Whether Priced for the Masses or the Elite, Providers Are Giving ‘Memberships’ a Look

A company called Sollis Health swears they “don’t replace your primary care physician,” but is hoping patients won’t mind spending up to $6,000 a year for “membership-based, on-demand, and after-hours access.” An urgent care physician in Atlanta says he’s willing to see patients as many times as they’d like to come in for $100 per month. What the two have in common is a disdain for dealing with health insurance companies and the hope that patients are ready for a new approach to accessing care. In addition to claiming on their website that they’re not out to replace a member’s primary care provider, Sollis specifies that they do not offer annual physicals—although a wide range of standard blood tests are available, among other relatively common primary care services. With locations in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, “and soon Palm Beach,” it’s evident that the company prices those services above what average Americans would likely be willing (or able) to pay. Meanwhile, as reported by Fox 5 Atlanta, Dr. Nick Beaulieu of Highland Urgent Care and Family Medicine priced his memberships at a level designed to bring in higher volumes of patients while still allowing him to see fewer patients—and spending more time with them—than he would have to if he was working with insurers. Working within a traditional system, “We’ve got to see between 25 and 30 patients in an 8-hour period in order to make the quotas that are imposed upon us by employers like hospitals,” he’s quoted in the report as saying. And now? “I get to see 10. Most time when I see you, I’m going to have half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour.” It’s too early to know how either venture pans out.