Good Medicine Is Good Business

The Chestatee is known throughout North Georgia as a once-popular gold mining river. And if Dr. Gary Berliner succeeds in launching his notion of flat-rate medical care nationwide, it will prove that there is still potentially a great deal of gold to be panned.

Berliner started his brainchild, Chestatee Emergent Medical Care, a little more than two years ago. It has proven to be a worthy pursuit. His premise for the operation is simple enough: People will pay cash for meaningful, affordable health care. His tack is even simpler: No insurance, just cash for reasonably priced attentive health services.

According to Berliner, "The key is to offer basic, essential care in a one-stop shop arrangement." Berliner bundles lab work, x-rays, and personal interaction under one roof. He keeps the cost at a low $100 and offers an unlimited service agreement for $500.

Berliner is committed to the idea that quality care and dollar value are not mutually exclusive. "People need to know that the business of medicine has a practical, cost-effective, and highly workable side to it. Not everything about health care has to be high-end and super expensive."

Berliner never wanted to be a traditional solo practitioner. As a certified medical doctor with a Masters in Public Health, he wanted to open a practice that married "sound business principles and medical care." It is something that he views as "boutique medicine for the masses."

He advocates both health savings accounts and consumer-driven insurance with a high-deductible policy. "It's the only way," says Berliner, "that people can maintain control over the health care they're receiving." He is also an ardent supporter of liability and tort reform and favors arbitration agreements between physicians and patients.

So far, the business concept has had enormous success and has garnered the attention of investors. In fact, Berliner intends to franchise the concept nationwide using the moniker "My Private Doctor" and the services of an advisory group out of Massachusetts to assist the national launch beginning in September of this year.