Panel size, the number of patients one physician actively manages, is the mechanism behind nearly everything concierge medicine is known for: a longer appointment, a same-day opening when something comes up, and a physician who remembers a patient’s history without pulling up a chart for a reminder. Reducing that number is not a side benefit of the concierge model; it is the model. This guide explains why panel size carries that much weight, offers a framework for evaluating it at any concierge practice, and then looks at how Naples Concierge Health approaches its own panel.

What Panel Size Means

Panel size is the number of patients a physician is responsible for managing on an ongoing basis. It is not the same as how many patients a physician sees in a single day or week. A physician with a panel of two thousand patients might see twenty to twenty-five of them on a given day but remains, at least on paper, responsible for all two thousand. That distinction matters because panel size sets a ceiling on how much time and attention any one patient can expect, regardless of how efficient the physician is. A physician managing a smaller panel is not working faster. They are dividing the same working hours across fewer people, which leaves more of each hour available for each one of them.

How Does Panel Size Shape Appointment Length and Access?

A physician’s working hours in a day do not expand or contract based on panel size, so the number of patients on that panel determines how those hours get divided. A 2007 analysis in Family Practice Management, the American Academy of Family Physicians’ practice-management journal, walked through the arithmetic behind this directly. Physicians Mark Murray, Mike Davies, and Barbara Boushon worked through example calculations that put a full-time physician working a conventional visit schedule at a target panel of roughly 1,400 to 2,000 patients. Many practices run above that target once staffing and scheduling pressures are factored in. MDVIP, one of the largest concierge medicine networks in the country, states on its own site that its affiliated physicians typically manage panels of about 600 patients, well under half the low end of that traditional range.

That gap is not a reflection of any individual physician’s effort. It is what becomes possible, or does not, within the hours in a day once a panel reaches into the thousands. A smaller panel is what creates room for a same-day or next-day appointment instead of a multi-week wait, and for a visit built around a full conversation rather than a single complaint. It also changes what happens between visits. A physician following several hundred patients instead of several thousand has the bandwidth to review a lab result personally and return a message the same day. That physician can also coordinate directly with a specialist’s office rather than routing the follow-up entirely through staff. None of that requires longer hours. It requires fewer patients competing for the same hours.

Why a Smaller Panel Changes How Well a Physician Knows a Patient’s History

Continuity of care, seeing the same physician consistently over time, is where a smaller panel compounds its effect. A physician following six hundred patients instead of two thousand sees each one more often. That physician retains more between visits without relying entirely on the chart, and has more time during each visit to ask what has changed since the last one. That is more than a comfort. A 2018 study in the Annals of Family Medicine, led by researcher Andrew Bazemore, followed more than 1.4 million Medicare patients and found that higher continuity, meaning patients who consistently saw the same primary care physician, was associated with 14.1 percent lower health care costs and 16.1 percent lower odds of hospitalization than more fragmented care. Panel size is a large part of what makes that kind of continuity possible in the first place. A physician managing a fraction of a traditional panel has the time to be the consistent physician that continuity requires, rather than one of several rotating names on a chart.

A Framework for Evaluating Panel Size at Any Concierge Practice

Panel size is worth asking about directly when comparing concierge practices, not assuming from the word "concierge" alone. The term is not standardized or regulated, and two practices that both call themselves concierge medicine can maintain very different panels. A few questions make the comparison concrete:

  • What is the physician’s current panel number, not a marketing range? A specific figure is what predicts appointment length and access, not a word like "small" or "limited."
  • Is the panel capped, and what happens once it reaches that cap? A practice that keeps adding patients past its stated target is not maintaining the panel size it advertises.
  • How does that panel size translate into real access? Ask what a typical same-day or next-day request looks like in practice, not only whether it is offered.
  • What does the physician handle personally versus what gets delegated to staff? A smaller panel matters most when it buys back the physician’s own time for coordination, not only for the visit itself.
  • If the practice has more than one physician, is the panel size per physician or an average across the group? An aggregate number can make an individual physician’s actual panel look smaller than it is.

Is a Smaller Panel Always Better?

A smaller panel is necessary for the appointment length and access that define concierge medicine, but panel size on its own does not guarantee a good fit. A practice with a well-managed panel of six hundred patients and strong systems for coordination can deliver meaningfully better access and continuity than a practice with a panel of four hundred and little structure behind it. Panel size is the lever, not the whole picture. It is the number most worth asking about first, because so much else depends on it, but it works alongside how a practice is organized around that number.

READ: Importance of Longitudinal Care

Where Naples Concierge Health Fits

Naples Concierge Health keeps a deliberately small panel. Physicians Dr. Jonathan Marsh and Dr. Danielle Grossman-Stuart each keep a panel well below the traditional range described above. That is what supports same-day or next-day appointments, texting your physician directly, and coordination, from specialist referrals to health optimization work, that a physician following thousands of patients could not sustain. The full scope of what that panel size supports is outlined on the membership page.

See What a Smaller Panel Looks Like in Naples

Panel size is the number most worth asking about when comparing concierge practices, because so much else follows from it. Book a gap assessment with Naples Concierge Health to learn how Dr. Marsh and Dr. Grossman-Stuart manage their panel, or browse everything Naples Concierge Health offers to see the fuller picture first.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is considered a small panel in concierge medicine?

There is no single industry standard. A widely cited reference point comes from MDVIP, one of the largest concierge medicine networks in the country: its affiliated physicians typically manage panels of about 600 patients. Individual concierge practices vary, and the specific number for any given practice is worth confirming directly rather than assuming from the label.

How many patients does a typical primary care physician manage?

Estimates vary by practice and region. A 2007 Family Practice Management analysis by Murray, Davies, and Boushon worked through example calculations that put a full-time physician under conventional scheduling at a target panel of roughly 1,400 to 2,000 patients, and many practices run above that figure.

Does a smaller panel guarantee better care?

No single number guarantees an outcome. A smaller panel is what makes longer visits, faster access, and closer coordination possible, but how a practice organizes around that panel, including staffing, systems, and how much the physician handles personally, still determines how well that potential gets used.

How can I find out a concierge practice’s panel size before joining?

Ask the practice directly for the physician’s current number, whether the panel is capped, and how that translates into typical appointment wait times. The framework above walks through the specific questions worth asking before comparing practices.

What panel size does Naples Concierge Health maintain?

Naples Concierge Health keeps a deliberately small panel for each physician. For current panel availability, book a gap assessment with the practice directly.