Steven Knope MD writes the first book on Concierge Medicine
Monday, August 18, 2008 at 07:44AM 
Talking to Dr. Steven Knope is an exercise in fascination.
What is this French-horn-playing, Ironman triathletic, 3rd degree black belt-holding Kenpo martial artist up to now?
Stirring the pot of controversy it seems, with his newly released book Concierge Medicine; A New System to Get the Best Healthcare. As a two-time author and full-time practicing internist, Dr. Knope is ready to take on all that is wrong with the everyday practice of medicine.
In this podcast interview with Dr. Knope, you will hear how and why he got started in his concierge medicine practice in Tucson Arizona, along with his counterargument about the "ethics" of how medicine is practiced in the concierge model versus the HMO and third party insurance industry.
Above all, you will hear a physician who is passionately dedicated to improving the overall health of his patients through a relentless focus on customized exercise and nutrition plans along with health education provided without the constraints of "no time to practice properly".
When you are done listening to this intriguing interview, please come back to The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and share your comments and thoughts.
Brief review of Concierge Medicine; A New System to Get the Best Healthcare (Praeger, 2008)
Aimed at lay people and potentially physician colleagues who are interested in understanding the rationale for starting a concierge or retainer practice, the book portrays the demise of the personally attentive "Marcus Welby MD-style" physician and the rise of the perpetually rushed and therefore more disengaged "provider".
Using the metaphor throughout the book of health as an asset to be invested wisely, Knope cites the three critical components of comprehensive healthcare: expert medical care, an appropriately tailored exercise program and a sound life-long nutritional plan. He draws parallels between the teachings of financial gurus about the creation and preservation of wealth, and his own about health -- the "great equalizer" between the moneyed haves and the penniless have-nots!
He makes a persuasive case for the style of medicine that can be practiced when there is a direct financial arrangement between physician and patient, and offers his argument for how this can be funded (high deductible policies linked to HSAs, sacrificing that daily latte and pack of cigarettes, amongst others).
I found the book both interesting as a personal story (after all I left the practice of medicine mostly as a result of my unhappiness with the environment in which I being forced to practice) and as a description of a model that, though not yet widespread, is emerging as a viable alternative to having disgruntled physicians leave medicine altogether, as I did!
The book doesn't offer physician colleagues a prescriptive "how-to". That is best left for organizations such as SIMPD and the myriad of consultants who have arisen along with the emergence of concierge medicine.
Instead, it puts forward the journey of one physician from frustrated practitioner to, dare I say it, joyful professional. And challenges patients to question and examine what they are getting for their or their employer's money under the traditional insurance-based healthcare practice model.
I daresay the book will frustrate the critics of concierge medicine, but that is what is so great about freedom of ideas and speech. At least one MD in the USA is a happy practitioner!
Reader Comments (5)
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