USA Concierge Medicine Handbook Author Invited to Pen Article in German Lifestyle Magazine

LAKEWOOD, Colo. - May 6, 2013 - PRLog -- Maria Todd, author of the forthcoming Handbook of Concierge Medical Practice Design (2014, CRC | Productivity Press; ISBN: 978-1466568181) has been commissioned by the editor of ThePatient.com, a new German lifestyle magazine, to write an article to describe what concierge medicine is, and share a first person account of how she decided upon a doctor, the amenity features she evaluated, and what helped her decide on a doctor for her and her husband.

This is a first for this kind on an article for Todd, who is more accustomed to writing "how to" and more business-oriented articles, and is the author of 12 books on physician integration and managed care, physician employment contracting, medical tourism, managed care contracting, and other health administration topics.

Maria Todd is the founder and CEO of the Mercury Healthcare Companies (http://mercuryhealthcare.us), a busy corporate executive, international consultant, and travels extensively for her work as a consultant and international keynote speaker on global healthcare, medical tourism, and health facilities development.  Before joining a concierge practice, she rarely took time for her own health citing that "the traditional 7-minute managed care physician office visit hardly seemed worth it and was often very difficult to schedule."  She reports that with a concierge medical membership, she is able to contact her doctor wherever she is in the world, for whatever reason, and to secure an appointment for the length of time and medical attention she needs without having to schedule weeks or days in advance.  

She also likes the new level of personalized medical care she receives from her doctor that that is personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory, referred to in some circles as "P4 medicine."

P4 medicine quantifies wellness and demystifies disease.  It was created by by Dr. Leroy Hood is a world-renowned scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and visionary. His discoveries have permanently changed the course of biology, and revolutionized the understanding of genetics, life, and human health. Hood created the technological foundation for the sciences of genomics (study of genes) and proteomics (study of proteins) through the invention of five groundbreaking instruments and by explicating the potentialities of genome and proteome research into the future through his pioneering of the fields of systems biology and systems medicine. Hood is the co-founder and chairman of the P4 Institute (http://p4mi.org).

In the article, which will release in June 2013, Todd will describe what criteria she used to narrow her selection of a physician, what amenities she sought and how she decided on a physician for her and her husband.

Her concierge physician, Floyd Russak, MD, the Medical Director of East-West Health Centers in Denver, CO (http://east-west-health.com) and a former Harvard Medical School faculty member, has also been invited by the editor to give an interview and share the physician's perspective about the concierge medical model and how he uses personalized medicine principles in his practice.  

The concierge medical practice model is gaining in popularity in the USA but also shows that it is gaining traction in Europe and the Middle East.  Concierge medicine is a business model often associated with primary care, but many orthopedic, rheumatology, cardiac and cancer specialists are also starting to embrace the model. In the concierge practice model, patients pay a membership fee for certain amenities not paid for by most managed care and PPO arrangements. The membership fee affords the patient with special amenities and privileges above and beyond the basic sick call or follow up doctors' appointment.

The Patient.com is a new health and lifestyle magazine published by Uwe Klein, MD. The prototype issue was distributed at the International Medical Travel Exhibition and Conference in Monaco, in March 2013. Published in Germany and distributed throughout Europe and the Middle East, the target readership includes people with an interest in medical and wellness travel, anti-aging, and other new developments in healthcare and wellness. Todd has also been invited to join the magazine's Editorial Board.