New Jersey Position

A year before the New York pronouncement (see post below) about concierge medicine, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services issued a similar letter concluding that concierge arrangements were not appropriate for New Jersey physicians belonging to insurance and HMO panels. Its reasoning was significantly more enlightened than the New York view, however. Whereas the New York opinion rested heavily on the conclusion that the provider plans already required its physicians to provice the services for which the patients were paying the concierge fee, the New Jersey position was based almost solely on the anti- discrimination principle. The NJ Commissioner said that “the Department’s main objection to networks including physicians who offer retainer agreements is not with whether there is a duplication of services. Rather, the Department’s position is that retainer agreements are inconsistent with the requirement that all provider agreements…assure that in-network providers do not discriminate in treatment of members or covered persons.” Concierge medicine

See the following for the New Jersey letter:
www.wnj.com/marquis/NJ_DHSSBulletin_080803.pdf