Document Detail


Academic retainer medicine: an innovative business model for cross-subsidizing primary care.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20505394     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Retainer-medicine primary care practices, commonly referred to as "luxury" or "concierge" practices, provide enhanced services to patients beyond those available in traditional practices for a yearly retainer fee. Adoption of retainer practices has been largely absent in academic health centers (AHCs). Reasons for this trend stem primarily from ethical concerns, such as the potential for patient abandonment when physicians downsize from larger, traditional practices to smaller, retainer-medicine practices.In 2004, the Department of Medicine at Tufts Medical Center developed an academic retainer-medicine primary care practice within the Division of General Medicine that not only generates financial support for the division but also incorporates a clinical and business model that is aligned with the mission and ethics of an academic institution.In contrast to private retainer-medicine practices, this unique business model addresses several of the ethical issues associated with traditional retainer practices-it does not restrict net access to care and it neutralizes concerns about patient abandonment. Addressing the growing primary care shortage, the model also presents the opportunity for a retainer practice to cross-subsidize the expansion of general medicine in an academic medical setting. The authors elucidate the benefits, as well as the inherent challenges, of embedding an academic retainer-medicine practice within an AHC.
Authors:
David J Lucier; Nicholas B Frisch; Brian J Cohen; Michael Wagner; Deeb Salem; David G Fairchild
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges     Volume:  85     ISSN:  1938-808X     ISO Abbreviation:  Acad Med     Publication Date:  2010 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-06-03     Completed Date:  2010-06-18     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8904605     Medline TA:  Acad Med     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  959-64     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Ethics, Medical
Massachusetts
Models, Economic
Physician's Role
Primary Health Care / economics*,  utilization
Schools, Medical / economics*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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