I have a doctor client - a solo general practitioner - that has built up a fairly good reputation in his community that he practices in. A few years ago he was getting burned out seeing too many patients per day in order to earn a good income. He also felt he was not giving his patients the best service by focusing on high turnover of patient visits per day - which has become the model for the family practitioner. He hooked up with a network that was marketing concierge physician services to doctors. He sent a letter to all of his patients stating that he was limiting his practice to X number of patients and each patient could reserve their spot by paying an annual fee of $1,500 (I think). This is basically a cover charge. The patient is required to visit twice a year, there is no charge for this other than what insurance will pay. All other services are billed as normal - insurance pays what they pay and the patient pays the remainder of what the insurance allows.
I talked to him recently and he said that this was the best move he ever made. He said that he currently has a waiting list for new patients. He said he spends less time practicing, provides a much better service, and is making more money than before.
This has got me thinking... Do you think this model would work for the Tax Professional / Accounting industry?
The 'cover charge' would allow me to limit my client list and spend more time without necessarily worrying about whether or not I can bill it out. I often feel like I would like to do more for my clients, but I am not sure they necessarily want to get a bill for it. So, instead, I don't do it and move on to a job that I know I can bill.
Has anybody out there considered this? implemented this?