Why doesn’t the practice membership fee cover an “annual physical exam” like some concierge medicine practices?
Not everyone needs a physical exam or large panel of tests each year, so why have my patient pay for something that might not be needed? I will follow published guidelines to recommend what examination and tests, if any, are indicated each year, and together my patients and I will determine what tests are ordered Carving out the physical exam allows for a patient’s payment for this to be reimbursed by the patient’s health insurance company (HMOs and Medicare are the exception) as practice membership fees (a.k.a. retainer fees) are typically not reimbursed by health insurance companies. Some concierge practices also include multiple tests such as screening blood tests, electrocardiograms, stress tests, chest x-rays, and breathing tests as part of the annual fee. Why won’t you do that? Some of these tests are not on the list of recommended screening tests put out by various organizations, and others that are indicated certainly don’t need to be done annually. As noted above I choose to i
