One of the priceless perks of being a physician/surgeon is having colleagues and friends who can give advice and help us find the best doctor for our own medical needs. What a gift to understand the complexity of a healthcare system, the challenges and nuances of making an appointment, who to see, when, and how, and frankly, the ability to leverage who we know to get sooner appointments if needed. Since the pandemic, it seems like access is more difficult than ever before. Calling to make any appointments, whether it’s an annual checkup with a primary care physician (PCP), a mammogram, a dental cleaning, or an appointment with a specialist, is challenging—nothing is available for months! Oh, and that’s if the provider is even taking new patients.
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June 2025Time Isn’t on Our Side
Physicians and surgeons live their lives in perpetual scarcity of time, and, like me, the majority probably dread calling to make appointments. Who really wants to call, listen to a recorded phone tree, lose minutes of their lives listening to every option, and then listen to annoying music while they wait after choosing an option? It’s far easier to avoid health-related appointments for ourselves.
There’s never a good time to call during the workday, and medical offices are usually closed by 4:30 or 5 p.m. and on weekends. When I finally reach a person, I then feel so awkward and self-important explaining why most dates/times suggested for the appointment won’t work because I am a doctor/surgeon. It shouldn’t feel like winning the lottery to make an appointment without having to cancel clinic patients or reschedule cases. As a physician, I feel most helpless when I need immediate help. Today. Now. Yesterday.
While physicians may self-prescribe antibiotics for presumed sinusitis, urinary tract infections (UTIs), and other common illnesses, when symptoms are unbearable or debilitating, then and only then might we seek help. After the pandemic, I called several PCPs who were highly recommended by fellow physicians, just to be told the doctor was no longer taking new patients. For more than a decade, I had built a great network of physicians for my own and our family’s healthcare needs in central Florida, and I helped countless colleagues and neighbors navigate their own healthcare needs. Since starting a new job in Akron, Ohio, in August 2023, however, trying to recreate such a network seemed impossible. It took more than a year just to find a great, trustworthy dog sitter and veterinarian!
The Search for Care
This past January, I experienced a sudden onset of UTI symptoms, which was a once-per-year or seldom-occurring event. I prescribed myself Bactrim for a week, which provided some relief. Within days, however, the symptoms recurred and worsened. Between severe pelvic pain and struggling to get through the clinical day while battling incontinence, I asked an administrator and Googled “best” and “closest” urgent care. I was desperate.
I have had a very negative bias about urgent cares in general, perceiving them as glorified triages that prescribe antibiotics for upper respiratory infections and every other complaint. As a pediatric ENT, I’ve met too many children diagnosed with an ear infection by an urgent care center, and then, when I examine them, all I see are normal tympanic membranes and middle ears without fluid.
My bias against urgent care centers also stems from a terrible experience I had in 2021 when I took my daughter, Claire, to one affiliated with a large adult health system, just to obtain a COVID-19 test. The physician we encountered refused to conduct the testing, instead recommending antibiotics and oral steroids for possible tonsillitis. This was despite my polite mention that I was a pediatric ENT. He acknowledged that her oropharyngeal exam was normal but confidently stated that there might be sores “deep down” in the throat that he could not see.
Despite my bias, I rushed to a local urgent care after clinic and was grateful for how easy it was to make an appointment on the app. There was almost no waiting; as soon as I told the receptionist I was there for UTI symptoms, she quickly ushered me into the back for urinalysis and culture. The nurse practitioner I met was terrific, and told me she was leaving to take a full-time job with the children’s hospital where I worked. Urinalysis was negative for bacteria, but positive for blood and nitrate. The next several days and nights on ChatGPT convinced me I likely had an undiagnosed bladder tumor.
The following day, a colleague told me about her experience with similar symptoms and recommended her concierge doctor, who she said was amazing. I was hesitant. The truth is, I had a negative perception and bias against concierge doctors. Aren’t they the doctors who sold out and left the rest of us in traditional practice, burning out for cash business, and catering only to the rich and famous?
Considering a Concierge PCP
I heard about concierge medicine nearly 10 years ago. There were a couple of physicians in my neighborhood who took care of “everyone”, gave IV fluids, likely prescribed medications I wouldn’t, and what little I heard of was far from an academic model of medical practice. I also knew concierge physicians typically accepted cash, not insurance, and saw fewer patients, who got VIP service and likely access and responses in record-breaking time.
I was even approached about joining a concierge practice that was looking for someone to grow the pediatric clientele. Having spent the first decade of my career in academia, followed by a second decade working in a pediatric health system serving 80% Medicaid patients in central Florida, “concierge medicine” sounded like dirty words, and I assumed such physicians to be sellouts, despite personally enjoying hotel concierges and any level of customized support when I travel.
I know many physicians who’ve left traditional practice to pursue independent concierge practice, not because they wanted to leave their patients from the employed models, but because they were so burned out, lacked autonomy, felt like a cog in the wheel, and had lost joy in the practice of medicine and even surgery. As a champion for physician wellbeing, I have even helped several colleagues as they decided to leave the traditional employed practice model of medicine and pursue other options.
After considering the alternative, which was none, I texted my future concierge physician. She replied promptly with plans to speak in a couple of hours. Without having met me, she listened and instructed me to return to urgent care for repeat urinalysis and culture. This time, tests confirmed UTI and my symptoms were successfully treated based on susceptibility data. I avoided the need for a CT scan and/or cystoscopy to assess the bladder tumor I thought I had. We texted multiple times that evening, and my concierge physician sent me information about the concierge practice she and her husband had started just a few years ago. They were both family medicine physicians from a nearby academic university hospital who had left due to their inability to treat their patients the way they wanted to: with time, attention to detail, and comprehensive care that focused on prevention. As parents of young children, they also struggled to get home on time, spend time together, and experience their lives as they had intended.
Getting the Care I Need
There were three levels of membership possible, and I chose the middle tier. I didn’t need the ultimate tier, which came with three months each of personalized nutrition and fitness support, and this body needed more than the usual once-a-year visit in the basic monthly plan. My plan included:
- Preventive, acute, and chronic medical care;
- Timely access to their health team;
- Direct communication by text, email, and phone;
- In-office testing and minor procedures;
- Comprehensive care coordination;
- Treatment exclusively by the two concierge physicians, and no other physician should they expand and hire more physicians/APPs;
- Detailed annual health plan;
- Quarterly 60-minute office visits; and
- Quarterly 30-minute virtual visits.
I went in the next day to meet my concierge physician for the first time, and it was a 90-minute visit. Yes, you read that correctly—a 1.5-hour visit on a Friday afternoon. Who does that? When I walked in, I was surprised by how young my concierge physician was (doesn’t help that I am 55). She greeted me with a big smile and a warm handshake. She was very professional, articulate, looked much “fresher” than I do any given day, and was fit, muscular, and just healthy!
She mentioned that her husband typically takes on male patients, while she specializes in treating women aged 40 to 60, focusing particularly on peri- and post-menopausal issues. She was informative and spoke with quiet confidence about the unique challenges that affect the quality of life and health for women in my demographic and life stage. I had needed her expertise since turning 40! Better late than never.
I will never forget the experience and, frankly, the luxury of sitting in her large and clean office, and of her generous and focused listening. Why would anyone be so interested in my major health events and symptoms, which have defined imaging, labs, and various physicians, yet have not led to clear diagnoses or explanations over decades?
It was beyond refreshing to have a physician validate what I already knew: that cardiovascular disease is often silent and under-detected in women compared to men. This physician knew the literature and shared evidence-based, leading-edge research on topics relevant to me. She shared so much during that first visit; I was positively overwhelmed. I walked out of that office feeling so safe, especially as I live in a city unfamiliar to me, without a network that I often recommend all physicians build. One question she asked me that I wasn’t prepared for was, “How do you want to live the last decade of your life?” I was silent. She declared boldly that her goal as my physician is to help me achieve health today and always, so that I can live fully in my last decades of life, being cognitively sound, physically active, and mobile, and enjoying living my life disease and pain-free.
This physician explained and scheduled a total of eight visits: four one-hour in-person visits and four 30-minute virtual visits by telehealth. We outlined all aspects of my health concerns, current and past, with total commitment to identifying my current state of health and determining how to improve it. No topic was off-limits. Yes, pelvic floor health is real and affects both men and women.
Given that appointments are scheduled proactively, for the first time, I avoided all the stress and frustrations of making appointments, and my assistant put them on my work calendar to avoid conflicts. Comprehensive lab work was ordered; instead of the usual CBC and BMP (metabolic panel), she explained ALL the blood work she was ordering and why. I was unaware that there are far more sensitive markers for predicting cardiovascular disease than typical HDL, LDL, and total cholesterol! A couple of mornings later, I went to a nearby LabCorp within a Walgreens and endured a healthy “bloodletting” as nine to 10 vials of blood were drawn.
Each visit is followed by lengthy, detailed emails with action steps and plans, her rationale, and a comprehensive explanation of all my lab work. Labs are ordered at local LabCorp or Quest and covered by your insurance. I completed many forms online, integrating my iPhone health data with the practice so she would have access to all datapoints. The worst part was that my prior PCP’s academic practice at the medical school I used to teach at couldn’t seem to send any of my medical records to my concierge physician, despite release forms.
I also enrolled my husband, Dave. He was skeptical about whether he really needed a concierge physician. After all, he’s five years younger than I, does HIT workouts five days a week, is pretty healthy, and doesn’t have nearly the health problems I have. I convinced him that since we live in Akron, where we know very few people, we could have the utmost support and guidance from concierge physicians to ensure our health and longevity in life and marriage. Should I ever have severe chest pain again, as I did a few years ago, I would know which of the many adult health systems and best ED to go to. If I don’t, I can text/call and ask and get professional guidance immediately to ensure I get the best care.
Having the psychological safety that comes from access to a physician is priceless. Mine checks her email once a day and will reply by the next day. Having her cell phone number and the ability to text when urgent needs arise is priceless. She explained they can’t be on call 24/7, so they typically do not answer between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The concierge physician will recommend top subspecialists and allow me to choose, personally call the subspecialist to provide referrals, and even facilitate appointments.
I don’t know if concierge medicine is right for you, but I hope that if you are struggling with or have struggled with your health and are not getting adequate support, given the realities and barriers we as physicians know all too well, you will consider concierge medicine. Healthier physicians and surgeons will benefit their patients and patient families.
Dr. Wei is the Alfred J. Magoline Endowed Chair in otolaryngology–head neck surgery, division director of pediatric otolaryngology at Akron Children’s Hospital, and professor of otolaryngology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Northeast Ohio College of Medicine in Ohio.
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