Priced out: Some Long COVID and ME specialists charge high prices for concierge care, The Sick Times

[wigglethemouse]

Priced out: Some Long COVID and ME specialists charge high prices for concierge care

Key points you should know:

* Prominent specialists treating complex infection-associated chronic conditions have stopped taking insurance, raised their rates, and/or moved to a concierge model, requiring patients to purchase expensive monthly subscriptions.

* The highest concierge fees range from $5,000 to $8,500 monthly, with treatments billed separately. Despite physicians charging high rates, patients struggle to receive consistent care from providers or affordable referrals when priced out of a specialist’s practice.

* Current health insurance models don’t work well for people with complex conditions — one of many factors that contributes to physician burnout.

* Rising costs and lack of insurance coverage are pushing some patients to digital healthcare platforms and virtual clinics, which also carry subscription fees of more than $1,000 a month.

* Patients priced out of care sometimes self-manage their treatments. A small but growing group of resources exist to help patients identify solutions without providers’ help.

The Sick Times LINK

 

[wigglethemouse]

Dr Ruhoy mentioned in the article is also with Atria Health and Research Institute, which according to the NY Post (Link) have a $100,000 initial fee and $60,000 annual fee.

Link to Atria Health page with Dr Ruhoy.

Dr Ruhoy is one of the Neurologists sending people for CCI surgery and has the webinars with Dr Kaufmann. It has been noted that she changes clinics frequently and seems to be listed at several.

Private Medical is also mentioned in the article with $30,000 fees.

 

[wigglethemouse]

Attached is the newsletter from the new practice Dr. Ruhoy founded called Anthurium. It has instructions for new and existing patients and the fees (excluding any treatment) mentioned in the Sick Times article (also LINK). The link to the newsletter is also on the Anthurium web page.

 

[Hutan]

These sorts of fees sound potentially very exploitative, given that, as yet, in my view, there is no treatments bringing significant benefit, and certainly no evidence based treatments.

Dr Ruhoy mentioned in the article is also with Atria Health and Research Institute, which according to the NY Post (Link) have a $100,000 initial fee and $60,000 annual fee.

Any doctor charging those sorts of fees has enough income to be conducting decent trials, for the benefit of their patients, and for people who can't afford to pay so much for care. I think they have a duty to be doing that.

 

[forestglip]

These sorts of fees sound potentially very exploitative

Holy cow. On first read, I thought those were fees a doctor paid to be allowed to practice in and get patients from this health network. Who can afford that??

Here are Dr. Ruhoy's fees. For the most value per dollar: $8500/month to get 2 hours of time with her per month, 45 minutes with a physician's assistant, "Active Collaboration with Patient’s other Providers", "Direct-to-Provider Concierge" whatever that means, and 10% off treatments. So they still have to pay for treatments on top of this.


I guess if it's all millionaires who can afford it, it's fine. But I wonder how many people are dumping large parts of their life savings on this.

 

[wingate]

$8,500 for 2 hours a month?!! I would be very interested to know what salary that translates for her. This exorbitant rate is highly disturbing.

 

[rvallee]

Thanks again to psychosomatic quacks for all the secondary gains they allow. It's not just the insurance industry they are enriching here. None of this would be happening without all their fraud and lies.

 

[Jaybee00]

This is pretty outrageous. Here is the bio of one of the other doctors at Ruhoy’s clinic. I guess she has moved away from treating the most marginalized patients…..

Tanmeet Sethi, MD​

Board-Certified Integrative Family Physician
Tanmeet Sethi, MD is a board-certified Integrative Family Physician, Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington, author of Joy Is My Justice: Reclaim Yours Now (Hachette, 5/2/23), and TEDx speaker who has dedicated her career to care for the most marginalized patients in Seattle’s refugee, uninsured and homeless populations as well as global communities traumatized by manmade and natural disasters as Senior Faculty for the Center for Mind Body Medicine. She has had a long career in Integrative Primary Care and now specializes in Integrative and Psychedelic Medicine.

 

[Jaybee00]

And here working to upend systems of oppression.

Welcome, I’m Tanmeet Sethi, MD–Physician, Activist, Author, and Speaker, all of my work with the mission to upend systems of oppression.

https://www.tanmeetsethimd.com/

 

[Yann04]

That’s just disgusting.

Co-opting activist anti-establishment language to sound like an ally while grossly enriching yourself at the expense of a marginalised group without offering the community any benefits.