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.