ABSTRACT

Like other aspects of health care—for example, patient safety, which has drawn heavily on lessons from the aviation ­industry—concierge medicine takes, and can continue to learn, lessons from other industries. The lessons to be learned from other industries are particularly applicable in dealing with aspects of modern society—such as information technology and the consumerism movement—that affected or were adopted by other industries faster than health care. Many other industries have gone through convulsive changes led by information technology. Increased regulatory burdens affect both banking and the health care industry. The automotive industry has gone through significant changes. While the health care industry as a whole can probably learn valuable lessons from the automobile industry regarding the need to balance innovation and advancement against affordability for products and services that are household necessities, concierge medicine has the most to gain from studying the sales and customer service approaches employed by luxury car dealerships.