While Concierge Medicine - having a doctor with more time - is necessary for good healthcare, it's by no means sufficient. Each practice uses their time differently. It depends on the practice's philosophy, the claims the practice is making, and the standard of evidence the practice uses to justify their claims. Concierge Medicine is merely an amplifier. If the practice philosophy is misguided or they use weak evidence to justify their claims, Concierge Medicine will only make things worse. It is therefore incumbent on you to determine the practice's philosophy before you join.

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For example, to entice you, many Concierge practices claim they can enhance your quality of life or even extend it with an array of extra laboratory tests, scans, drugs, supplements, IV infusions, or specific lifestyle recommendations. These claims, however, are invariably based on weak evidence, and to make them, the practice must lower its evidence standard. A dilemma ensues: with a low standard of evidence, any medical claim can be made to look true. The result: no two practices offer the same set of claims, and the claims often contradict one another (eg. meat is good for you, meat is bad for you).

From a bird's-eye view, patients are being offered a multiplicity of contradictory claims about what makes them healthy. Literally, thousands of claims.​ Which begs the question: How can you determine which of these claims, if any, are true? This is Critical Thinking in medicine, and the central philosophy of my practice: to question medical claims and to help you evaluate them for yourself.

There are six key principles of Critical Thinking in medicine.