickly do I get my lab results, and do you review them with me personally?
• If something abnormal is found, what's the process? Do you coordinate specialist follow-up?

The annual physical is where you should feel the most tangible difference between concierge and traditional care. If a practice can't articulate exactly what makes their annual exam worth the membership fee, that's telling.

8. What Is Your Approach to Preventive Care and Longevity Medicine?

Concierge medicine is shifting. What used to be purely about access — shorter waits, longer appointments — is increasingly about proactive, prevention-first medicine. The best concierge practices in 2026 aren't just treating what's wrong. They're working to prevent problems before they start.

This is where you'll see the biggest variation between practices, and it's worth understanding what philosophy drives your potential physician.

Reactive vs. proactive:

• Do you focus primarily on treating illness, or do you emphasize prevention and early detection?
• What does "preventive care" look like in your practice — is it standard screenings, or something more comprehensive?
• Do you integrate longevity medicine concepts (metabolic optimization, cardiovascular risk reduction, cancer prevention)?

Screening philosophy:

• Do you order advanced biomarker panels beyond standard labs?
• What's your approach to cancer screening — do you follow standard guidelines, or do you personalize based on risk factors?
• Do you offer or recommend advanced imaging (coronary calcium scores, full-body MRI)?
• How do you balance the benefits of early detection against the risks of overdiagnosis?

Lifestyle medicine:

• Do you provide nutrition counseling? Is it from the physician, a nutritionist, or a dietitian?
• Do you offer exercise prescriptions or fitness programming guidance?
• Do you address sleep health, stress management, and mental health proactively?
• Do you integrate wearable data (sleep trackers, continuous glucose monitors) into care decisions?

Emerging approaches:

• What's your stance on peptide therapy, hormone optimization, or other emerging modalities?
• Do you stay current with longevity research (e.g., rapamycin studies, NAD+ research, GLP-1 medications for metabolic health)?
• Are you board-certified in any specialty beyond internal medicine or family medicine (e.g., anti-aging medicine, integrative medicine)?

The rise of longevity-focused concierge practices is one of the defining trends of 2026. Approximately 22% of concierge practices now offer some form of longevity or age-management programming, up from roughly 12% in 2022 (American Academy of Private Physicians, 2025). Whether this matters to you depends on your health goals — but it's worth knowing where your potential physician stands.

9. How Do You Handle Referrals and Specialist Coordination?

One of the most underrated benefits of concierge medicine is something you can't easily put on a brochure: the physician's network. When you need a cardiologist, dermatologist, or surgeon, who your concierge doctor knows — and how aggressively they coordinate your care — can dramatically affect your outcomes.

In traditional primary care, a "referral" often means getting a name and a phone number. You call, wait 6 weeks for an appointment, and your specialist may or may not have your records. Your primary care doctor probably won't follow up unless you call back.

In good concierge medicine, it works differently:

What to ask about the referral process:

• Do you have established relationships with specialists in the area? Which specialties?
• When you refer me, do you personally call the specialist's office, or do I just get a name?
• Do you send my records, imaging, and relevant history directly to the specialist before my appointment?
• How quickly can you typically get me in with a specialist? Same week? Same day for urgent matters?

Care coordination after the referral:

• After I see a specialist, do you review their findings and recommendations?
• If a specialist recommends a treatment or procedure, do you provide a second perspective?
• Do you help coordinate when multiple specialists are involved (e.g., a patient with cardiac, endocrine, and orthopedic issues)?
• Will you advocate on my behalf if I'm having trouble getting an appointment or authorization?

Hospital coordination:

• If I need to be hospitalized, what's your role? Do you have admitting privileges?
• Will you visit me in the hospital, or coordinate remotely with the hospitalist?
• After discharge, do you provide a follow-up visit within 48–72 hours?

The value of active specialist coordination is hard to overstate. Research from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that care coordination failures — missed follow-ups, lost records, conflicting medication orders — contribute to approximately 80% of serious medical errors in outpatient settings (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2024).

A concierge physician who actively manages your specialist care reduces these risks dramatically. It's one of the strongest arguments for the membership model — your doctor has the time and incentive to actually coordinate.

10. What Technology Do You Use, and How Can I Communicate with You?

Healthcare in 2026 runs on technology, and your concierge practice should be using it effectively — not just for billing, but for making your care better and communication easier.

Communication channels:

• Can I text you directly? Is it your personal cell phone, a HIPAA-compliant messaging app, or a patient portal?
• Can I email you? What's the expected response time?
• Do you offer video visits / telehealth? Is there a separate charge?
• Is there a patient portal where I can view my records, lab results, and visit summaries?
• Can I schedule appointments online, or do I need to call?

Medical records:

• Do you use a modern electronic health record (EHR) system?
• Can I access my full medical record electronically — not just lab results, but visit notes, imaging reports, and care plans?
• How easily can you share records with specialists, hospitals, or other providers?
• If I leave the practice, how do I get my complete medical records?

Remote monitoring and wearables:

• Do you integrate with any remote patient monitoring devices?
• Can I share data from consumer health devices (Apple Health, Fitbit, Oura, Whoop)?
• For chronic conditions: do you use continuous monitoring tools (CGMs for diabetes, ambulatory blood pressure monitors)?

Telehealth specifics:

• Are telehealth visits included in my membership, or charged separately?
• Can I do a telehealth visit when traveling domestically? Internationally?
• What platform do you use for telehealth? Is it easy to use on mobile?
• Can you prescribe medications via telehealth visit?

The technology question might seem minor compared to clinical care, but it directly affects your daily experience. If you can text your doctor a photo of a rash at 8 PM and get a response by 9 PM telling you it's nothing serious — versus driving to urgent care and waiting 2 hours — that's the concierge difference in practice.

11. What Is Your Background, and Are You Board Certified?

You'd be surprised how many people commit thousands of dollars to a physician without verifying their credentials. Don't be one of them.

Essential credential questions:

• Are you board certified? In which specialty (internal medicine, family medicine, other)?
• Where did you complete your residency?
• How long have you been practicing medicine? How long in concierge medicine specifically?
• Do you have any additional certifications or fellowship training (cardiology, endocrinology, integrative medicine, sports medicine)?
• Are you affiliated with any hospitals? Which ones?
• Have you ever had any disciplinary actions or malpractice judgments? (You can also verify this independently through your state medical board.)

Practice philosophy:

• Why did you transition to concierge medicine?
• What's your general approach to medicine — are you more conservative, aggressive, integrative?
• How do you stay current with medical research and continuing education?
• Do you attend medical conferences? Which ones?

Verification resources:

• State medical board website (search by physician name for license status, disciplinary history)
• ABMS.org — verify board certification
• Healthgrades, Vitals — patient reviews and physician profiles
• Hospital websites — verify privileges and affiliations

A physician's decision to move to concierge medicine is revealing. The best answers focus on wanting deeper patient relationships and more time to practice thorough medicine. If the answer is purely financial, that's worth noting.

12. Can I Do a Trial Visit or Consultation Before Committing?

You wouldn't buy a car without a test drive. You shouldn't commit to a $5,000/year physician relationship based on a brochure and a phone call with a practice manager.

What to ask about trial options:

• Do you offer a complimentary meet-and-greet or consultation before I join?
• Can I schedule a single paid visit before committing to a full membership?
• Is there a trial period (30, 60, 90 days) where I can cancel with a full refund if it's not the right fit?
• Can I tour the office and meet the staff before joining?

Most reputable concierge practices offer some form of introductory meeting — a 15–30 minute complimentary consultation where you meet the physician, tour the office, and ask questions. If a practice refuses to let you meet the doctor before paying, consider that a significant red flag.

During your trial visit or meet-and-greet, pay attention to:

• The office environment. Is it calm and private, or does it feel like a busy traditional clinic?
• The staff. Are they welcoming, knowledgeable, and unhurried?
• The physician's communication style. Do they listen? Do they make eye contact? Do they seem genuinely interested in you as a person?
• Wait time. Even for the introductory visit. If they keep you waiting 45 minutes before you've even joined, imagine what it's like after.
• Your gut feeling. This is a relationship. Chemistry matters.

The trial period is increasingly common. About 35% of concierge practices now offer some form of satisfaction guarantee or trial period, up from roughly 20% five years ago, as competition in the market has intensified (Concierge Medicine Today, 2025).

13. What Happens If I Have a Medical Emergency?

This question is different from after-hours access. This is about genuine emergencies — chest pain, stroke symptoms, severe allergic reactions, traumatic injuries.

Emergency protocol questions:

• If I'm having a medical emergency, should I call you first or go directly to the ER?
• Do you have hospital privileges? At which hospitals?
• If I go to the ER, will you communicate with the emergency department team?
• Can you meet me at the hospital for serious admissions?
• After an ER visit, how quickly do you schedule a follow-up?

Hospital stays:

• If I'm admitted to the hospital, will you serve as my attending physician, or will a hospitalist take over?
• If a hospitalist manages my inpatient care, how do you stay involved?
• Do you visit patients in the hospital?
• After discharge, do you provide a transition-of-care visit within 48–72 hours?

When you're traveling:

• If I have a medical emergency while traveling, what support do you provide?
• Can you coordinate with local physicians or hospitals remotely?
• Do you provide travel medicine consultations before international trips?
• Do you maintain relationships with medical evacuation services?

The reality: most concierge physicians want you to call 911 first for true emergencies. Their value isn't in replacing emergency medicine — it's in what happens before and after. Prevention reduces emergencies. And when one does happen, having a physician who coordinates your discharge follow-up, reconciles your medications, and schedules specialist appointments can prevent the readmissions and complications that plague the traditional system.

14. How Do You Handle Families, Spouses, and Dependents?

If you're considering concierge medicine for your whole household, the logistics and economics change significantly.

Family pricing:

• Do you offer family or household memberships?
• What's the per-person discount for additional family members? (10–25% is typical.)
• Are children's memberships priced differently than adults'?
• Is there a family maximum (e.g., family of 4+ gets a flat rate)?
• Do you see pediatric patients, or only adults?

Family-specific care:

• Can my spouse and I share appointment times, or do we need separate visits?
• For families with children: do you handle well-child visits, immunizations, and school physicals?
• Do you coordinate care across family members (e.g., genetic risk factors, family health history)?
• Are there age limits? (Some practices only see patients 18+.)

Practical considerations:

• If one family member wants to cancel but others stay, is that possible without affecting the family rate?
• If my child ages out of pediatric coverage (typically 18 or 21), can they transition to an adult membership?
• Do you maintain separate medical records for each family member, or is there a shared family account?

Family memberships can be the best value in concierge medicine. A family of four might pay $8,000–$15,000 total versus $12,000–$40,000 at individual rates. For families with young children who need frequent well-child visits, sick visits, and vaccine appointments, the unlimited-visit model of DPC practices can be especially cost-effective.

15. What Makes Your Practice Different from Every Other Concierge Doctor?

This is the question most people forget to ask — and it's the one that reveals the most.

Every concierge practice will tell you they offer "personalized care," "longer appointments," and "direct access." Those are table stakes. What you want to know is what genuinely distinguishes this specific practice from the dozens of other options in your area.

Differentiation questions:

• What would your current patients say is the best thing about this practice?
• What's one thing you do that most concierge practices don't?
• Can I speak with a current patient (a reference) before joining?
• What's your patient retention rate year over year?
• Why do patients leave your practice? What's the most common reason?

The honest answers you're looking for:

• A physician who specializes (e.g., "I focus heavily on cardiovascular prevention" or "I have a large patient base of executives with high-stress lifestyles")
• Specific programs (e.g., a structured longevity program, a weight management protocol, an annual executive health day)
• Technology that's actually useful (e.g., an app that tracks your biometrics between visits, integrated wearable data)
• Transparent outcomes data (e.g., "90% of my diabetic patients have an A1c under 7%")
• A physician who can articulate their philosophy clearly and passionately — not in marketing-speak, but in plain language

The concierge medicine market has grown enormously — from roughly 150 physicians in 2005 to over 12,000 in 2025 (Precedence Research, 2025). That growth means more options for you, but also more variation in quality. Not every practice that charges $8,000/year delivers $8,000 in value.

The final test: after your meet-and-greet, ask yourself — does this doctor make me feel heard? All the credentials, technology, and comprehensive physicals in the world don't matter if the fundamental relationship doesn't feel right. Trust your instinct on this one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is concierge medicine worth the cost if I'm young and healthy?

It depends on what you value. If you rarely see a doctor and have no chronic conditions, a $5,000+/year membership may not make financial sense. But if you value convenience (same-day appointments, no waiting), comprehensive preventive care (catching problems early), and the peace of mind of having a physician who knows you well, the value exists regardless of age. Many younger patients choose lower-cost DPC practices ($100–$200/month) to get enhanced primary care without the premium price tag.

Can I use my HSA or FSA to pay for a concierge membership?

It depends on how the practice structures its fees. If the membership is classified as a payment for medical services (as in most DPC practices), it may qualify as a deductible medical expense under IRS guidelines. If it's classified as an "access fee" or retainer for availability, it likely doesn't qualify. Ask the practice for documentation of how they categorize the fee, and consult your tax advisor. The IRS has not issued definitive guidance on this, making it a gray area.

What's the difference between concierge medicine and direct primary care (DPC)?

Both models involve paying a membership fee for enhanced primary care. The key differences: concierge practices typically charge higher fees ($3,000–$25,000+/year), often still bill insurance for clinical services, and tend to offer more luxury-oriented amenities. DPC practices charge lower fees ($75–$200/month), don't bill insurance at all, and focus on accessibility and transparency. DPC is often called the "Costco model" of healthcare — you pay for membership, then get services at cost. For a detailed comparison, see our concierge medicine vs. DPC guide.

How do I verify a concierge doctor's credentials?

Start with your state medical board's website — every state has a searchable database where you can verify license status, disciplinary actions, and malpractice history. Check board certification at ABMS.org (American Board of Medical Specialties). Review patient feedback on Healthgrades, Vitals, and Google Reviews. Verify hospital affiliations directly with the hospital. And ask the physician directly during your consultation — a confident, credentialed doctor will welcome the question.

Can I keep seeing specialists outside the concierge practice?

Absolutely. Your concierge physician is your primary care doctor, not a replacement for specialists. You maintain full freedom to see any specialist you choose. In fact, one of the key benefits of concierge medicine is better specialist coordination — your concierge doctor should actively help you find the right specialist, share your records, and follow up on results. Your existing specialist relationships don't change when you join a concierge practice.

Related Reading

• Concierge Medicine for Beginners: What to Know Before Your First Visit
• How Much Does Concierge Medicine Cost in 2026? Complete Pricing Guide
• Concierge Medicine vs. DPC: Key Differences and Costs [2026]

-- The Concierge MD Finder Team