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Concierge Medicine Today · Our standards
How we verify our research
You make decisions about your practice, your patients and your career based on what you read. You deserve to know exactly where our information comes from, how we check it, and what we do when we get something wrong. This page explains all of it.
Our process
Seven steps from question to published brief
Every CMT Research Brief follows the same path. No step is skipped for a deadline.
Start with a real question
Each brief begins with a question a physician, practice leader or patient actually faces, such as “Can I charge a membership fee and still bill Medicare?” We write down the question before we look at any evidence, so the answer doesn’t shape the question.
Go to primary sources first
We look first for the original: the peer-reviewed study, the government dataset, the statute or the regulator’s own guidance. A news story about a study is a lead, not a source.
Open and confirm every source
We cite only sources we have opened and read. If we can’t access a source to confirm what it says, we don’t cite it, even when the figure is widely repeated. Statistics, quotes, studies and links are never invented.
Label the evidence and its funding
Key findings are labeled with one of five evidence types, and every reference states who funded it. When a source doesn’t say, we write “not stated.” We never guess a funder.
Separate fact from interpretation
Findings from sources, CMT’s own data and CMT’s interpretation are marked differently. When we estimate or infer, the brief says so and shows how we got there.
Name the limits and the critics
Each brief includes the research critics cite and ends with what the evidence can’t yet answer. A brief that only shows one side isn’t finished.
Review, publish with a version number, and keep checking
The Editor-in-Chief reviews every brief before it is published. Each brief carries a version number and an update line. Each month we check published briefs for new evidence and broken links, and update them in the open.
Evidence types
Five kinds of evidence, each with a different job
We stopped using letter grades because they suggested a ranking. A clinical trial and a physician survey answer different questions. The labels tell you what kind of evidence you’re looking at, so you can weigh it for your own decision.
Clinical Trial Evidence
Best for showing cause and effect.
Limit: often small or narrow, and rarely studies practice models directly.
Population Data
Best for trends at national or state scale.
Limit: shows what is happening, not why.
Practice Insight
Best for real-world experience from physicians and patients.
Limit: may not represent every practice.
Industry Research
Best for operating data that few others collect.
Limit: often funded by an interested party, so funding is always shown.
Policy and Law
Best for what statutes, regulators and courts actually say.
Limit: varies by state and changes over time.
What we cite
Where our evidence comes from, and where it doesn’t
We rely on
- Peer-reviewed journals
- Government agencies and their data (for example CMS, HHS, IRS, BLS)
- Statutes, regulations and official guidance
- Academic institutions
- Recognized health care research organizations
We use with labels
- Industry and association research, with the funder named
- Law firm and professional commentary, labeled as commentary
- CMT’s own surveys and polls, with their limits stated
- Trade press, only to point to an original source we then confirm
We don’t cite as evidence
- Sponsored or paid-placement posts
- Vendor marketing and press releases presented as data
- Figures we can’t trace to an original source
- Unverified social media posts
- Anything we haven’t opened and read
Separating models
We don’t blend different practice models into one number
Concierge medicine and direct primary care are different models
They differ in how they relate to insurance, Medicare, tax rules and state law. When we discuss direct primary care, it appears in a clearly marked box labeled as a different model, and its data is never folded into concierge figures.
Combined figures are labeled as combined
Some outside sources count several models together. When a figure includes more than one model, we say so next to the number. We would rather show a smaller, accurate number than a larger, blended one.
CMT’s own data
How we label what we produce ourselves
CMT Patient Study
Original research into why patients choose, stay with or leave membership practices. Each brief that uses it explains who was surveyed and what the results can and can’t tell you.
Reader Pulse polls
Quick polls of CMT readers. Readers choose to respond, so results are not representative of all physicians. We report raw vote counts, not percentages that could imply more precision than a poll can offer.
CMT estimates
When no official count exists, we may publish an estimate. It is always labeled as a CMT estimate, shown as a range, and accompanied by the method and the sources behind it.
Frameworks from CMT books
Ideas drawn from CMT’s books are labeled as Practice Insight and identified as CMT’s own work, so you can tell them apart from independent research.
How we use AI
AI helps us search and draft. People are responsible for what we publish.
What AI does
We use AI tools to help find sources, organize evidence, draft sections, check our own rules (such as funding labels and citation formats) and flag briefs that may need updating.
What AI doesn’t do
AI output is never treated as a source. Every source cited in a brief has been opened and checked, and the Editor-in-Chief reviews every brief before it is published. Editorial judgment and responsibility stay with CMT’s editors.
Independence
How CMT is funded, and what that money can’t buy
How we’re funded
CMT is supported by the Concierge Medicine Forum, job board listings, advertising and sponsorship, and book sales. CMT is not owned or controlled by any health system, hospital network, vendor or membership association.
What sponsors and advertisers can’t do
They don’t review, approve or change Research Briefs, and coverage can’t be bought. CMT doesn’t favor one practice model over another, and briefs cite critics’ research alongside supporters’.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it in the open
If you find an error, a broken link or a source that doesn’t say what we say it does, tell us. We review every report. When a correction is needed, we fix the brief, raise its version number and add a note explaining what changed and why. We don’t quietly delete mistakes.
A recent example
In October 2026, we found that a regional fee chart and a staffing figure in our Membership Fee Benchmark brief traced back to a sponsored post on a vendor-affiliated news site. We removed both, published the brief as version 1.2, and added a methods note explaining the change.
Put it to work
Research you can check, for decisions that matter
Read any brief and follow its sources yourself. That’s the point.
Educational only. CMT Research Briefs and this page are for educational and informational purposes only. They are not medical, legal, tax, financial or accounting advice, and nothing here creates an advisory or attorney-client relationship. Rules vary by state and change over time. Consult a licensed professional before acting.
Last updated October 2026. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC, est. 2007.