“Older people often have five or six chronic conditions—high blood pressure, heart problems, lung disease, arthritis, diabetes—and you may also be treating something temporary, like a cold. That makes it easier for symptoms to go unnoticed, or be masked, unless you do a careful, thorough exam,” she says.

Enter ‘Concierge’ Medicine

To ensure patients have the kind of quality they need and deserve, physicians nationwide are turning to a new system. called “concierge” or “boutique” medicine. “The concept is the patient has special privileges and receives special attention, usually from their primary care physician,” says Julie Silver, M.D., assistant professor at Harvard Medical School’s, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

What kind of special services? It varies, but the most common guarantees are shorter waiting times, more time with your physician, same- or next-dayappointments, and emergency access to your physician.

To guarantee these privileges and attention, patients pay the doctor a retainer over and above their office visits. That fee varies by geography, type of practice, and other details. Fees can be paid monthly, annually—there are different arrangements. In 2001, annual retainers were ranging between $900 and $13,000; now some estimates put them as high as $25,000.

Because older patients tend to have multiple medical problems, they generally pay higher fees. One Miami practice was charging $1,500 annually to patients under age 45, while charging up to $3,000 for those age 65 and older.

Erickson Health^SM Asks: Why Pay Extra?

“There is a lot of incentive for older people, who are obviously at highest risk for serious health problems, to invest in their health,” says Silver. Still, some physicians or patients are not comfortable with the idea of patients having to guarantee their doctor’s care with a special fee.

Reeder’s happy she didn’t have to make such a choice. Instead, she’s been able to provide quality care by working at Henry Ford Village. “What they’re talking about in concierge medicine is what we already do in communities built and managed by Erickson. It’s called Erickson Health^SM, a unique, all-encompassing system for promoting the health, wellness, and fitness of people living in Erickson built and –managed communities.

“In my previous job, we saw 20 to 25 patients—or more—a day. In Erickson Health^SM, we have more time with our patients because we only schedule two patients an hour. We almost always get people in the same day,” she says.

Centricity—The Extra Benefit

Every resident has access to a doctor in case of an emergency. “One of us is on call 24 hours a day, so there’s always a doctor available. Through our Centricity electronic medical records system, that doctor has access to everyone’s medical records. That means even if I’m not a certain resident’s physician, I’ll know everything I need to help her when she or emergency personnel calls me,” Reeder explains.

The Centricity system lets doctors in the Erickson Health^SM system provide a service even most concierge services can’t yet. “At the end of the appointment, we give people a printout to take with them. Among other things, it lists their current medications and their instructions.

“They keep that where they can see it easily and they can also take it with them, so if they’re at a specialist’s office, or simply traveling—to the mall or on vacation for the holidays—they have those records to give another health provider,” says Reeder.

Not everyone, of course, is lucky enough to live in a community that offers the kind of quality service that Reeder describes. If you do, take advantage of it. If you don’t, find ways to work with your current physician to ensure you get the care you deserve. It starts with simply saying things like, “I don’t just want a prescription. I want you to explain to me what this is and why I’m taking it.”