Performance Medicine is not Concierge Medicine
In order to understand a new concept, our brain naturally searches for established, tangible, and related concepts. We group, categorize, and bucket concepts in our mind in order to make sense of the world.
Hence the question I often get from newcomers to VIMs Performance Medicine practice – “Oh, so it’s concierge medicine, right?”
Wrong.
Performance medicine is not concierge medicine.
Concierge medicine—also known as concierge care, boutique medicine, retainer-based medicine, and direct primary care—is a membership-based health care service that cuts out the interfering middlemen of insurance and corporate health systems for a premium fee. Most concierge medicine services provide immediate office and telehealth visits, high responsiveness from your practitioner, convenient diagnostic tests, and coordination of specialist referrals. The value proposition of concierge medicine is increased accessibility to your doctor and convenience of receiving personalized care. It has grown in popularity largely as a response to an impersonal and inefficient healthcare system.
But the actual care itself is generally traditional medical care, which is reactive to problems, deficit oriented, and focused on restoration to your baseline. This is in contrast to Performance Medicine’s proactive and preventive style of care that elevates your performance.
Indeed, certain elements of Performance Medicine might be “concierge” in nature. As part of VIMs Performance Medicine service, you have access to a trusted health professional who has the time, training, and team to service your health needs. Performance Medicine’s emphasis on holistic and integrated care necessitates coordination a variety of different specialists, modalities, and therapies. A customized treatment plan that honors your uniqueness as an individual and aligns with your psychology, physiology, and preferences. And you have ongoing support and accountability to help you stay on track in the challenging, stressful, and often unhealthy environment of modern life.
However, Performance Medicine does not fit the mold of concierge medicine in a few critical and category defining ways.
Concierge medicine is about convenience. And many who buy in believe that with a highly attentive physician, on-demand referrals, and ample diagnostics and devices to monitor their health status, they can take a “set it and forget it” approach. Having your physician on speed dial, a deluge of data from wearable devices, and a bunch of bloodwork can provide a false sense of security about your health.
Yes, health is wealth. But the metaphor holds up only so far. Your health is not like your investment portfolio where you can take a passive approach or outsource active management to others. Your health requires the time, energy, and attention from primarily one person—you. The best team, technology, and testing will not substitute for the non-glamorous and often monotonous work of your day to day actions. As the saying goes, “Chop wood, carry water.” Only you can lift the weight, lace up your running shoes, and decide what you put in your body. You defer, delegate, or disregard these daily decisions at your own peril.
Performance Medicine is not about spoon feeding, handholding, or outsourcing. You pay a premium for a service to help you prioritize and act on what matters most to you in the long run. We all need this amidst the flurry of life’s competing and urgent demands.
Performance Medicine is a curriculum. Safeguarding your health and optimizing your performance is an essential life skill. The key is for the participant who may begin as a novice to build proficiency and strive towards mastery. Learning takes energy. Growth is uncomfortable and inconvenient.
Performance Medicine is anything but easy. VIM provides the structure, support, and scaffolding. But your direct participation is critical in every element of the process. As it’s true for the most rewarding aspects of life, you get out what you put in.
You can’t outsource this. If you are ready to take ownership and build the skills to develop, adapt, and master yourself, Performance Medicine is ready for you.