About three years ago, Gina Blocker, DO, an emergency physician based in Houston, created a mobile urgent care business called DASH Health using a concierge medicine model that combines telehealth, in-office visits, and mobile appointments to deliver urgent care to patients.

This business model has allowed Dr. Blocker to be a better physician now than ever before, she said. The only downside, according to Dr. Blocker, is that she didn’t make the decision to do it 10 years ago.

Why Patients Choose Concierge Services

Dr. Blocker. (Photo Sage Rochelle Photography)

Dr. Blocker’s career pivot into the field of concierge urgent care reflects a growing trend in medicine, with a recent study showing an 83.1 percent increase in the number of direct primary care and concierge practices from 2018 to 2023.¹

“There is something to be said for the connection and urgent access of concierge medicine,” said Dr. Blocker, who has been an emergency physician for 16 years. “In the emergency department, I see a patient once and never see them again. But when I enter someone’s home and am available to them in an unrushed manner—no treating and streeting, no quick turnarounds, no Press Ganey scores—I am really present for the patient.”

Scott Braunstein, MD, an emergency physician and chief medical officer of Sollis Health, echoed this experience when discussing Sollis’ membership-based “comprehensive immediate care” model.

“When you walk into a concierge urgent care center like Sollis, you are going to walk into an environment that is elevated; it is like an ED crossed with a five-star level of service,” Dr. Braunstein said. “Patients are immediately placed into a private room that is comfortable and seen by a doctor within a minute or two.”

The physician can then spend time asking questions, and, just as importantly, really listening to the patient to digest their health history.

“I also have time to call the patient’s primary care team or a specialist to update them,” Dr. Braunstein said. “Concierge medicine provides closed-loop communication, and that leads to better health care outcomes and more holistic care for the patients.”

Why Physicians Shift to Concierge Care

Beyond what these services provide to patients is what they provide to emergency physicians.

Scott Braunstein, Chief Medical Officer at Concierge Immediate Care provider Sollis Health, treating a patient in their Santa Monica center in Los Angeles.

“I have my time back, and I can choose how much time to spend with each patient. That means I show up and can choose to stay for an hour with a patient who I used to have only been able to see for three or four minutes,” Dr. Blocker said. “The business also has allowed me to build a schedule that works for me. During all those years of training, I lost myself in a rat race of day shifts, night shifts, weekends, and holidays. I have realized that when I am better taken care of, I am a better caretaker.”

At DASH Health, Dr. Blocker said she may see anywhere from three to five patients a day, and the average time spent with a patient during a home visit is between 30 and 90 minutes.

Dr. Braunstein called concierge emergency medicine “remarkably different” for the physicians, adding that it is incredibly easy to recruit physicians.

“As opposed to an ED where you may be constantly apologizing to the patient for things that are beyond your control,” Dr. Braunstein said, “in concierge medicine the patients are thanking us. Imagine how much better that is for job satisfaction, longevity, and reduced burnout.”

Let’s Talk Logistics

DASH Health and Sollis are two examples of this growing area of health care, and each has a distinct business model.

Dr. Braunstein

Sollis Health has 14 clinics across three states—Florida, New York, and California.

“Everywhere we have opened a Sollis, we have not only been successful in terms of having enough members that want access to care but have been incredibly well received by primary care and the primary care concierge world,” Dr. Braunstein said.

For example, a patient may contact their primary care physician at night complaining of chest pain. Normally, the physician would have to ask questions to determine whether the patient can wait to be seen in the morning, or should go have a potentially long night in an ED.

“When a patient is a Sollis member, the doctor can tell them to go to Sollis where they could be in and out in 30 minutes,” Dr. Braunstein said. “Maybe the chest pain is nothing or maybe we catch the MI [myocardial infarction] sooner.”

Sollis centers are staffed by board-certified emergency physicians and experienced ED advanced practice clinicians and nurses. They are equipped with a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments lab offering on-site testing like D-dimer, complete blood count, and polymerase chain reaction testing. Centers have fully stocked medicine banks with most of the medications that are available in an ED, as well as a crash cart with a defibrillator. Most sites have on-site X-ray and ultrasound, and many include on-site CT or MRI.

“We do not receive EMS transport; those have to go to a local ED, but we can receive private ambulances, when appropriate,” Dr. Braunstein said. “I often tell people, if you think you need to call 911 to activate EMS, then you should probably go to a hospital-based ED. But if you are planning to have a relative drive you to the ED, you should come to Sollis because we can see you faster.”

Dr. Braunstein acknowledged that affording this concierge service may not be feasible for everyone.

“Our goal is to try to scale this in a way and to learn to do it as efficiently as possible [so] that we can make it available for an even larger group of patients,” Dr. Braunstein said.

In contrast, DASH Health currently includes Dr. Blocker and two nurses. She is considering adding another emergency physician in the future. Dr. Blocker said that although memberships are available, most visits are one-time, on-demand visits.

In addition, Dr. Blocker has a mobile phlebotomist who works with her and comes to patients’ homes to draw labs. She partners with Labcorp, which marks all her tests “stat,” and can usually get results within two to four hours. She also partners locally with SimonMed Imaging, where she can send patients, if needed, and imaging often comes back within the hour.

“A lot of the time I laugh to myself because I am getting reports back faster now than when I was in the hospital-based ED,” Dr. Blocker said.

Helping, Not Replacing

Despite the many benefits of this concierge model, Dr. Braunstein said it may not be for every emergency physician. Those interested in emergency medicine need to gain the years of experience that only a hospital-based ED can provide.

“I would also say that those who remain really drawn to, fulfilled and excited by the sickest patients, multisystem trauma, brain bleeds (and) people who like doing advanced procedures … this may not be for them,” Dr. Braunstein said. “They occur here, just less frequently.”

However, someone who likes to connect with patients may find great fulfillment, Dr. Blocker said.

On the whole, Dr. Braunstein said that he can’t imagine that concierge emergency medicine, at its current availability, is having much of a negative effect on hospital-based EDs. In fact, it may be just the opposite.

“EDs are extremely overwhelmed already; we may take five to 10 patients a day away from a local ED,” Dr. Braunstein said. “This allows EDs to see the sickest patients, the gunshot wounds and the trauma patients, more quickly.”

Dr. Blocker said there are still patients she sees who will eventually have to be referred to the ED. However, after having seen her, the patient will be better prepared.

“I can call and say I have acute appendicitis proven on CT scan. I can send the report, send patient labs, and touch base with the general surgeons on call,” Dr. Blocker said. “I am well versed in how the department works and can call ahead to speak with the charge nurse and let them know who I am sending in.”

This truly reflects how concierge emergency medicine can be something that benefits concierge physicians, hospital-based emergency physicians, and most importantly, the patients.

Ms. Lawrence is a freelance health writer and editor based in Delaware.

Reference

1. Zhu JM, Marsh T, Polsky D, et al. Growth in number of practices and clinicians participating in concierge and direct primary care, 2018-23. Health Aff (Millwood). 2025;44(12):1473-1481.