How It Works

What is Concierge and Direct Primary Care?

Concierge and direct primary care medicine utilize a monthly practice fee to create a stronger model for the doctor-patient relationship by remedying some of the most frustrating parts of the medical experience.

What problems does this model solve?

Most parents’ complaints about their child’s doctor’s office share similar sentiments:

• Appointments can be hard to come by
• There are long waits in the waiting room when you finally do get in
• You hardly ever get to see your actual doctor 

Sound familiar? These problems are so common because they are systemic issues. Medical practices are hamstrung by low reimbursement rates from health insurance companies. In order to stay in the black, they must see a high volume of patients. This can lead to doctors carrying thousands of patients per provider, causing months-long waits for a check up.

Furthermore, insurance companies only reimburse for select increments of time. For example, during a sick visit, vitals are taken, concerns are noted, an exam is conducted, a plan of care is created, and questions are answered—all in 15 minutes. This disregards the little bumps in the road like a fussy baby, a toddler on the verge of a meltdown, or an exhausted child who refuses to be examined. A moment longer than the allotted 15 minutes, and the doctor is now running late to the next appointment and creating a logjam for the support staff. Another dirty secret? To squeeze more patients onto the schedule, those appointments can be shortened to 10 minutes.

These issues can also mean that your child never actually gets to see their doctor, even if you have an appointment with them. You end up waiting extra time only to be seen with whoever is running the least behind or is in least demand that day. For both doctor and patient, there is a better way. 

What value do I get by being part of this concierge practice?

Golden Hour Pediatrics will stay low-volume, highly relational, and focused on giving detailed, personalized care. Maintaining a significantly lower volume of patients than a traditional practice means you will have premium access to your doctor’s expertise, increased availability for appointments, better quality access, and less time waiting to be seen—because your time is valuable too. And the quality of your time with us matters. Extra time is built into every visit—no more rushing in and out on our account. You get the time you and your child need to feel confident in your plan of care. We can also do family style visits where we address all the issues for multiple children under one appointment time, efficiently and effectively.

In person office visits, telemedicine visits, phone calls, and messaging are all included. You’ll never be up-charged by us asking you to come in person if a phone call will do. Extra items like school forms, follow up emails, and referrals aren’t extra to us. Our goal is to be as all-inclusive and hassle free as possible.

Your family will also receive increased flexibility through discounted home visits. We know Los Angeles is a big, crazy place and sometimes it’s a little too much to load sick (and healthy) kids in the car to fight traffic. We want to provide the extra help when we can and where we can.