Why Consider SignatureMD?
If you’re a physician and you’re considering converting your traditional practice to a concierge medicine model, you may be comparing SignatureMD with another conversion option. However, the SignatureMD model has a number of components that set it apart, which is why many doctors choose to go with SignatureMD over the alternatives.
We spoke to SignatureMD affiliated physician Dr. Joel Meshulam, who elaborated on his decision process when he was trying to select the right company for his conversion. Here’s what he said:
As you saw, Joel put a lot of thought into making sure he chose the right conversion company, for him, and for his patients.
I spent some time thinking about concierge medicine before I actually went forward with SignatureMD. I liked the idea of a better work-life balance and having some more time with my patients, and maybe having a little bit of cushion of revenue. I looked at a couple of other options before I decided to go forward with SignatureMD.
The first company that I looked at was was a pay or leave model. Basically, if your patient could not afford the program, they would need to find another doctor.
I didn’t like that feeling.
When I joined SignatureMD, I had been practicing twenty-four years at that point, and a lot of the patients that I take care of have been my patients for twenty years.
I’ve grown to really care about them, and they care about me. They ask about my wife, my kids, so it’s a nice feeling, and the idea of sending them off to another doctor or telling them that our relationship was now based only on money was uncomfortable for me. I just couldn’t ethically bring myself to do that.
The other idea that I looked at was a do-it-myself concept.
I met with a lawyer who had started a couple of doctors in this practice by themselves without an organization, and it would’ve involved a lot of legal work. There was also no real infrastructure to help me with it. I would’ve had to create my own communications pieces and be that guy that did the conversion myself. This option was basically just helping me to create documents to protect me from the insurance commission and make sure I was doing it properly, but then I would be doing it myself.
Frankly, I didn’t feel like I had the time to do that. I’m busy seeing patients all day long. I don’t have the technical abilities to create a website, do communications materials, create contracts to enroll patients, and I just knew that I couldn’t do that. If I wanted to go that route, I would’ve then had to contract all these services out. I would’ve had to find a web designer to give me a web presence. The lawyer probably could’ve created the patient contracts. I would’ve had to deal with insurance carriers. It was just a lot of stuff that I just didn’t feel like I was qualified or had the time to do.
Those were the main options that I looked at, and then with the SignatureMD model, it just was a lot more comfortable for me on a lot of levels.
The idea that I had support, that they were going to do the conversion with me and help me do that, that they had resources to help me with a website, things like that all made it a lot more comfortable for me.
About SignatureMD
SignatureMD is one of the nation’s largest firms providing initial conversion and ongoing support services to concierge medicine physicians. SignatureMD currently partners with over 200 affiliated primary care physicians and specialists across 35 states, and its network is rapidly expanding.