Industry’s Annual Conference
October 15-17, 2026 | Atlanta, GA USA
FOR the media
We make sense of the industry’s shifting trends in concierge and membership medicine—providing clarity, perspective, and practical takeaways so clinicians, leaders, and media can understand where the industry is today and where it’s headed next.
FOR media inquiries
Stats Last Updated For Jan 2025
Media Mentions
Concierge Medicine Today’s expertise, research, polling, surveys, and industry insights have been cited in and by leading medical journals, national media outlets, and numerous healthcare, academic and business publications for nearly 20 years. For the latest industry news, visit our trade publication here.
“At first glance, these models seem exclusive, but they’re really evidence of where medicine is heading. They’re revealing new ways to make care more thoughtful, relational, and enduring — for both patients and physicians.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today, October 2025
Welcome to the mediA DESK at Concierge Medicine Today
You’re at the industry’s most trusted hub for data, context, and clarity on the concierge medicine landscape. Here (see below), journalists will find the essential high-level numbers, FAQs, pull quotes, and expert commentary needed to accurately report on one of healthcare’s fastest-evolving, most relational, subscription-based healthcare delivery models, Concierge Medicine.
Whether you’re exploring physician adoption rates, specialty trends, business model basics, or the patient experience, this page brings together the most current, vetted, and widely referenced information in the field. If it’s foundational to understanding concierge medicine, you’ll find it here.
Concierge Medicine Today has served as the industry’s trade publication since 2007 and remains the go-to source for reporters seeking reliable statistics, historical context, expert voices, and real-world examples. If you’re covering the story of where healthcare is heading next, this is your starting point.
-
At Concierge Medicine Today, we care deeply about accuracy, integrity, and helping journalists gain a clear understanding of this continually evolving space. We make every effort to ensure that statistics, percentages, and data points reflect the best information available at the time of publication. Still, as every good reporter knows, no figure is ever perfect, and healthcare trends move quickly. Consider every statistic directional rather than definitive.
-
When referencing data, quotes, or analysis from Concierge Medicine Today, please use the following attribution:
“According to Concierge Medicine Today (CMT), the industry’s trade publication since 2007…”
For polls or proprietary data, please cite:
“Source: Concierge Medicine Today, LLC. (Year), Physician Poll of samplesizesamplesize.”
For direct quotes:
“In an interview with Concierge Medicine Today…”
For digital articles or reports, include a hyperlink to:
https://www.ConciergeMedicineToday.orgFor the annual industry event, reference as:
“The Concierge Medicine Forum (CMF), the industry’s annual medical education gathering.”If you need clarification on sourcing or attribution, you may contact the Editor’s Desk at:
editor@conciergemedicinetoday.org -
Concierge Medicine Today, LLC (CMT) does not provide medical, financial, legal, or professional advice, and is not liable for any errors, omissions, or interpretations of the information on this site or in our publications. All content is created for general informational purposes for healthcare professionals, leaders, and media. Nothing published by CMT should be viewed as an endorsement of any individual, organization, product, or service.
CMT assumes no responsibility for any loss, damages, or actions taken as a result of using the information provided. Journalists and readers are encouraged to consult independent, trusted advisors or primary-source experts before drawing conclusions or making decisions.
As a trade publication, we strive to uphold strong journalistic practices — sourcing responsibly, citing clearly, and presenting information with fairness, context, and neutrality. The concierge medicine landscape includes a wide range of models, experiences, and viewpoints. We report what the data indicates, what clinicians share, and what long-term trends consistently suggest. Our goal is clarity, not commentary.
By accessing or using CMT’s web properties, users agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy, releasing CMT from liability associated with the use of this site or its content. CMT may revise, update, or remove content at its discretion without notice.
Thank you for your commitment to accurate reporting — and for helping share the story of a model rooted in people, purpose, and better care.
In 2024, polling by Concierge Medicine Today, LLC. of 300 physician readers practicing within the concierge medicine model (2014–2024) identified the top six specialties represented in the field: Family Medicine (38%), Internal Medicine (32%), Osteopathic Medicine (9%), Cardiology (8%), Nephrology (3%), and Pediatrics (3%).
On the Record: Pull Quotes for Media Use
When referencing data, quotes, or analysis from Concierge Medicine Today, please use the following attribution as stated above. Thank you.
Why They Thrive
“The physicians who thrive in concierge medicine share four traits: curiosity about patients, humility as leaders, gratitude for those they serve, and a heart for their community. At the end of the day, healthcare isn’t just about medicine — it’s about people. One longtime concierge physician we spoke with notes that most doctors enter medicine to know their patients, not just to treat them. ‘When you actually have time to listen,’ he said, ‘you rediscover why you became a doctor in the first place.’ Patients may forget the paperwork or the plan, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
People Before Process
“Concierge practices today are typically known for their focus on prevention and the close-knit relationships between physician, staff, and patient. One longtime physician told us, ‘I don’t need to pull up a chart to remember who someone is. I know their story, their family, their goals.’ That’s what makes this model so different. It’s personal, not transactional. Healthcare may be a process, but the patient should never feel processed.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
The Fulfillment Factor
“Fewer patients doesn’t mean less care; it means more intentional care, longer careers, and patients who finally feel seen. Over the years, when we’ve asked experienced concierge physicians what’s changed for them, they don’t talk about revenue or time off — they talk about joy. These doctors are rediscovering why they started, again. And as one concierge medicine physician reminded us just last month at our industry conference, ‘When the doctor’s fulfilled, the patient benefits too. You can’t fake that kind of energy in an exam room.’ These models are raising the bar for satisfaction on both sides of the room — doctors are staying in practice longer, and patients are reminded what it feels like to be genuinely cared for.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Clear. Corrective. Uncomfortable.
“Much of the criticism around concierge medicine focuses on ‘access,’ but that framing misses the bigger issue. Access isn’t just about volume or panel size—it’s about whether physicians can sustainably remain in practice at all. Burnout, early retirement, and reduced clinical hours have quietly rationed care for years. Membership-based models didn’t create those pressures; they emerged as a compliant, rational, thoughtful and transparent response to them. When structured correctly, concierge medicine operates within existing regulatory frameworks and simply restores time, continuity, and professional durability. A system that looks equitable on paper but steadily drives experienced physicians out of medicine isn’t protecting access—it’s just very good at measuring it.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
What the Explosive Growth (Circa 2026) of Concierge Medicine Really Means¹²³⁴⁵⁷
“This data doesn’t tell the story critics want it to tell — it tells the story medicine has been avoiding. Physicians aren’t leaving traditional care because concierge medicine is ‘tempting.’ They’re leaving because the existing system is structurally unsustainable. When 83% growth happens in five years, that’s not a boutique trend — that’s a market signal. It’s physicians voting with their feet for smaller panels, better access, and clinically sustainable work.
The real concern isn’t that new models are growing. It’s that traditional primary care hasn’t been redesigned to keep doctors practicing longer, patients better served, and communities stable. If policymakers want access equity, the solution isn’t restricting innovation — it’s fixing reimbursement, reducing administrative drag, and making primary care viable again. Concierge and membership models didn’t create this pressure. They simply exposed it.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Proving What’s Possible
“Concierge medicine often gets criticized as catering only to the affluent. But one longtime concierge physician we spoke with sees it differently. ‘Every innovation starts in a focused setting before it becomes accessible,’ the physician explained. ‘That’s not elitism — that’s how progress works. Someone has to prove it, refine it, and build the roadmap so others can follow.’ This physician went on to say that today’s concierge, aesthetics and plastic, and precision models aren’t about exclusivity — they’re about experimentation and validation. ‘We’re testing what’s possible,’ they said, ‘so the next generation of doctors and patients can experience what’s practical.’ So, It’s not about keeping healthcare narrow; it’s about paving the path to make it broader, smarter, and more sustainable.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Known, Not Processed
“Concierge practices today are typically known for their focus on prevention and the close-knit relationships between physician, staff, and patient. One longtime physician told us, ‘I don’t need to pull up a chart to remember who someone is. I know their story, their family, their goals.’ That’s what makes this model so different. It’s personal, not transactional. Healthcare may be a process, but the patient should never feel processed.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
The Specialty Mix
“In 2024, polling by Concierge Medicine Today, LLC. of 300 physician readers practicing within the concierge medicine model (2014–2024) identified the top six specialties represented in the field: Family Medicine (38%), Internal Medicine (32%), Osteopathic Medicine (9%), Cardiology (8%), Nephrology (3%), and Pediatrics (3%).”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
What Patients Remember
“The physicians who thrive in concierge medicine share four traits: curiosity about patients, humility as leaders, gratitude for those they serve, and a heart for their community. At the end of the day, healthcare isn’t just about medicine—it’s about people. Patients may forget the procedure, the paperwork or what the doctor actually said earlier that day in the exam room, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
What Critics Get Right—and What They Miss
“Concierge medicine is often criticized for limiting access, but that framing oversimplifies the issue. Access has never been defined solely by visit volume or panel size, nor is it how regulators evaluate care models. Medicare and federal regulators focus on compliance, transparency, clearly defined services, and fair market value—not on maximizing daily throughput. The law does not require physicians to practice unsustainably.
What’s frequently overlooked is that access has already been constrained through long waits, abbreviated visits, administrative burden, and physician burnout that leads to reduced hours or early exit from practice. Research consistently shows burnout is associated with lower clinical capacity and higher turnover, at a time when national workforce projections anticipate a significant physician shortfall. In that context, practice models that enable physicians to remain in clinical care longer warrant serious consideration.
When structured appropriately, concierge medicine operates within existing legal and regulatory frameworks and does not promise outcomes—only time, availability, and continuity. It does not create scarcity; it responds to it. Sustainable physicians are a prerequisite for sustainable access.
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Verified Sources (Superscript References)
¹ Song Z, Zhu J, Marsh T, Polsky D, Huntington A. Growth and Characteristics of Concierge and Direct Primary Care Practices, 2018–2023. Health Affairs. Dec 2024.
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.XXXX
² Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Physician Fee Schedule Update Reports. 2024–2025.
https://www.medpac.gov
³ American Medical Association. 2023 Prior Authorization Physician Survey.
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/prior-authorization
the normalization of burnout
“The real threat to medicine isn’t concierge care—or any other membership or subscription-based practice model. It’s the normalization of physician burnout, and the quiet acceptance of systems that expect physicians to endure it as a cost of doing business. Reversing that trajectory requires less finger-pointing and more leadership. And leadership, by definition, begins with reflection—and action—within the healthcare profession at-large.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Relational by Design
“Concierge medicine may still be small in size, but it’s big in purpose. While fewer than two percent of U.S. physicians practice in some form of membership-based model, what we’re seeing is steady, healthy expansion — about four to seven percent each year. Some insiders say it’s higher, but we prefer to stay realistic, not evangelistic. As one veteran concierge medicine physician told us just recently, ‘You can’t measure this movement only by numbers. You measure it by the physicians who’ve decided to practice medicine the way it was meant to be practiced — thoughtfully, relationally, and sustainably.’ So while concierge medicine represents a small slice of the healthcare pie, it’s quickly becoming the model others are measured against.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Challenging Assumptions
“Concierge medicine isn’t exacerbating the physician shortage — it’s revealing it. And that’s a good thing. Every industry eventually faces a moment when disruption forces reflection and reinvention — this is healthcare’s moment. One longtime doctor told us, ‘The system didn’t break overnight. It’s been eroding for decades. Concierge medicine just held up a mirror.’ Critics may not like that, but that’s often what happens when new ideas challenge old assumptions. Change makes people uncomfortable — especially when it highlights what’s not working.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
FOR Every Patient
“Ten years ago, concierge medicine was mostly a primary care story. Today, cardiologists, endocrinologists, OB-GYNs, gastroenterologists, and even oncologists are adopting the model. It’s no longer just a business model—it’s becoming a mindset across medicine. Concierge medicine physicians have found a more sustainable pace in their practice model whereby they see more clearly that excellence, regardless of it's form, in healthcare, it isn’t just clinical skill; it’s dignity, attention, timeliness, and clear communication—those aren’t extras, they’re expectations every patient has today. That’s why concierge medicine from my seat on the bus is becoming the new reference point. That’s why concierge medicine is quickly becoming the standard others are measured against. The future belongs to leaders who remove every unnecessary obstacle for the patient and build systems that make servanthood and gratitude for the patient in healthcare repeatable.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Verified Sources (Superscript References COn’t)
⁴ American Medical Association. National Physician Burnout Survey.
https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/national-physician-burnout-survey
⁵ Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Projected Primary Care Shortage Report.
https://www.aamc.org/data-reports/workforce/report/physician-shortage
⁶ Sinsky C, et al. Factors Driving Physician Early Retirement. Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org
⁷ Shanafelt T, et al. Burnout and Physician Workforce Retention. Annals of Internal Medicine.
https://www.acpjournals.org
⁸ Bureau of Labor Statistics. Advanced Practice Clinician Workforce Growth.
https://www.bls.gov
FOR Industry Fast FAQs & STATS
FACTS AND FIGURES COURTESY Of Concierge Medicine Today, the industry’s trade publication and
the industry’s annual medical education conference, the Concierge Medicine Forum.
The numbers
Q: How common? HOW MANY?
“Concierge medicine may be small in size, but it’s big on purpose. While industry sources note year after year that fewer than 2% of all licensed U.S. doctors practice in some version of subscription-based healthcare delivery model—(that’s about 8,000 to 12,000 practices in the U.S.— at least a quarter of those are now specialists. We’ve also observed incremental growth in adoption and entry into these models and it’s been steady at what we hear is about 4–7% a year — some would say higher but we like to stay realistic, not evangelistic. So while concierge medicine is still a small percentage of the 1.1 million U.S. physicians, it’s quickly becoming the new reference point—the model others are measured against.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Q: Math Check?
KFF (as of Sept. 2025):
1,105,148 professionally active physicians in the U.S.
(Source: Sept 2025, KFF State Health Policy Data)2% of that total = ~22,100 physicians.
(As noted above) Concierge Medicine Today notes 8,000–12,000 concierge practices.
If each practice averages 1.2 to 1.5 physicians, that translates to roughly 9,600–18,000 concierge physicians, which is well within the “fewer than 2%” range (≈0.9%–1.6% of all U.S. doctors).
So in summary and mathematically speaker, yes — the above statement(s) we believe are mathematically sound and aligns with KFF’s national Professionally Active Physicians and active state licensed physicians from Redi-Data, Inc, September 2025 and our industry sources perpesctive(s).
In short: Practices ≠ Physicians — and we (CMT) intentionally stay on the conservative side to keep our reporting realistic, not evangelistic — and aim to provide credible estimates.
FOR DOCTORS
Q: Which specialties fit, and why?
“The specialties that fit best aren’t defined by procedures, but by relationships. Anywhere patients need time, clarity, and ongoing management—cardiology, women’s health, pediatrics, oncology—concierge medicine works. The specialties entering concierge medicine now represent a good percentage of the practices out there today — it's hard to say exactly how many because this is a business model but we're seeing more and more specialties enter this space especially within the past decade and that's encouraging for patients and for Doctors and other healthcare practitioners.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Q: Prep time and first steps?
“The average runway I'd estimate is 12–18 months. The first steps aren’t about contracts or spreadsheets—they’re about finding clarity: know your why, talk with your family, surround yourself with a trusted business advisory and consulting team, and learn from a few respected colleagues who’ve made the switch but have humility and are not evangelistic about any particular model of practice. We often encourage Doctors to please do their homework, write down all of their detailed questions and go find the answers with the experts who can put your mind at rest. We often repeat something we read a couple of years ago in a business book that practitoners considering this space find encouraging: ''This learning curve and transitional process won't be easy, but you didn't sign up for easy, you signed up for worthwhile.'”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Q: Common questions?
“The three biggest questions physicians ask us are: Can this work for me? How do I tell my patients? What happens to my workload? Underneath each one is a deeper question: Am I being the best doctor I can be for my patients? We then usually encourage them by saying 'It's no longer about being the best Doctor, Specialist, Nurse, Practice Administrator, etc., in the world anymore, it's about being the best Doctor for the world, for your patients and for your local community.'”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Q: Ideal stages?
“We’ve seen concierge medicine succeed in every career stage—early-career doctors building a foundation is usually the toughest but it has worked for some, mid-career physicians who want to reclaim balance and go deeper into specific conditions with their patients, and late-career doctors choosing to finish well, find a sustainable pace and yet still want to dive deeper into healthcare's more complex questions with their patients. One concierge medicine physician said to me years ago, 'I still work long hours and into the night, I just use my time differently now and I'm a lot happier ... and so are my patients, team and family members.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
FOR PATIENTs
Q: What makes it different?
“What separates this space isn’t the business model — it’s the mission. It’s the decision to remove unnecessary friction FOR patients and to design systems that make consistency, service, and trust repeatable. Healthcare has always required clinical skill, but from the patient’s perspective, excellence now means dignity, attention, access, and clear communication. Those aren’t luxuries anymore — they’re baseline expectations. That’s why concierge medicine is becoming a reference point. Not because it’s exclusive, but because it’s intentional. Smaller patient panels — hundreds instead of thousands — create room for relationships instead of transactions. And when a model consistently produces better experiences for both patients and physicians, that’s not a trend. That’s a structural shift in how care is being delivered.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today
Q: Relationship impact?
“Fewer patients doesn’t mean less care; it means more intentional care, longer careers, and patients who finally feel seen. Over the years, when we’ve asked experienced concierge physicians what’s changed for them, they don’t talk about revenue or time off — they talk about joy. These doctors are rediscovering why they started, again. And as one concierge medicine physician reminded us just last month at our industry conference, ‘When the doctor’s fulfilled, the patient benefits too. You can’t fake that kind of energy in an exam room.’ These models are raising the bar for satisfaction on both sides of the room — doctors are staying in practice longer, and patients are reminded what it feels like to be genuinely cared for.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today