The following article first appeared in The Boston Globe on December 7, 2004. To return to the list of In the Press articles, click here.

When Doctors Do the Right Thing

By Scott Allen

The young doctors started out with a truly bold question: "What if we did everything right?" For 18 months, Rushika Fernandopulle and Pranav Kothari traveled the country, looking for the most patient-friendly medical practices, hoping to emulate the best of them. The result is Renaissance Health in Arlington, a doctor's office that promises patients 24-hour access to physicians, internet access to medical records, and no waiting for an appointment.

The doctors, who opened the practice last July, say they will accept no more than 1,000 patients each -- half the typical number for an internal-medicine doctor -- allowing them to spend more time with each patient on such things as annual ''strategic health assessments" and followup calls to make sure they understand doctor's orders. Already, Renaissance, which is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, is generating buzz in places where doctors gather. ''It is clearly ahead of the curve," said Dr. Alan Woodward, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society at last week's packed Betsy Lehman Center conference on patient safety in Waltham.

There is a cost for all the extras, however: Each patient pays $20 to $40 a month to be part of the practice, much like a membership to a health club. But Kothari stressed that they are not selling ''concierge medicine," where affluent patients typically pay thousands a year for round-the-clock access to doctors; instead, he views the fees as a way to make the practice pay for itself during its early growth. And, luckily for him, relatively few patients call in the middle of the night.

"The likelihood of them wanting to see us at 3 in the morning," he said, "is the same as us wanting to see them."

 

To return to the list of In the Press articles, click here.