If You Have to Ask, You Can't Afford It

(Photo from charity buzz)

From 2009 to 2016 I was a regular viewer of Royal Pains, USA channel's romantic dramedy about a startup concierge medical practice in the Hamptons. The show had the difficult-to-diagnose conditions that doctor shows usually have and multi-season story arcs. The millionaire inhabitants of the Hamptons were sometimes gently mocked, but there were no pure villains. When the series wrapped, the practice had become successful, and all the major characters had resolved their conflicts.

Now there are several concierge doctors in the Hamptons, and one even attributes the founding of his business to the TV show.

Along with other areas with surging centimillionaire and billionaire populations such as South Florida, the Bay Area, New York City and Los Angeles, the East End of Long Island is teeming with concierge doctors who treat patients swiftly (usually), discreetly (hopefully) and expensively (always). These doctors charge a membership fee anywhere from a few thousand dollars to six figures a year, with one-off house calls on top of that often starting around $1,000. These doctors do not typically accept insurance.

“Money is not an obstacle,” Rashid said. “Not only can concierge medicine provide fast service, it also provides advanced medicine.” Rashid, a family physician who trained in Miami and New York and has worked in the Hamptons for 15 years, opened a branch of her company in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2021 for their snowbird clients.

The Hamptons concierge-medicine boom started in 2020, when doctors saw an opportunity to test and treat the affluent community working remotely from their beach houses. Nationwide chain Sollis Health, which focuses on emergency medicine, started a center among the tony horse farms of Water Mill in 2021. Other options include Casa Health, White Glove Medicine and individual practitioners including Dr. Magdalena Swierczewski, M.D., and Dr. James Giugliano, D.O.

Dr. Golberg treats a couple aboard their yacht

Many of these doctors bill themselves as one-stop shops for all family medicine needs. Some do cosmetic services, several specialize in increasingly popular antiaging and integrative-health services, while others rush over to White Parties in the wee hours when things go awry. All of them know their way around Lyme disease and addiction issues.

[Dr. Alexander] Golberg had the idea to begin practicing concierge medicine in the Hamptons after watching “Royal Pains,” a television show that ran from 2009 to 2016 about a doctor who does just that. An entrepreneurial type, Golberg immigrated from Russia in 1989 and worked at his cousin-in-law’s cubic zirconia business after medical school. He has an M.D. from St. Petersburg Medical Academy and a D.O. from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, and is board-certified in family, osteopathic, antiaging and regenerative medicine.

Patients get instant, personalized service in exchange for paying annual six-figure fees, and their clients are happy to pay it,