Concierge Medicine Growing Trend

As paperwork requirements mounted, John F. Cullen Jr. found it increasingly more difficult to devote ample time to his roughly 2,000 patients.

The Ormond Beach primary care doctor contemplated retirement because changes in health care made it harder for him to remain an independent doctor. Then he heard about a service called MDVIP, a company that is part of a growing national trend in medicine in which doctors charge a membership fee on top of standard out-of-pocket costs in exchange for longer office visits, around-the-clock communication and a personalized wellness plan.

“As the years go by, constraints on time keep developing,” said Cullen, 65. “More and more is required. It becomes more difficult, if not impossible, to deal with 2,000 people in a preventive way.”

He decided to switch to a new model with the assistance of Boca Raton-based MDVIP. The service provides unfettered access to a primary care doctor in exchange for an annual membership fee that varies from $1,500 to $1,800. Now, Cullen has a patient load of about 400, and he expects to make about the same amount of revenue despite having fewer patients.

“To me, MDVIP was a breath of fresh air,” said Cullen, who has practiced in the community for more than 30 years. “It’s an attempt to have wellness and prevention. It’s proactive. It’s an attempt to figure out where an individual’s health is and make it better.”

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