TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Imagine health care on demand — like Netflix for medicine. You can access it anywhere, anytime, but you’d also be paying a monthly subscription fee for it.
It's called concierge medicine, and while it's not a new concept, it's gaining traction across the nation and right here in metro Detroit.
"What I am is I'm an on call consultant for my patients," said Dr. David Weissman who is a concierge doctor practicing internal medicine in Royal Oak. "It’s a chance for people who need to have more time with their doctor, people who have complicated situations they have a number of medical problems. They feel like they go to the doctor one or two problems at a time."
Weissman has been practicing concierge medicine for more than a decade. He says when he made the transition, he went from having more than 3,000 patients to now having a little over 200.
"It wasn’t really about making more money if anything I actually made a little bit less. It was really about freeing up my time so I could spend more time with the patient," said Weissman.
Weissman says on average he spends about one hour with each patient whereas when he was practicing in the traditional medical serting he would only have about 10-15 minutes with each patient. The added access his patients have comes with a price tag in the form of a monthly/annual subscription fee separate from insurance.
"Currently it’s $1,800 per year per patient, which factors out to $150 a month or $5 a day," said Dr. Weissman.
Karen Rooke has been a patient of Dr. Weissman's for several years. She's says when he switched to concierge medicine she decided to give it a try and hasn't looked back. taking part in concierge medical services for the last few years.
"I know all of the doctors do their very best; I think if you’re lucky enough to be able to do this, absolutely go for it," said Karen Rooke, a concierge medicine patient.
"How do you feel this sort of medical model has changed your health if at all," 7 News Detroit Reporter Whitney Burney asked Rooke.
"I think it has, because I’ve been able to sort out medical problems that aren’t really that important," said Rooke.
Concierge medicine is currently seeing a boom. According to Grandview Research, concierge medicine was valued at $7.35 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow by about 10.33% annually through 2030.
Dr. John Blanchard is the CEO at Premier Private Physicians in Troy and he says they've noticed the growth.
"We’ve been at this for 25 years and I’ve never seen the kind of growth we’re experiencing now over the last two years and the reality is that we’ve had very good access to care here in Michigan for a long time but the healthcare landscape is changing," said Blanchard.
Blanchard says at his practice they have 4 doctors on staff and for him this model is about getting to know his patients better to tailor their healthcare plans.
"Each of our doctors takes care of no more than 500 patients, whereas in the traditional healthcare setting, a doctor would have 2,500 patients or more," said Dr. John Blanchard of Premier Private Physicians.
"What kind of patients are you seeing that are most attracted to this kind of service," 7 News Detroit's Whitney Burney asked Dr. Blanchard.
"There are groups of people who really find that they can’t get their needs met in that traditional health care setting ... those real complex older patients for example. The executives from companies that need the access and convenience because their schedules are so full — or people that really just want to focus on lifestyle," said Dr. Blanchard. "People spend a lot more money on a lot less important things."
Concierge doctors in Metro Detroit say they anticipate more growth from here.
"I think there are going to be some changes in terms of the economics of health care, but I think there are always going to be people who want ... a little special attention."
