Our approach is designed to enable people from all walks of life to receive top-notch medical care, in a caring and professional environment. Dr. Fields' goal is to go back to being "an old-fashioned doctor". People understand that term, and the integrity behind it.
In our opinion, this practice is fundamentally and philosophically unlike "concierge" or "boutique" practices, which cater almost exclusively to wealthy or "V.I.P." patients, and may charge as much as $5,000 -- $10,000 per patient per year. Above and beyond the annual fee, those practices typically earn additional income by charging a patient's insurance company or Medicare for office and hospital visits, and patient co-payments.
That is not the approach our practice has chosen. We simply want to offer our patients the best medical care possible, at a reasonable price, in the most appropriate setting, whether that's in our office, a hospital, or your home. We've chosen to forego insurance payments, and all the attendant complexity, to ensure our independence from outside pressures, and to be crystal clear that that our only responsibility is your welfare and satisfaction. The result is a patient-oriented practice, combining the best of modern medicine and old-fashioned service.
While this practice opened with these principles in 2003, the merits and advantages of our type of practice have in recent months been recognized and praised elsewhere, using terms like the "Patient-Centered Medical Home", or the "Advanced Medical Home". We believe the goals of those "medical homes", as stated by the organizations which jointly defined them (for more information, click on the link below), are consistent with the goals and philosophy of our practice in every way.*
In this era of corporate medicine, and "managed care", it is our hope that placing the patient's welfare, comfort, and convenience as a doctor's first, and only, priority will once again return to American medicine.