According to GYDYTOJO NAMAI, the membership model adopted by this clinic is a guarantee for a modern and high-quality healthcare in the current system. Today a family doctor in a primary healthcare institution in Lithuania can look after as many as 1500-2000 patients, while a subscription principle allows decreasing this number by 2-3 times.
“The smaller the number of patients per doctor, the greater the opportunity to guarantee that the patient can get a doctor visit the same or next day. The patient can have an unlimited number of visits per month, and they can consult a doctor as long as it is needed,” – says Danas Čeilitka, the founder and director of social enterprise Retų ligų centras (The Center of Rare Diseases) which is running the clinic. The director also mentions other benefits for the clients. Only by knowing their client and being able to spend sufficient time on their case, the doctor is able to apply a holistic approach, i.e. not only to better diagnose and treat diseases, but also to apply preventive methods and take care of their emotional health.
According to Algė Budrytė, an experienced leader and manager, who invested her funds and became a general partner of GYDYTOJO NAMAI in the beginning of summer in 2021, “Although we are pioneering with membership medicine in Lithuania, the principle itself is well known. Most of us today are enjoying music on the internet platforms – listening as much as we want, when we want and what we want. It is common to subscribe to a sports club, streaming or mobile services. So why not to a family doctor’s? A. Budrytė emphasizes that today to get in touch with a family doctor immediately is a must rather than a luxury. The same holds true for online medical services. Doctor’s advice should reach their client wherever they are located: for example, if suddenly they started feeling bad at work or during their holiday break in Bahamas.
The family clinic GYDYTOJO NAMAI offers different subscription plans of healthcare services for different prices starting from 19.99 EUR per month. The price is much lower if payment for annual membership is made at once. The clients also pay significantly less if they buy a subscription plan for a couple of members – a family or group of friends.
D. Čeilitka is pointing out that that the membership model is a “win-win” for both, not only for the patients but also for the doctors. Having a sufficient time to go deeply into each patient’s health case and to get to know their patient, doctors can attain better work results and grow professionally. GYDYTOJO NAMAI plans to invest a lot into training and other areas of competence improvement of employees.
The family clinic is also first to introduce another novelty – doctor-to-doctor consultations – and develop a network of specialists. “By analyzing their client’s case, our doctors will be able to consult with professionals in university clinics and other institutions with which we are co-operating. This is a great opportunity for doctors to progress professionally. For patients, this a great opportunity to save time and money because they will not need to rush to see another specialist,” explains D. Čeilitka.
GYDYTOJO NAMAI is also first family clinic on the market which operates as a social business. 10 percent of its clients are people living with rare diseases, and the clinic takes care of them free-of-charge. D. Čeilitka says that the idea of the clinic’s business concept was born while analyzing the examples of other countries and looking for a solution how to improve healthcare for patients living with rare diseases in the current Lithuanian system. “These people need ongoing, personalized and high quality healthcare. And probably all of us would love to have availability of such healthcare,” says the author of the idea.
A. Budrytė says that the social mission of GYDYTOJO NAMAI was one of the key motives for her to join the team. According to her, there could hardly be any meaningful and long-lasting business activity today without having a goal to benefit a society. “And, of course, this is a good reason for each potential client to join GYDYTOJO NAMAI community. It is good to do good,” concludes the clinic’s partner.
