What I think that many people do not understand is that there has been an erosion of physician income over the last few years. The highest reimbursement rate from Medicare was in 2001. Costs have risen every year which has, In turn, lowered physician compensation. Should Congress stop the 10+% cut scheduled for July, then the payments will almost reach 2001 levels.
How is a single primary care physician going to react to these facts? In order to keep compensation the same he is going to have to see more and more patients, to the determent of his current patients.
The problem that you may have in developing a concierge practice in a heavily Medicare population is CMS regulations. I believe you can only charge Medicare rates unless the service is “non covered”. By that, you could charge for an annual physical but not for a sick visit. That is really problematic in the Villages. Here is a decent article –
http://www.physiciansnews.com/busine...alogredis.html
I have, for a number of years, been a medical practice administrator. If I can be of any further help, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best of luck.