A Patient’s Guide to Getting the Most from Your Concierge Medicine Membership

Joining a concierge medicine practice can give you greater access to your physician, more time for medical discussions, and more opportunities to take a proactive approach to your health.

But simply having a membership does not automatically improve your healthcare.

The greatest value often comes from how you use the relationship.

Instead of viewing your concierge physician as someone you contact only when you are sick, think of your membership as an ongoing healthcare partnership. Regular communication, appropriate follow-up, preventive planning, medication review, laboratory monitoring, and coordination with other healthcare professionals can all help make your care more organized and useful over time.

If you are still learning how this healthcare model works, you may want to begin with our complete guide to concierge medicine or explore our full Concierge Medicine Resource Center.

This guide explains practical ways to get more value from your concierge medicine membership throughout the year.

1. Establish Clear Health Priorities With Your Physician

One of the advantages of an ongoing physician relationship is the opportunity to look beyond whatever problem happens to bring you to an appointment that day.

Early in your membership, talk with your physician about what you would like your healthcare to accomplish.

Your priorities might include improving blood pressure, managing cholesterol, losing weight, improving sleep, addressing persistent symptoms, reviewing medications, understanding laboratory abnormalities, reducing future health risks, managing an existing chronic condition, or simply becoming more proactive about preventive healthcare.

You do not need to arrive with a perfectly organized plan.

The goal is to give your physician a clear understanding of what matters most to you.

Your priorities may also change over time. A goal that was important when you joined may become less relevant six months later, while a new medical concern may require more attention.

Revisiting those priorities periodically keeps your care focused on your current needs rather than simply continuing an old plan indefinitely.

2. Do Not Wait Until You Are Sick to Use Your Membership

Traditional healthcare often becomes reactive.

A symptom develops, an appointment is scheduled, the immediate problem is addressed, and the patient returns only when something else happens.

Concierge medicine creates an opportunity to use healthcare more proactively.

That may include discussing preventive screenings, reviewing laboratory trends, identifying cardiovascular or metabolic risk factors, improving nutrition and physical activity, reviewing sleep and stress, discussing family medical history, monitoring existing conditions, and planning ahead for health concerns that may become more important with age.

Preventive healthcare is not about ordering every available test.

It is about deciding which screenings, evaluations, and interventions make sense based on your age, medical history, family history, risk factors, symptoms, medications, and individual goals.

Our Preventive Care & Health Optimization Resources provide additional information about this approach.

3. Schedule Follow-Up Visits When There Is Something Worth Discussing

Greater appointment access is most useful when you actually use it.

Some patients hesitate to schedule an appointment because a concern does not seem serious enough. Others save several months of questions because they are accustomed to medical offices where appointments are difficult to obtain.

A concierge membership changes that dynamic.

When medically appropriate appointments are included in your membership, follow-up can become part of the treatment process rather than something reserved for major problems.

For example, a follow-up visit may be useful after starting a new medication, receiving laboratory results, changing a treatment plan, developing a new symptom, seeing a specialist, making a significant lifestyle change, or monitoring progress toward an established health goal.

At Ask Dr. Hu, members may schedule virtual appointments as often as medically appropriate for new concerns, follow-up care, medication management, laboratory review, and ongoing health planning.

The objective is not to schedule appointments simply because they are available.

It is to remove unnecessary barriers when additional medical discussion could genuinely improve your care.

4. Learn When to Message Your Physician and When to Schedule a Visit

Direct physician communication can be one of the most valuable features of concierge medicine.

It can also work best when patients understand how different types of communication should be used.

A brief message may be appropriate for a simple treatment update, clarification of previous instructions, medication question, minor side effect, scheduling question, or notification that something has changed.

More complicated concerns may be better handled during an appointment.

For example, a new symptom with several possible causes, multiple medication changes, a detailed laboratory review, a complex treatment decision, or a concern requiring an examination usually deserves more than a short text exchange.

At Ask Dr. Hu, concierge members can communicate directly by text, email, or phone for appropriate medical questions and treatment updates, while some concerns may still require a scheduled visit, examination, testing, or referral.

Do not worry about deciding perfectly which category your concern belongs in. If you are unsure, contact your physician and allow the medical team to determine the appropriate next step.

5. Keep Your Medication and Supplement List Current

Your physician cannot safely evaluate your treatment plan without knowing what you are actually taking.

This includes prescription medications as well as over-the-counter medications, vitamins, herbs, nutritional supplements, injections, topical medications, inhalers, and medications prescribed by other physicians.

Update your physician when something changes.

This is especially important when a specialist starts or stops a medication, a dosage changes, you begin a new supplement, you develop a side effect, or you decide to stop taking something.

An accurate medication list makes it easier to evaluate possible interactions, side effects, duplicate therapies, and whether treatments are still necessary.

MedlinePlus guidance on communicating with your healthcare provider similarly recommends maintaining an up-to-date list of medications, vitamins, herbs, supplements, and allergies when discussing your care.

6. Use Laboratory Testing as a Tool, Not a Scorecard

Laboratory testing can be very useful when it answers a meaningful medical question.

But the value is not simply in obtaining more tests.

The important part is understanding why a test was ordered, what the result means in the context of your health, whether a trend is developing, and whether the result should change your treatment or monitoring plan.

When you receive laboratory results, ask questions when something is unclear.

You may want to understand what was measured, whether an abnormality is clinically meaningful, whether previous results show a trend, whether additional evaluation is needed, whether treatment should change, and when testing should be repeated.

At Ask Dr. Hu, concierge membership includes medically appropriate laboratory ordering, monitoring, and personalized interpretation, although charges from outside laboratories may remain separate.

For a deeper explanation of how laboratory testing fits into medical decision-making, visit our Routine Laboratory Testing Resources.

7. Tell Your Concierge Physician What Your Specialists Are Doing

Healthcare can become fragmented quickly when several clinicians are involved.

A cardiologist may change one medication. An endocrinologist may order laboratory testing. A surgeon may request medical clearance. An urgent care clinician may prescribe an antibiotic. Imaging may be performed at an outside facility.

Each individual decision may make sense, but someone still needs to understand the larger picture.

Keep your concierge physician informed about significant outside care.

When possible, provide important specialist notes, imaging reports, laboratory results, hospital records, medication changes, and new diagnoses.

Your concierge physician can then help you understand how those recommendations fit together and identify issues that may require additional follow-up.

Ask Dr. Hu's current membership also includes medically appropriate specialist referrals, review of outside records, and discussion of specialist recommendations. Patients whose insurance requires referrals through an insurance-designated primary care physician may still need to follow those plan requirements.

8. Ask Questions Until You Understand the Plan

Good medical care should not leave you wondering what you are supposed to do next.

Before finishing an important medical discussion, try to understand four things:

What are we doing?

Why are we doing it?

What should happen next?

When should we reassess?

You should also understand important risks, reasonable alternatives, symptoms that should prompt earlier follow-up, and what to do if the plan is not working.

You do not need medical training to participate actively in these decisions.

Questions are part of good healthcare.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Questions Are the Answer patient-education initiative similarly encourages patients to ask questions before, during, and after healthcare visits.

9. Track Important Changes Between Appointments

Your physician only sees a small portion of what happens in your daily life.

You experience the rest.

When appropriate for your condition, keeping a simple record can make follow-up visits more useful.

That might mean recording home blood pressure, blood sugar measurements, weight changes, migraine frequency, menstrual patterns, medication side effects, sleep patterns, gastrointestinal symptoms, exercise tolerance, pain levels, or another measurement relevant to your care.

Do not feel obligated to track everything.

Too much data can become just as difficult to interpret as too little.

Ask your physician which measurements would actually influence medical decision-making and how often they should be recorded.

10. Follow Through on the Parts of Care That Happen Outside the Membership

A concierge physician can help guide and coordinate your healthcare, but not every part of healthcare happens within a concierge practice.

You may still need outside laboratory testing, imaging, specialist evaluations, pharmacy services, hospital care, procedures, vaccinations, physical therapy, mental healthcare, or other services.

When something is ordered or recommended, make sure you understand who is responsible for completing the next step.

If you have not heard about an important test result or referral, follow up rather than assuming everything was normal.

At Ask Dr. Hu, membership covers eligible services provided directly through the practice but does not include expenses such as prescription medications, imaging, specialist fees, hospital services, emergency care, and many outside-facility charges.

You can review the current details on our Concierge Medicine Membership page.

11. Use Telemedicine for the Things It Does Well

Virtual care can make ongoing medical management much more convenient.

Many concerns do not require you to drive to a medical office simply to have a conversation.

Telemedicine may be useful for medication follow-up, laboratory review, preventive planning, chronic condition monitoring, discussing new symptoms, reviewing outside specialist recommendations, and deciding whether additional testing or an in-person evaluation is necessary.

However, virtual care has limits.

Some symptoms require a physical examination, procedure, imaging study, immediate testing, or evaluation at another medical facility.

The purpose of easy virtual access is not to eliminate in-person medicine.

It is to use each form of care where it is most appropriate.

12. Tell Your Physician About Changes Early

You do not necessarily need to wait until the next scheduled appointment when something important changes.

Contact your physician when appropriate if you develop a new symptom, experience a significant medication side effect, receive an important diagnosis from another clinician, are hospitalized, visit an emergency department, have a major laboratory or imaging finding, or notice that a treatment is not working as expected.

Earlier communication may allow the next step to be planned more efficiently.

Sometimes the response will simply be reassurance or continued observation.

Other times your physician may recommend an appointment, testing, medication adjustment, specialist consultation, urgent care, or emergency evaluation.

That ability to determine the appropriate level of care can be an important part of having an established physician relationship.

13. Know What Concierge Access Does Not Replace

Greater physician access does not mean every medical problem should be handled through concierge messaging or telemedicine.

Concierge medicine is not a substitute for emergency medical care.

Severe chest pain, significant difficulty breathing, symptoms of a stroke, severe bleeding, loss of consciousness, major trauma, or another potentially life-threatening situation requires immediate emergency evaluation rather than waiting for a response from your concierge physician.

Similarly, some urgent problems may require an urgent care center or in-person medical evaluation even if your concierge physician is available.

Ask Dr. Hu's membership specifically provides after-hours access for appropriate non-emergency concerns and does not replace an emergency department or urgent care center.

Knowing these boundaries helps you use your membership safely.

14. Make Preventive Care an Ongoing Conversation

Preventive healthcare should not occur only once a year.

Your health changes.

You age. Your family history becomes more relevant. New symptoms appear. Medications change. Weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, sleep, exercise, and other health factors may change as well.

Use your ongoing physician relationship to periodically revisit what deserves attention.

Depending on your individual circumstances, this might include age-appropriate screenings, vaccinations, cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic health, cancer prevention, bone health, reproductive health, mental health, sleep, nutrition, physical activity, or other preventive priorities.

Federal preventive-health guidance similarly emphasizes regular checkups, appropriate screening, and preventive services as part of maintaining health over time.

The goal is not to search constantly for disease.

It is to identify meaningful risks early enough to do something useful about them.

15. Build the Relationship Over Time

Some of the value of concierge medicine cannot be created during a single appointment.

It develops as your physician becomes familiar with your history.

Over time, your physician may gain a better understanding of which treatments you tolerate, what concerns you most, how your health has changed, which recommendations have worked, which approaches have failed, how your laboratory values normally trend, and what your personal priorities are.

You also learn how your physician communicates, approaches uncertainty, evaluates new information, and makes treatment recommendations.

That continuity can make future medical decisions more efficient and more individualized.

This is why the membership should ideally be viewed as a relationship rather than simply a collection of included services.

Common Ways Patients Underuse a Concierge Membership

A membership may provide substantial access while still being underused.

Common examples include waiting until something becomes serious before contacting the physician, never scheduling preventive follow-up, forgetting to provide specialist records, completing laboratory testing without reviewing the results, not reporting medication changes, avoiding questions because they seem minor, or treating the membership as an emergency service rather than an ongoing medical relationship.

The opposite extreme is not necessary either.

Getting value from your membership does not mean scheduling unnecessary appointments or testing every possible biomarker.

The goal is appropriate access.

Use your physician when a medical conversation, evaluation, follow-up, or decision could meaningfully improve your care.

A Simple Way to Think About Your Membership Throughout the Year

Rather than thinking only in terms of appointments, think about your concierge membership as a continuing cycle:

Identify priorities → create a plan → complete testing or treatment → review the results → monitor progress → adjust the plan → reassess preventive needs.

Sometimes that cycle takes a few weeks.

For chronic conditions or long-term health goals, it may continue for years.

The value comes from having someone who understands where you started, what has already been tried, what has changed, and where you are trying to go.

Getting the Most From Your Ask Dr. Hu Membership

At Ask Dr. Hu, our concierge medicine membership is designed around an ongoing physician relationship rather than isolated medical visits.

Current membership features include medically appropriate virtual appointments, direct physician communication by text, email, or phone, laboratory ordering and interpretation, medication management, preventive healthcare planning, chronic-condition support, specialist referrals, care coordination, and appropriate after-hours communication for non-emergency concerns.

But the most important part of membership is not the number of services listed on a page.

It is what those services allow us to do together.

When communication is easier and follow-up is more accessible, we have more opportunities to understand what is happening with your health, respond when circumstances change, and make thoughtful decisions over time.

That is where concierge medicine can provide its greatest value.

The Bottom Line

Getting the most from a concierge medicine membership does not mean using as many appointments, messages, or laboratory tests as possible.

It means using the relationship appropriately.

Keep your physician informed. Ask questions. Follow up on important results. Update your medication list. Share specialist recommendations. Discuss changes when they happen. Take preventive care seriously. Revisit your goals periodically.

Most importantly, do not think of your physician as someone you see only when something goes wrong.

A strong concierge relationship allows healthcare to become an ongoing process rather than a series of disconnected medical encounters.

If you are considering membership and would like to understand how this model works, explore the Ask Dr. Hu Concierge Medicine Membership, read our Concierge Medicine Resources, or contact our practice with questions.

Medical Review & Editorial Standards

This patient guide was written for educational purposes by YiQiu Hu, NMD, an Arizona-licensed naturopathic physician and concierge medicine provider.

The practical patient-engagement recommendations in this guide were reviewed alongside patient-education resources from MedlinePlus, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's MyHealthfinder preventive-care resources.

The article also reflects the clinical approach used at Ask Dr. Hu, where concierge medicine emphasizes physician accessibility, continuity, preventive healthcare, individualized treatment planning, laboratory review, medication management, and care coordination.

Concierge practices differ in their services, communication policies, membership terms, fees, and availability. Patients should review the specific membership agreement for their own practice.

This information is intended for general patient education and does not replace individualized medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment.

Last reviewed: August 2026

About the Author

YiQiu Hu, NMD

Dr. YiQiu Hu is an Arizona naturopathic physician and founder of Ask Dr. Hu. He provides concierge medicine, preventive healthcare, health optimization, diagnostic evaluation, and individualized medical care for patients throughout Arizona.

His approach emphasizes longer and more thoughtful medical conversations, clear explanations, preventive healthcare, evidence-informed treatment options, and long-term physician-patient relationships.

Dr. Hu earned his Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from Sonoran University of Health Sciences and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences from Northern Arizona University.

Learn more about Dr. Hu and the Ask Dr. Hu physicians →