{"id":28286,"date":"2014-11-12T12:54:26","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T17:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2014\/11\/physicians-create-concierge-service-to-provide-patient-advice-247-to-patients.html"},"modified":"2014-11-12T12:54:26","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T17:54:26","slug":"physicians-create-concierge-service-to-provide-patient-advice-247-to-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2014\/11\/physicians-create-concierge-service-to-provide-patient-advice-247-to-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Physicians Create ‘Concierge’ Service To Provide Patient Advice 24\/7 To Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\"upst-conc-wm.jpg\"\n<\/div>\n
Dr. Michael Bibighaus, right, and Keith Algozzine, a physician assistant, operate Upstate Concierge Medicine, incorporating telemedicine to provide health information to patients\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

BY BARBARA PINCKNEY<\/p>\n

A Clifton Park physician and his
\nRensselaer County-based partner have
\ncreated a health care model, based on affordability
\nand convenience, which they say
\nmay be the first of its kind in the nation.<\/p>\n

Dr. Michael Bibighaus and Keith Algozzine,
\na physician assistant from Averill
\nPark, formed Upstate Concierge Medicine
\nabout a year ago, but went live in September
\nfollowing several months of beta testing.
\nBoth men work out of their homes, although
\nthe business uses a Clifton Park mailing
\naddress.<\/p>\n

The model combines telemedicine,
\nthrough which patients receive medical
\nassistance over the phone or computer, with
\nconcierge healthcare, in which the patient
\npays a monthly or annual retainer to see a
\nphysician as often as they wish.
\n“So the phrase that I coined is concierge
\ntelemedicine,” said Algozzine, who is CEO
\nof Upstate Concierge. “No one is doing this
\nacross the country that we’re aware of, so
\nwe’re the first. But we believe this is actually
\nthe right way to treat patients.”<\/p>\n

Bibighaus, president and chief medical
\nofficer of Upstate, and Algozzine were
\npart of the team that founded one of the
\ncountry’s largest telemedicine companies, and still are part owners of that business.
\nAlgozzine said that while the national
\n“dial-a-doc” model has its place, he and
\nBibighaus wanted to create something that
\nwas more local and personal.<\/p>\n

With Upstate Medical, patients pay a
\nmonthly fee of $12 for an individual and
\n$14 for a family to obtain access to healthcare
\nprofessionals 24 hours a day, 7 days
\na week. Most interactions take place over
\nthe phone, although videoconferencing, email
\nand text messaging–sending photos
\nof a rash, for example–are also available.<\/p>\n

The idea is to prevent someone with a
\nrelatively simple, and easily diagnosed,
\ncomplaint from having to take time away
\nfrom their job or family to go to a physician’s
\noffice. If necessary, prescriptions are
\nsent to a local pharmacy for pick-up, or the
\npatient is referred to a specialist, imaging
\ncenter or lab.<\/p>\n

In some cases, Algozzine or Bibighaus
\nwill make a house call, usually as a followup.
\n“For example we had a patient with a bad
\nleg infection,” Algozzine said. “He was local,
\nso we told him we would stop by his house
\nin two days to check on him.”<\/p>\n

At the very least, any patient with an acute problem gets an automatic call back
\nwithin three days to ensure treatment is
\nworking. Clients also are given their own
\npatient portal, where all their medical
\nrecords are housed electronically.<\/p>\n

Algozzine said the monthly retainer was
\nkept low to make Upstate Concierge accessible
\nto as many people as possible.
\n“We want the grocery bagger who doesn’t
\nhave insurance to be able to afford it, as
\nwell as the rich man or woman living on
\nthe hill,” he said.<\/p>\n

The practice also has a model for businesses
\nthat want to sign up their employees,
\non the theory that concierge telemedicine
\nsaves time, reduces absenteeism and may
\nlower insurance costs by avoiding the
\nclaims that go with office visits. The price
\nis $160 a year per employee, and Algozzine
\nsaid several businesses, of all sizes, have
\nexpressed an interest.<\/p>\n

Upstate Concierge went live with a few
\nhundred patients, but Algozzine said the
\ncompany hopes to build to several thousand
\nclients. It is accepting memberships from
\nanywhere in the state, but is focusing on an
\nupstate area Algozzine defined as running
\nfrom about Glens Falls down to Columbia
\nCounty, and west to about Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

“That is where we have the most local
\nexpertise, and can do a home visit if we need
\nto,” he said. “Where I can tell you the best
\ncardiologist to go to if you need it, where I
\ncan send you to this imaging center if you
\nneed an x-ray, or to this lab if you need a
\ntest. Really the highest level of service we
\ncan give is in that region.”<\/p>\n

At the moment, the Upstate Concierge
\nteam consists of Algozzine and Bibighaus, who together cover about 90 percent of
\ncalls, as well as a few other providers
\nand support staff. Most technology is outsourced,
\nand an answering service screens
\nall calls to be sure the person is a paying
\nmember.<\/p>\n

“We are going to keep it small,” Algozzine
\nsaid. “You’d be amazed. With a few hundred
\nmembers we only get one or two calls a day,
\neven on a 24-hour basis. So it is not overly
\ndifficult for one or two people to handle
\nit. When you move up to 10,000 members,
\nlike in our previous [national] model, even
\nthen you get maybe 15 calls a day. So even
\nwhen we get up to bigger numbers, we will
\nbe fine with five, six, maybe seven doctors
\ntaking turns on call.”<\/p>\n

Both telemedicine and concierge care are
\ngrowing nationally, in large part, because
\nof a shortage of primary care doctors. This
\nsituation was made worse by the Affordable
\nCare Act, or “Obamacare,” which increased
\nthe pressure on physicians by adding more
\npeople to the insurance rolls.<\/p>\n

“There are not enough primary care
\ndoctors to adequately take care of all of
\nthe people that need it to the level that
\nthey need it,” Algozzine said. “Even if you
\nhave a pretty good primary care doctor, he
\nor she is only open four or five days a week
\nfor limited hours. So there are automatically
\nlimitations with a brick and mortar
\nbuilding. We are able to provide an immediate
\naccess point for these quick and easy
\nproblems.”<\/p>\n

That does not mean brick-and-mortar is
\nout of the question for Upstate Concierge.
\nAlgozzine said offices are a possibility in the
\nfuture, depending on patient demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Michael Bibighaus, right, and Keith Algozzine, a physician assistant, operate Upstate Concierge Medicine, incorporating telemedicine to provide health information to patients BY BARBARA PINCKNEY A Clifton Park physician and his Rensselaer County-based partner have created a health care…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[96,114],"yoast_head":"\r\nPhysicians Create 'Concierge' Service To Provide Patient Advice 24\/7 To Patients - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2014\/11\/physicians-create-concierge-service-to-provide-patient-advice-247-to-patients\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Physicians Create 'Concierge' Service To Provide Patient Advice 24\/7 To Patients - 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