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Concierge medicine, explained.
Five plain answers about concierge primary care: what it is, how it differs from insurance-based care on access and time, who it is for, what it costs, and how Medicare fits. Answered by Vikram Sharma, MD, board-certified in internal medicine.
Q1
What is concierge primary care?
A primary-care practice where the physician keeps a small panel: a few hundred patients instead of a few thousand. Patients pay a flat monthly fee for that access.
The kind of medicine primary care used to be.
Q2
How is it different from insurance-based primary care?
Traditional primary care is paid per visit by insurance, a model built around volume rather than time. Concierge primary care is paid directly by the patient, which lets the practice keep a small panel and build care around time.
Insurance still covers everything outside primary care: hospitalizations, specialists, imaging, surgery, prescriptions, labs. At this practice, the model is built around that time: hour-long visits, same or next-day appointments, and a direct line to your physician by phone or message. A side-by-side comparison lives on the Why Concierge page.
Q3
Who is it for?
Adults who value the physician relationship and want time, continuity, and access, often professionals with full calendars, people managing chronic conditions, or families who want a physician who picks up the phone.
Not the right model if you need frequent urgent care, OB, pediatric, or inpatient surgical services.
Q4
What does it cost?
Concierge primary-care fees vary widely. At this practice, the full price is published right here, no calls required.
Concierge $499 and Metabolic & Hormone $199 a month founding, each locked while your membership stays continuously active. No initiation fee, and what you pay up front is credited toward your first month; rates increase after the founding cohorts.
Q5
What about Medicare?
At this time, the practice isn’t able to take patients who would use Medicare for their primary care.
The practice’s specific Medicare status is on the FAQ page.
Why full-spectrum training matters.
Internal medicine is the specialty for adults: primary care, and the complex problems that come with it. Dr. Sharma trained across both the clinic and the hospital, caring for hospitalized patients on the wards and in the ICU. That range means he is well prepared to recognize and work up complex adult problems, and to coordinate a higher level of care when it is needed. This is real primary care from one physician.
More about concierge care.
Founding members
Founding cohort. Locked rate.
- First 10 Concierge ยท first 10 Metabolic & Hormone
- $499 or $199 a month, locked in
- No initiation fee
- Concierge: reserve with an introductory conversation
- Metabolic & Hormone: $149 evaluation, credited toward your first month