If I build it, will they come?

Author: Marc Grossman 

Since most physicians are not fortunate enough to have a mysterious voice coming from a corn field to give them accurate advise, they are (and should be) concerned about if there is a enough interest in a concierge practice within their current patient base to create critical mass in the new practice.

Most physicians start off trying to answer this question with the obvious method – they ask some of their patients. However, human nature skews these results – a person is more likely to ask someone who they have a good relationship with instead of a random person and patients are not comfortable telling doctors directly to their face that they are not worth the retainer amount.

The other half of the problem occurs when trying to apply the results to your patient population as a whole to determine how many patients to expect on opening day of the new practice. First, you have the issue of who is actually still in your practice. At any given time in a traditional primary care practice, 15 to 40% of the patients who have had an appointment in the last year are never planning to come again and probably have not bothered to tell anyone in the doctor’s office about it. While there is a slight chance that your concierge practice might appeal to them, it is unlikely. Also, there is a major step between seeming to like the idea of concierge medicine and actually writing the check. This drop off must be accounted for. And the list goes on and on. A thorough demographic analysis of the practice and the surrounding community is required to come up with reasonable answers to these questions.

Finally, how many of them will need to come in order to make the practice viable? The biggest variable is this is what is each going to pay. Two hundred patients at $2000 a piece generates more revenue than 250 patients at $1500. And because the practice has a maximum number of patients, the retainer price is directly related to the maximum revenue the practice can generate. On the flip side, a lower volume at a higher price is not always better – a critical mass is required to pay the bills as well as to provide word of mouth advertising.

Ergo, the high level exploring of “If I build it, will they come?” just generates more questions. The only way to come to a realistic answer is to perform a comprehensive patient survey and demographic and financial analyses. Maybe they will come to the same conclusion as your gut instinct – but they are a lot less risky.