2024 a ‘blockbuster year’ for concierge medicine

“Intense dissatisfaction and fatigue with our dysfunctional health care system is leading more physicians each year to seek a better way of providing care to their similarly frustrated patients,” Terry Bauer, CEO of Specialdocs Consultants, said in a Specialdocs release. In 2024, the organization welcomed a record 26 new physician clients to their network of physicians.

“Our concierge, or membership medicine model has consistently delivered on its promise to significantly enhance the patient experience while transforming physicians’ careers with smaller, financially sustainable practices and a genuine work-life balance,” Bauer explained.

The network of health care providers affiliated with Specialdocs grew in 2024 to include additional practices located in California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Additional practices in Indiana and Illinois launched in January 2025.

Concierge medicine provides patients with enhanced access to their physicians in exchange for an annual or monthly fee. The approach is intended to foster a more personalized and patient-centered experience, with a focus on preventive care and a closer physician-patient relationship.

Physicians in concierge practices typically maintain significantly smaller patient panels than traditional practices, allowing them to dedicate more time to each patient. The model often includes extended appointments, same-day or next-day scheduling and constant, direct physician-patient communication. Ideally, concierge medicine offers a potential solution to the physician burnout from administrative burdens and time pressures of traditional fee-for-service models. By reducing patient volume and reliance on insurance reimbursements, the model can ideally result in a more sustainable and satisfying work environment for physicians.

“There is no longer a narrowly defined path to this model or singular profile of a thriving concierge physician,” Bauer said. “Doctors who want to continue practicing independently have long found success with concierge medicine. Now, we’re able to effectively change the professional lives of a much broader cohort of physicians, including: primary care doctors searching for a viable option outside of hospital employment, sub-specialists needing extended visits to treat complex conditions, highly experienced practitioners on the verge of burning out and retiring early, doctors focused on integrative, holistic medicine, physician moms and dads striving for time with their growing families… the list goes on.”

In a December 2024 Medical Economics article, Bauer wrote about opportunities for concierge medicine in the year ahead, in addition to the challenges that independent practices will face. In the opinion piece, he addressed challenges including rising costs and declining reimbursements, value-based care and rapid technological developments.

“It’s crystal clear why our model has experienced such incredible growth over the years,” Bauer said. “I had the privilege of visiting a great number of our affiliated physician offices in 2024, and heard the real gratitude expressed by patient after patient for being treated as a whole person with a history, not a number to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

“Many of them said, ‘it’s like having a doctor in the family,’ and considered membership in a concierge practice the best investment they could make in themselves. Our ‘Special Docs’ are equally appreciative, deeply gratified by the autonomy of our model and the opportunity to practice according to their personal vision.”