Columnist Michael Levin: Finding Opportunity Amidst Healthcare Chaos - Concierge Medicine
Written by John Weeks
Columnist Michael Levin: Finding Opportunity for Integrative Medicine Amidst
Healthcare Chaos - The Concierge Model
Healthcare business strategist and Integrator columnist Michael Levinwas one of the earliest players in the integrative health field who sought to focus attention on the importance of establishing the business case for integration and inclusion. With a background as an executive in both Pharma and natural products companies, Levin's early focus was on pharmacy substitution strategies. Business models were needed to require payers to explore. Here Levin speaks to another sort of business model, this time extolling a direction that is outside the box of the payment system.
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Finding Opportunity Amidst
Healthcare Chaos - Concierge Medicine Michael D. Levin Healthcare Business Strategies Clackamas Oregon, December, 2012
Michael Levin, Health Business Strategies
The trends in concierge medicine are gaining ground rapidly,
as recently reported in Business Week.
Folks are seeking alternatives to traditional care in an effort to improve the
quality of their lives. Physicians are dropping out from the insurance game in
order to better do what they studied to do: heal patients.
As a healthcare strategist, I see emerging opportunity for
integrative medicine to align with these medical mavericks to deliver
integrative care and improve patients' lives.
As with all early expressions of a highly fragmented,
consolidating industry, we increasingly see venture capital funding these
maverick ventures. These fledgling firms are now beginning to compete on
subscription price and service offerings. Looking over the horizon, competition
is sure to increase, driving down subscription costs and amping up competition
on value-add service offerings.
I've seen it before. It'll happen again. The economic incentive for primary care providers [to explore this option] is compelling. Instead of a
median salary of $160K, the average salary reportedly ranges from $150-300K,
with the added bonus of giving doctors sufficient time necessary to spend with
their patients. In an effort to serve, these practices are now offering a
variety of services, including unlimited home visits and personalized pharmacy
delivery services. Wow. The earliest adopters are now complaining about reducing
annual subscription prices. Competition is intensifying on both price and
service. This is, in my view, a perfect
opportunity for integrative medicine practitioners to align with these medical
mavericks in order to deliver truly integrative care. If done well, with
longitudinal outcomes documented, there is the promise of being positioned to
offer this care model to self-insured employers. I will set aside the ethical argument of, "gee, shouldn't
this be available to everyone, instead of only that small fraction of those who
can afford such medical luxury? What about the 99%?" As a practical matter, I would respectfully
argue that our constituents are best served if we can prove a positive impact
on healthcare outcomes and costs by whatever means possible. That is our
challenge. Here is another emerging opportunity to prove the talk we claim we
walk. Some of those mavericks interviewed for this article speak
of "holistic care". Unless I'm totally missing something, this appears to be s
new consumer-driven healthcare opportunity in which integrative medicine can
flex it's muscle. Mind-body, nutritional
intervention, chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, nutrigeonomics, massage
therapy, oriental medicine, executive health clubs - all appear to have an
opportunity to leverage from this growing paradigm amidst our national
healthcare crisis. If we want to improve the quality of life while reducing
healthcare costs, doesn't this model deserve an aggressive look?
Wishing all a joyous, healthy Holiday season and a successful
2013!
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Comment: Setting aside ethical arguments, as Levin does here, is always worth a second and hard look, given how much the world seems mostly to be powered by setting aside ethical arguments. I find myself, however, quite aligned with Levin on this one, at this time. Yes, practically speaking,"constituents are best served if we can prove a positive impact
on healthcare outcomes and costs by whatever means possible." Perhaps there is a parallel to the zoo argument - that it's the close-up experience of animals in captivity that can stimulate the environmental passions to preserve native habitat. Here, if one needs an ethical argument, opening doors to those who can afford concierge integrative medicine and health can open the minds of some, at least, of the beneficiaries to the justice in ensuring such access is spread more broadly.
Some of those mavericks interviewed for this article speak
of "holistic care". Unless I'm totally missing something, this appears to be s
new consumer-driven healthcare opportunity in which integrative medicine can
flex it's muscle. Mind-body, nutritional
intervention, chiropractic, naturopathic medicine, nutrigeonomics, massage
therapy, oriental medicine, executive health clubs - all appear to have an
opportunity to leverage from this growing paradigm amidst our national
healthcare crisis.
