Conversations with Perry and Friends: Larry Kutscher, MBA, CEO and Board Director, MDVIP

Larry Kutscher, MBA, prefers to call it “membership medicine” rather than concierge care. And while he acknowledges that there are attention-grabbing “edge cases” of other entities charging $20,000, even $50,000 a year, he says the average annual MDVIP fee for individuals is approximately $2,500.

“I’m not saying that’s nothing, but if you caring about your healthcare and investing in your healthcare, that’s not that different than a gym membership,” Kutscher says.

Kutscher was recently a guest on the “Conversations with Perry and Friends” podcast, which is hosted by Perry Cohen, Pharm.D., a longtime member of the Managed Healthcare Executive (MHE) editorial advisory board, and sponsored by MHE. Kutscher has been CEO and board director of MDVIP for two years. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, MDVIP is among the largest concierge companies in the country.

Kutscher told Cohen that MDVIP currently has 450,000 members and 1,400 participating physicians in 46 states. The company is rooted in adult primary care, but Kutscher said it is piloting expansion into endocrinology and cardiology and is considering branching out into pediatrics.

“I think we're still what I would call working our way through how to make those — we're doing those in small numbers of doctors right now, and we're doing some other different specialists,” Kutscher said to Cohen. “Pediatrics is on our list. We've not done it yet. It's slightly different because of the way the dynamics of pediatrics works, but I'm a believer down the road that there might be something there.”

Kutscher was CEO of A Place for Mom, a company that provides housing advice to seniors and their families, before MDVIP. He also had CEO stints at TravelClick.com, a travel technology company, and Register.com, a web services company. His early career included positions at American Express and Goldman Sachs, and Kutscher told Cohen that he started a house painting business in college. Kutscher said he loved running businesses and solving problems but took the reins at A Place for Mom because he wanted something that was a “little bit more mission to it.”

Kutscher said he was drawn to MDVIP and primary care partly because “healthcare is so critical to life — it’s at the heart of everything we care about.” He also saw a high level of discontent.

“Healthcare is so messed up,” he said in his conversation with Cohen. “I mean, you look at it. Nobody's happy. Most people are angry, and there are big problems there. And what I've learned in my life and my career is that when there are big problems…that's where you can really make a difference and really be successful.”

People who sign up for MDVIP get an annual wellness plan that emphasizes preventive care and helps them get a sense of their current health and where they might need help, Kutscher said. Members also get improved access to their doctor, including office visits within 24 hours of having a problem and access through texting.

Cohen asked Kutscher to respond to the criticism that concierge care siphons off “options from the broader primary care system” rather than helping to straighten it out.

“At the end of the day, our model, I believe, is just better. It’s better for the doctor, and it’s better for the patient,” he said.