US concierge and direct primary care practices surged 83.1% between 2018 and 2023

Concierge care may account for more than 10% of primary care physicians

That's the rough estimate from Zirui Song, a Harvard Medical School professor who focuses on health care policy and studies the growth of concierge medicine. He and other researchers found that between 2018 and 2023 the number of concierge and direct primary care practices (concierge care without accepting insurance) grew by 83% and the number of clinicians in those practices increased by 78%.

Primary care doctors are converting into membership-based concierge practices

Subscription-based practices sometimes don't accept insurance and they also require annual membership fees which can add up to thousands of dollars per year. In return, patients are promised more personalized care and round-the-clock access to medical providers. As doctors transition to concierge care, this retainer-based medicine model is forcing people to choose between searching for new primary care providers or paying hefty fees.

Concierge services are one of the top medical costs retirees fail to factor into their planning

One of the unexpected medical costs retirees are facing is thousands of dollars a year for concierge care membership fees. A typical annual fee can average $3,500. Concierge care is an option that's particularly popular among older adults with more complex health needs and in some areas of the country doctors are increasingly turning away Medicare patients and only accepting new patients willing to pay annual fees for concierge medicine. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Amazon's One Medical, MDVIP, and SignatureMD are examples of concierge practices

Annual fees for concierge practices can range widely. At the lower end, Amazon's One Medical costs $199 (which can drop to $99 if you're a Prime member) and four figures for MDVIP and SignatureMD. Annual fees jump to $10,000 or more for options like Massachusetts General Hospital's concierge practice.

Annual memberships for concierge medicine can be $1,000 or as much as $50,000

Concierge medicine practices offer more opportunities for same-day visits and longer meeting times with doctors in exchange for annual membership fees on top of typical insurance payments, copays, and deductibles.

Older, medically complex patients are a high proportion of concierge practices, a membership-based model which is sometimes referred to as retainer medicine or VIP medicine.

Concierge medicine offerings are growing on college campuses, catering to students

Parents are interested in concierge and direct primary care services for their kids, including offerings with dorm visits, guaranteed same-day appointments, and medication access, so new practices have sprung up catering to college settings. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Critics of concierge medicine argue it's worsening physician shortages and expanding inequity

Some research suggests that the average wait time for a primary care visit in major US cities can be 21 days. Subscription-based medical practices offer faster in-person and virtual appointment options, but the price barrier to this type of service may worsen inequity in healthcare access. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

One estimate values concierge services at $38.9B by 2032

Data Horizons Research put the value of this global market at $18.9B in 2021, but anticipates massive growth by 2032, with North America comprising the majority of the market. Chronic health conditions, their analysis suggests, will be a contributing factor to this growth as medically complex individuals seek more personalized care.

By 2036, the US may face tens of thousands of primary care physician shortages

That's the estimate of the Association of American Medical Colleges, which contends that whenever physicians switch to concierge medical practices it exacerbates this projected shortage since each of those clinicians will see fewer patients and those patients must be able to afford that pricey care.

Concierge medicine practices typically have hundreds of patients, instead of thousands

A clinician describes how he's "one call away" from his patients in the concierge medicine system. His patients pay about $150 per month to be members in his practice on top of normal care visit costs. Doctors like him may only have hundreds of patients in their practice—instead of thousands.

Concierge medicine officially began in 1996, with the first concierge practice

MD2 International, a concierge medical office that opened in Seattle, Washington, was founded based on the idea of unrushed, no-wait-time visits and personalized care offerings with strong relationships between patients and their providers.

Doctors report wanting more time to plan, provide care for patients

Many physicians experience aspects of burnout, and concierge medicine provides a slower, more relational approach to medicine, including consistent follow-up care for a smaller pool of patients. A concierge medicine clinician may talk with each patient frequently, perhaps every few weeks, instead of just once a year.

Roughly 45% of clinicians in 2023 reported at least one symptom of burnout

With that kind of statistic as a backdrop, proponents of concierge medicine practices argue that concierge services could help keep doctors in medicine and thus help to address physician shortages.

Virtual care—telehealth—is a significant component of concierge medicine

Telehealth—a central plank of concierge medicine—can widen the gap between the rich and the poor since lower-resource individuals may have less access to technology and encounter other access issues.

The Government Accountability Office in 2005 concluded concierge medicine didn't threaten Medicare

This congressionally mandated analysis concluded that the number of concierge physicians nationwide was too small for concierge practices to undermine Medicare patients' access to affordable health care and it was "unlikely that the approach has contributed to widespread access problems." Medicare is the federal health insurance program for the aged and some disabled individuals.

Flexible spending accounts can't be used to pay for concierge membership fees

FSAs, used by roughly half of Americans, can only cover qualified medical services—so actual care—and cannot be used to cover membership fees for a concierge medicine practice. These fees must be paid out of pocket by clients.

Private equity's expansion into healthcare has been criticized for raising patient medical costs

Between 2000 and 2018, PE's total investment in healthcare ballooned from $5B to $100B. While healthcare systems originally began consolidating as a solution to navigating complex regulations (and to make working with insurance companies easier), research suggests that private equity has both increased patient costs and decreased the quality of care in hospitals and doctors' offices.

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Urgent care is one step up from primary care

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USA Television Network fictional series Royal Pains spotlights concierge medicine

This fictional television series, that aired from 2009-16, chronicles the adventures of a doctor who transitioned into offering concierge medicine for a big-spender clientele. As a private physician-for-hire he is on call to provide care 24/7.

Congress didn't renew temporary enhanced Affordable Care Act federal subsidies that expired at the end of 2025, a move that substantially raised ACA health insurance premiums.

There may be a surplus of nearly 8,000 emergency room doctors by 2030

That was the 2021 prediction of the American College of Emergency Physicians, which led to a sudden steep decline in the field among medical students and residents. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

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The cost of covering family health insurance has tripled in 20 years

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How dentistry evolved from carnival sideshow to respected medicine

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Freestanding emergency departments are growing increasingly common

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Telehealth demand for GLP-1s is on the rise as people seek it out for myriad reasons—the proportion of non-obesity and non-diabetes-related prescriptions for the drug soared from 4.5% in 2018 to 17% in 2023.

The global consulting industry was worth roughly $710B in 2023

From 2017 to 2021, the consulting firm McKinsey took in $77M in consulting contracts with just the US Food and Drug Administration alone.

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Most Americans are now dying at home, reversing 20th century trends

For most of the 21st and 20th centuries most Americans died in hospital settings. But in 2016, home-based deaths overtook hospitals; most Americans are now dying at home, likely fueled by individual preferences to die at home or to receive at-home palliative care.

Doctors are prescribing social activities—and seeing good results

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Nearly half of billionaires planned to increase exposure to direct private equity investments in 2026.

The funeral home industry is increasingly consolidating via private equity firms

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At-home genetic testing results commonly led users to healthier lifestyles

Italian research that aimed to investigate what people do longer-term after receiving direct-to-consumer genetic test results indicated that whether the results were positive or negative, people tended to adopt a healthier diet after receiving the results, and they'd still maintained it a year after receiving their results. Some users also reported an overall reduction in stress over their health concerns. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Trump's 2025 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' expanded access to health savings accounts

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In recent years, many private schools have seen enrollment increase

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In 2024, US private equity posted an 8.1% return

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The private credit industry—which offers nonbank loans directly to businesses, particularly privately held midmarket companies—grew from a $250B asset class in 2010 to around $1.5T in early 2024.

Men are flocking to hundreds of new online testosterone clinics for low T prescriptions.

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See this ranking of the top 10 medical shows on television

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How Korea’s beauty industry is impacting its healthcare system

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More than half of today's family offices—the private companies that help ultrawealthy individuals manage their fortunes—were incorporated after 2010.

Patients are messaging their doctors online more than ever—recent research suggests portal messages have risen by 157% since 2020.