The doctor dilemma: Patients face tough choice as more suburban physicians make the switch to concierge medicine

With a growing number of doctors moving to concierge practices, some suburban patients are facing a tough choice: Either pay a couple thousand dollars to keep seeing the doctor they trust, or find a new one at a time when more physicians are making the change to reduce their patient load.

For Laurie Fischer of Buffalo Grove, who just learned her doctor of 15 years was switching to concierge medicine, the fee would be more than $3,000.

“I just financially can’t do that,” she said.

“I love her, and she’s an amazing doctor,” Fischer added. “But from a financial standpoint, I don’t think I can handle that. If it were less than that, say $1,000 a year, I would consider it.”

While the notion of concierge medicine has been around for some time, the trend is growing and expected to increase at a rate of about 10% a year through 2030. Moving to a concierge practice allows doctors to reduce patient loads that often number in the thousands to a few hundred, giving them a more manageable practice and more time to spend with patients.

As part of the deal, patients who join a concierge practice pay a subscription rate. The going rate in the suburbs is at least $2,500 a year. In return, a patient gets 24-hour phone access to their doctor, same-day visits and longer appointment times.

“The industry, overall, has grown pretty consistently every single year,” said Greg Grant, chief operating officer for Special Docs, a Chicago-based consulting firm that has helped hundreds of doctors across the country make the switch to concierge medicine.

He said experts estimate concierge medicine will grow into a $15 to $30 billion industry by 2030.

“Doctors are getting burnt out,” he said, noting most doctors see 24 to 30 patients a day and then spend hours recording notes from those visits. “A lot of them are saying we’re done with that … we want to go back to why we got into medicine.”

While patients who follow their doctor into a concierge practice get extended access to their physician, those who don’t find themselves looking for a new doctor.

“I didn’t even know this was a thing,” said Mike DaSilva, a 58-year-old Arlington Heights resident who learned last summer his doctor through Endeavor Health Northwest Community Hospital was switching to a concierge model at the start of this year.

“Honestly, my initial reaction was I don’t like it,” he said of the switch. “I really liked that his style of medicine and treating people was in line with what I thought. I really liked him. So to see him go was obviously frustrating for me, personally.”

DaSilva said he couldn’t justify the annual fee of $2,500 his doctor, part of Endeavor Health, was charging to join the concierge practice. He’s in good health and sees his doctor once, maybe twice, a year.

Even though DaSilva chose not to follow his doctor, others whose doctors have switched to concierge medicine have found it beneficial.

“It’s completely changed my life,” Naperville resident Ryan Kubacki said.

The 53-year-old man said his wife and three adult children all see Dr. Mark Gomez, a physician with Endeavor Health Edward Hospital. Gomez made the switch to concierge medicine six years ago. Kubacki has been his patient for about four years.

Gomez is a concierge physician with an Endeavor Health concierge medical practice that includes physicians in Arlington Heights, Elmhurst, Naperville, Buffalo Grove and Lake Forest. Endeavor also has a concierge practice with two cardiologists.

“My reasons to switch were quite personal,” said Gomez, a practicing physician for 19 years. “I wanted to spend more time with my patients and more time with my family. I was a physician who was, quite frankly, burnt out from the daily grind of care … I started to lose the passion and my joy for medicine.”

He said the high patient load — he estimates he had more than 2,000 when he made the switch — meant little wiggle room in appointment times and more of a focus on reactive care rather than preventive care. Now, he sees about six to eight patients a day and can spend 45 minutes or longer with each one.

While concierge medicine is becoming more well-known now, it has been around for some time.

Dr. Steven Armbrust made the change 20 years ago when trying to keep up with the volume of patients that insurance demanded became too much. He says he was ready to call it quits.

When he switched to concierge medicine in 2006, the Wheaton doctor with Northwestern Medicine said he had 7,000 patients who identified him as their physician.

“Insurance really wasn’t paying for quality. They were paying for volume,” said Armbrust, who has been a practicing physician for 40 years. “It just wasn’t a system that was going to work. Concierge medicine brought me back to the doctor I really wanted to be.”

Dr. William Moran, DaSilva’s former physician, had about 3,000 patients before he switched to concierge medicine a little more than four months ago. Today, he has about 170, though he adds patients weekly.

So far, Moran says, he’s enjoyed the change. He’s also working on getting board certified in lifestyle medicine.

“It’s a different way of doing what I did before,” the 57-year-old Arlington Heights doctor said. “I’m using this opportunity to reinvent what I do and learn some new tricks. I think this will allow me to work longer.”

Concierge medicine isn’t just for wealthier patients. Moran and Gomez said their patients cover the economic spectrum from CEOs to factory workers. Although many are older, Gomez says he sees patients as young as 19.

The reasons for choosing concierge medicine are as varied as the patients.

For Kubacki, the personalized care he gets through Gomez’s practice has helped him make significant lifestyle changes. He lost 75 pounds and has kept it off, and other health markers are in the “safe zone.” And while these were things he could’ve done on his own before, he said it wasn’t until he met Gomez that he started getting excited about those changes.

“There’s an ongoing relationship,” he said, noting he and Gomez regularly text as a way for Gomez to check in on him. “It’s been nice to have that environment of support to help you get (to your goals). He’s been that layer of support for me.”