What is ‘bespoke care’? What is ‘concierge’ care? Are they the same? Different?

Bespoke care and concierge care are both innovative approaches to healthcare, but they serve different purposes.

 

By the Editor-in-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today.

 

Words are my passion. While I’m not perfect at grammar (obviously!), I do manage every now and then to string a few thoughts together that resonate with some Physicians out there.

I’m also intrigued by how our culture repurposes and rebrands words to promote specific narratives and ideas. And, ever since Mrs. Nielson, my 8th-grade Advanced Language Arts teacher, told me, “You have a gift; keep writing,” I’ve loved using words. I’m smitten by the science of language and constantly on a hunt to learn the new ways our words are being reused, rebranded, refined and redefined by our culture.

 

One term worth revisiting is “bespoke.”

 

If you’re not familiar with it in the healthcare context, let me explain. The word ‘bespoke’ is probably more familiar to our European healthcare audience than our North American audience and that’s okay.

 

To summarize, I’ll do what you might be doing right now, ‘Googling’ it. 🙂 But, I’ll take it a few steps further and use Grammarly’s Generative AI Bot.

 

According to the AI Bot: “Bespoke care represents the highest level of personalized medical attention, tailored specifically to meet the individual needs, preferences, and health conditions of each patient. This customized approach ensures that every treatment plan is uniquely designed for effectiveness and empowers patients, promoting a collaborative relationship with their healthcare providers.”

 

Interesting, right?

 

Advisory Board also recently unpacked the subject here. Radio Advisory’s Abby Burns sat down with Advisory Board’s Solomon Banjo and Nick Hula to talk about a new era of innovation, where progress in diagnostics, treatments, data analysis, and ongoing management have the potential to revolutionize patient care through unprecedented customization. Download the episode for the full conversation here. In the interview they note that bespoke care is going to be complex, Hula said. “It’s going to require clinicians who are highly skilled in a clinical sense, but also in a personal sense, really knowing what’s right for their patients and being able to adjust treatment decisions based off of all the factors that we just listed,” Hula said.

 

For even more context, I also asked the Grammarly’s Generative A.I. Bot to contrast the words bespoke care with concierge care.

Grammarly’s Generative A.I. Bot shared that “Concierge care offers a premium healthcare model that enhances the patient experience through an annual fee or retainer. This model provides patients with exceptional access to their healthcare providers, including extended appointment times, prioritized scheduling, and often 24/7 availability. While concierge care may incorporate some elements of bespoke services, its primary focus is on improving accessibility and responsiveness.”

 

For perspective, over the last 20 years, many terms have emerged to describe primary care and its complex relationship with subscriptions and price transparency. Now, we can download an app on our devices and connect with a healthcare practitioner in moments for a nominal fee. Additionally, retail clinics in our neighborhoods now list their prices, which is a significant advancement compared to when we were kids.

 

I mention this to illustrate that in most markets, price transparency addresses a fundamental need for convenience—a new definition of luxury for today’s consumers (i.e., patients).

 

If you’re not well-versed in these healthcare terms, you’re not alone; th