I'm one of the founders of Circle Medical. Great to see a thoughtful discussion here.
Most people don't realize how most of the payment for an office visit with a doctor doesn't actually go to the doctor. We eliminate the need for office space and having someone handle paperwork and insurance and replace it with software.
You're right that there are other doctors with concierge medicine who charge for the convenience. The point is we are making this accessible to patients who have a regular insurance plan and can't or won't pay extra for the convenience factor.
Thanks for replying, and kudos on trying something new.
Couple of points that I was hoping you could clarify:
1) A quick google search yields [1], which says that a typical family doctor has 34 hours a week of patient interactions, 92 patients a day, at about 22 minutes per interaction.
How will you be able to get to those numbers given that you have to coordinate schedules, transport the doctor from appointment to appointment, and make the doctor responsible for all of the secondary aspects of care, like taking vitals and drawing blood? Doctor offices work partially by queueing up people, so that when an appointment runs long, people pile up, and the next appointment is short, and they catch up. How does this work when the doctor does everything, and has to be transported from gig to gig?
2) What's the comparable amount of money a doc will make with circle medical vs. the median amount a doc will make with a group practice, where rent and office management are pooled?
3) With doctors salaried (fixed-cost) but their income variable (number of appointments/day), how will you stay aligned towards patient care? What's to stop you from putting pressure on the doctors to try to cut time down/visit?
Most people don't realize how most of the payment for an office visit with a doctor doesn't actually go to the doctor. We eliminate the need for office space and having someone handle paperwork and insurance and replace it with software.
You're right that there are other doctors with concierge medicine who charge for the convenience. The point is we are making this accessible to patients who have a regular insurance plan and can't or won't pay extra for the convenience factor.