Practice tip of the week: Concierge medicine practice considerations

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With all the useful information available on Physicians Practice, it is easy to become overwhelmed.

With this in mind, the tip of the week is a chance to reflect on some of the wisdom found all across the site. In this September 2022 story on considerations before starting a concierge medical practice, Doris Dike, Esq. gives these tips:

Patient agreements

The provider will create and enter a patient agreement, where the patient agrees to pay all fee schedule charges at the time of service for access to a specific menu of enhanced services.

• Some patients cannot afford the services under the patient agreement.
  Some patients will still try to pay with insurance instead of the patient agreement.
  Understand and review the payor agreement to avoid breaching the contract, and refrain from offering concierge services that may be covered by a third-party payor agreement.

Insurance licensure

Spend time with your attorney reviewing your patient agreement to ensure it does not violate state law.

Some provider arrangements may appear less like patient-provider contracts and more like an insurance agreement. In most states, insurance laws have several requirements before any person can offer this to any patient. Thus, it’s important your attorney reviews your state’s insurance licensure laws and provides you a summary of this review before drafting a provider-patient agreement.

Click here to read the rest of the article and be sure to check back next week for another Tip of the Week!