CIO Bulletin

Enhancing practice revenue and optimizing patient experiences — Castle Connolly Private Health Partners, LLC

Providing quality, high-touch patient care can have an important impact on long-term health and wellness outcomes. Meaningful patient-provider relationships and thoughtful patient care are becoming less common as providers are overwhelmed with unrealistic workloads and subject to a system that relies on quantity over quality. Castle Connolly Private Health Partners (CCPHP) is the concierge care industry expert, and they work to equip physicians to provide care in a more fulfilling way while empowering Members to live healthier, happier lives.

CIO Bulletin conducted a Q&A session with CCPHP to learn more about the organization. Below are the excerpts.

Q. Why was CCPHP established?

CCPHP was developed to be the platform of choice for current and future concierge physicians and patients while delivering an unrivaled experience of comprehensive, collaborative, and attentive support in order to foster a preventive care approach, ultimately to optimize patient health and wellbeing. CCPHP was co-founded by Dr. John J. Connolly, who is also the co-founder and former CEO of Castle Connolly Top Doctors^®, a world-renowned resource trusted to identify quality and excellence in the health sector. CCPHP was developed with two major guiding beliefs: that physicians deserve better, and patients deserve more from their healthcare provider. Co-founders Dr. John J. Connolly and Dr. Dean McElwain have each acted as strategic leaders in the health space for decades. They were unsatisfied with the former state of primary care, so they set out to transform it.

Q. How do you support your physicians and Members?

CCPHP equips Physician Partners and Members with the Four Cs: convenience, connectivity, collaboration, and coaching. When a physician decides to partner with CCPHP, they will receive result-generating strategic guidance while transitioning their practice to the Membership-based model. Complete with a dedicated advisor committed to practice growth and success, reliable billing and technical assistance, ongoing marketing and promotional support, and a custom telehealth platform, CCPHP works with physicians to curate long-lasting, successful partnerships. Physician success is achieved through the T.H.R.I.V.E. model, which stands for transformational, high-touch, robust, independent, versatile, and empowered.

Transformational: Partnering with CCPHP enables physicians to transform their practice through a return to the core reasons they chose to practice medicine in the first place. CCPHP’s unique model leverages their thought leadership, innovation, and brand reputation in order to maximize physician revenue while resetting the pace so that doctors can focus on what matters most—their patients and their health.

High-touch: The dedicated CCPHP team focuses on delivering the most supportive and exceptional experience to physicians and their entire organization. Additionally, each patient Member is entitled to participate in CCPHP’s highly personalized and collaborative SENS Solution^® Wellness Program.

Robust: CCPHP provides robust and thorough support including practice analysis, business planning, comprehensive marketing, Member recruitment, Membership billing and administrative services, ongoing Member and office support, telemedicine platform support, SENS Solution^® Wellness Program, education and Member engagement, and succession planning.

Independence: CCPHP creates a Membership program that is separate and distinct from a physician’s clinical practice, which is still owned by them.

Versatile: Unlike other concierge conversion programs, CCPHP has a range of customized options for developing fees and establishing models. The team works with the physician to determine which approach best meets the needs of the practice and create a Membership company on their behalf, with no monetary investment required. CCPHP ensures that patients are communicated with in a unique, genuine voice that accurately represents the provider and their practice.

Empowered: CCPHP partners with exceptional physicians to deliver an unrivaled healthcare experience while also empowering Members to achieve their optimal wellbeing through the SENS Solution^® Wellness Program and health coaching.

Q. How are you using technology to enhance your offering?

The health landscape is constantly evolving. To CCPHP, this means delivering care that is more connected, more patient-centered, and more comprehensive. CCPHP offers Members access to the pioneering Engagement RX (ERX) platform. ERX uses artificial intelligence to create a custom wellness hub for Members to use throughout their health journey, where they can track progress, access tailored tools and content, like exercise tips and recipes, and connect with their personal SENS Solution^® health coach. CCPHP Members are also provided an intuitive, HIPAA-compliant telehealth app that enables them to connect with their doctor via message, phone call, or video call at virtually any time, from anywhere in the world.

Q. How satisfied are your Members and Physician Partners with their experiences?

Joining CCPHP as a Physician Partner or Member truly makes a meaningful impact on quality of life, care experience, and health outcomes. Here’s what a Physician Partner and Member had to say: “Since partnering with CCPHP, my job satisfaction has doubled, feelings of being burnt out have been reduced by half, and I’ve had more time to pursue the research which I am so passionate about. Also, the SENS Solution^® Wellness Program and having access to online health coaches has been an excellent tool to use to get my patients healthier.” - Dr. Erik Suh, CCPHP Physician Partner

“I can always get an appointment with my CCPHP physician, and the appointments are always right on time. My doctor is so responsive, empathetic, and kind, and he takes the time during our appointments to really listen.” - CCPHP Member

Q. How is Castle Connolly making a difference?

CCPHP supports physicians to provide healthcare the way it's meant to be delivered while inspiring and empowering Members to live healthier, happier lives. Members can achieve peace of mind knowing that their physician is truly dedicated to their long-term health and wellness. By decreasing the time between visits and encouraging a high-touch and preventive approach to care, CCPHP Members are in good standing to achieve better health outcomes. With more than 100,000 medical professionals leaving the industry each year due to burnout, it is more important now than ever before to ensure that highly effective physicians don’t give up their vocation due to unrealistic workloads. Under the Membership model, physicians typically have a more manageable caseload, which allows them to deliver higher-quality care while also regaining autonomy in their lives.

Dr. John J. Connolly, Co-Founder

Dr. John J. Connolly is the nation’s foremost expert on identifying top physicians. He is the Presindent & CEO of Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. publisher of America’s Top Doctors^® and other consumer guides to help people find the best healthcare. He is also Chairman of Castle Connolly Private Health Partners, LLC, a concierge medicine company, and is a director of TopDoctors.es (Europe and Latin America) and Medebound (China).

Dr. John J. Connolly served as Presindent of New York Medical College, the nation’s second-largest private medical college, for more than ten years. He is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, and served as a Director of the Northeast Business Group on Health for 25 years. He was formerly a member of the Presindent’s Council of the United Hospital Fund and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Dr. John J. Connolly has served as a trustee of two hospitals and as Chairman of the Board of one, and he has served on a number of voluntary and corporate boards including the Board of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, of which he is a founder and past chairman, and the Culinary Institute of America for over 20 years where he is now Chairman Emeritus.

Dr. Dean McElwain, Co-Founder, President & CEO

Dr. Dean McElwain is the company’s co-founder and a seasoned healthcare executive with over 35 years of progressive leadership in a variety of healthcare settings. An expert in practice management, revenue cycle, and practice development, Dr. McElwain has a professional doctorate (DPT) from Simmons College Graduate School for Health Studies. While at Simmons, he excelled in the program’s healthcare administration specialty track, having earned the program’s highest honor of academic distinction.

A recognized national thought leader in concierge medicine, Dr. McElwain has lectured extensively, consulted with leading companies, and provided guidance, leadership, and innovation to thousands of physicians, as well as regional and national corporate clients, over the last 16 years. Nationally and internationally renowned organizations have relied on Dr. McElwain for strategic guidance and effective deployment when transitioning their organizations to the subscription-based or concierge membership model.

A lifelong endurance athlete, Dr. McElwain is also a respected leader in the areas of health coaching, wellness, and human performance. Dr. McElwain has completed his undergraduate studies in sports medicine/exercise physiology, as well as extensive post-graduate studies in compliance, finance, and organizational leadership. Recently, Dr. McElwain was presented with the Outstanding Leadership Award at Health 2.0 in 2022, and he was named the Most Influential CEO of 2022 by CEO Monthly Magazine.