Paying for special perks isn’t new in healthcare. The concept of concierge medicine, a system where patients pay an added fee in exchange for more personalized care and better access to their primary doctors, began in the mid-1990s and continues to grow. Newport Beach-based Concierge Key Health enters the market with a slight twist, offering an opportunity for patients to access specialists through its platform.
“We’ve been very frugal with the app … we launched it with less than $5 million to build the doctor network and the app,” said founder and Chief Executive Robert Grant. The Business Journal reported in September on the company’s rollout of a beta testing phase. Membership was free.
Concierge Key officially launched this month, starting with Orange County, New York and Phoenix. The company is focused on direct-to-consumer advertising and marketing, with a slightly different approach in each market.
“In Phoenix, we are doing direct-to-marketing through TVs; OC is more social influencers—a more social media approach; in New York City we are doing very little [marketing] to see what doctors are able to derive,” Grant said.
“This will help us ascertain the optimum approach in the next launch.”
Concierge Key will be available in nine additional cities in March, including Miami, Denver, Dallas, San Francisco-Bay Area, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Membership fees are $3,000 for individuals and $5,000 for families, including direct family members younger than 26.
On-Demand
The app is designed to provide consumers “exclusive and on-demand access to elite physician specialists,” according to a company press release. It currently has over 200 physicians in its network nationwide, according to Grant.
Having specialists in its network is one thing, making it even easier for consumers to use those resources is something else. “We learned that consumers are tired of too much selection. They don’t want to have four names to choose from; they want the best one. They would rather have us choose,” explained Grant.
The company made what Grant called “a significant jump forward” by introducing the function of pairing consumers with a team of 12 specialists.
The core team is comprised of specialties, such as a cardiology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, dermatology and gynecology. Other specialists, like facial plastic surgeons, will not be part of the 12-person team, but consumers will have access to them through the app.
Strathspey
Concierge Key, while a stand-alone company, is closely connected with Strathspey, or SCH-AEON LLC.
Newport Beach-based Strathspey changed its name in April to reflect its core focus on subsidiary Alphaeon Corp. in Irvine. Its portfolio includes other healthcare, social media and clean-energy related companies.
Strathspey and Concierge Key have the same leadership team. Grant is chairman of Strathspey, and was formerly co-founder and chief executive of Alphaeon before stepping down in 2016. Vikram Malik, who previously served as vice chairman of investment banking and global head of medical technology at Deutsche Bank, is chief financial officer of Concierge and a managing partner at Strathspey.
A key addition to the Concierge executive club is Richard Afable, who joined as senior adviser in September.
Afable, who was previously president and chief executive of St. Joseph Hoag Health in Irvine and executive vice president and regional senior executive of Providence St. Joseph Health in Southern California, retired in December. Erik Wexler, former chief executive of Providence Health & Services in the L.A. region, succeeded Afable as head of Southern California overseeing L.A., Orange and San Bernardino counties.
Strathspey was built on money raised from physician investors—who are also automatically vetted and approved to participate as a participating doctors of Concierge Key.
Strathspey owns World Physicians Organization, a platform used to vet physician applicants interested in joining Concierge Key. Physicians must be board-certified within their practicing specialties and faculty members, which includes board membership in a medical society, bylines in medical journals and podium presentations. A $200 application fee is required.
