How to market a concierge medicine practice: filling a panel, not a waiting room

Concierge medicine marketing is panel arithmetic: members needed = the revenue your fees must carry ÷ the annual fee. At US$3,600 a year, carrying US$800,000 takes 223 members. Converting existing patients can cover much of it (150 of 223 at an assumed 6% of a 2,500-patient panel); each member beyond them costs about 3 to 11 enquiries on our stated assumption bands.

• The calculator: members needed = revenue ÷ fee; members from conversion = current panel × conversion rate; new members = the gap; enquiries = gap × enquiries per member.
• The fee range: MDVIP gives a typical US$2,400–US$5,000 a year for its affiliated practices, which keep billing insurance for routine visits.
• The starting panel: a 2012 Annals of Family Medicine study built its model on published time estimates for a panel of 2,500 patients.
• The order: convert, then referrals, then local search and outbound for the gap. Buying advertising before writing to your own panel skips the cheapest source of members.
• The labels: conversion and enquiry rates below are assumptions, not benchmarks. We found no credible public source for either.

How many members does a concierge practice need?

Start from the money, not the marketing. Decide the annual revenue the membership fees must carry, then divide by the fee. In a hybrid model such as MDVIP’s, where routine visits are still billed to insurance, the fees only need to replace the income lost by shrinking the panel. In a pure membership or direct primary care model, the fees carry the whole practice. The revenue targets below are assumptions; the fees span MDVIP’s published range, with US$3,600 as a midpoint we chose.

Every cell sits under the roughly 600 members MDVIP describes per physician, which is the point of the model: a concierge panel is a fraction of a conventional one. The arithmetic is currency-neutral, so an Australian or UK private GP membership can substitute its own fee and target.

Where do the first members come from?

From the panel the doctor already has. A conventional primary care panel is large: Altschuler and colleagues (Annals of Family Medicine, 2012) built their model on published time estimates for a panel of 2,500 patients, and estimated 1,387 to 1,947 with team-based delegation. Converting even a small share of a panel that size covers much of a concierge target. The conversion rates below are assumptions; replace them with the result of your own letter and meetings.

In the US, a letter to your own patients about your own new membership is generally outside HIPAA’s definition of marketing: 45 CFR 164.501 excludes communications describing a health-related product or service provided by the covered entity itself, unless it receives financial remuneration from a third party for sending them. General information, not legal advice; your counsel should see the letter.

How many enquiries does each new member cost?

Once conversion runs out, every remaining member comes through an enquiry, a call and a meet-the-doctor visit. Enquiries per member = 1 ÷ (enquiry-to-visit rate × visit-to-join rate). All rates below are assumptions.

Worked example, end to end. Fee US$3,600; revenue to carry US$800,000; members needed 800,000 ÷ 3,600 = 223. Existing panel 2,500 at 6% = 150 converted. Gap = 223 − 150 = 73 new members. At the mid band, 73 × 5.0 = 365 enquiries, or about 30 a month over a 12-month fill. At the low band the same gap needs about 834 enquiries; at the high band, 205. The rates move the workload far more than the advertising budget does, and both rates are decided by how fast the enquiry is called and how the visit is run.

Members also leave. If 10% fail to renew each year (an assumption), a 223-member panel needs about 22 replacements a year, roughly 110 more enquiries at the mid band.

Which channels fill a concierge panel, and in what order?

The first 90 days. Day one: send the letter to every patient on the panel and set two meeting dates. Days 1–30: hold the meetings and log every question. Days 31–60: call each patient who responded and book meet-the-doctor visits. Days 61–90: ask each new member for one introduction, then start local search for the remaining gap. At day 90, compare joins with your conversion assumption. If you are below the 3% band, revisit the fee or the message before buying any advertising, because the message that failed with your own patients is the one the ads would carry.

Two US cautions. Rewarding members for referrals can be risky where members include Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries: the HHS Office of Inspector General notes civil monetary penalties for offering remuneration to those beneficiaries to influence them to use your services. And calling or texting enquiries with automated or AI voice tools needs consent, covered in our explainer on AI calling and the TCPA.

What can a concierge practice say in its marketing?

Sell access and process, never outcomes. In the US, the FTC’s Health Products Compliance Guidance expects “competent and reliable scientific evidence” behind health-benefit claims, so “same-day appointments” and “a 60-minute annual review” are safe ground, while “live longer” is not. In Australia, private GP memberships advertising a regulated health service fall under section 133 of the National Law, which per Ahpra’s advertising guidelines bans testimonials and requires the terms of any inducement to be stated. Our guide to getting patients for a longevity clinic covers the same rules for cash-pay longevity programmes. Other markets, including the UK, have their own advertising regulators; check yours before reusing US or Australian copy.

What does running panel-fill marketing in-house cost?

At the worked example’s 365 enquiries and an assumed 40 minutes of coordinator time each (first call, two follow-ups, booking the visit), that is about 243 hours over a year, roughly 20 hours a month, before the doctor holds a single meet-the-doctor visit. Show rate then decides whether those visits happen; the reminder mechanics are in our guide to improving sales appointment show rates. The thresholds below are our working assumptions, not measured figures.

Concierge medicine marketing questions

How much does concierge medicine cost patients?

Fees vary by practice and market. MDVIP’s physician FAQ gives a typical annual fee of US$2,400–US$5,000 for its affiliated practices, which still bill insurance for routine visits. Pure membership and direct primary care practices set their own fees, because the fee carries the whole practice.

How many patients does a concierge doctor have?

MDVIP describes panels of around 600 members per physician. A conventional panel is several times larger: a 2012 Annals of Family Medicine study modelled its estimates on a panel of 2,500 patients. Your own number comes from dividing the revenue the fees must carry by your annual fee.

How do I convert existing patients to a concierge practice?

Write to your whole panel, hold meetings where patients can ask questions, and call everyone who responds. Track joins divided by patients written to. We found no credible public benchmark for the conversion rate, so model 3%, 6% and 10% as assumptions and replace them with your result.

Can I reward patients for referring new members?

Be careful in the US if any members are Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries. The HHS Office of Inspector General notes that the beneficiary inducement statute imposes civil monetary penalties on physicians who offer remuneration to those beneficiaries to influence them to use their services. Ask for introductions without a reward unless counsel approves one.

Is concierge medicine worth it for a doctor?

It depends on whether you can reach the panel the fee requires. At US$3,600 a year, carrying US$800,000 needs 223 members; if your existing patients and referrals cannot supply most of them, the gap must come from enquiries at roughly 3 to 11 per member on our assumption bands.