In 2024, 63 percent of all direct primary care (DPC) practices in the United States had at least one corporation as a client where a business hired the doctors for their executives. This is according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) [1].
By 2026, employer-sponsored concierge and DPC programs cover an estimated 7,200 companies and roughly 58 percent of all DPC members nationwide [2].
The growth was the highest with employers that had between 50 and 500 employees.
This guide is for the human resources (HR) director, benefits broker, and chief financial officer (CFO) running that procurement decision. It explains what an employer concierge medicine contract actually looks like, how it is priced, what the return on investment (ROI) evidence shows, and how to evaluate vendors before signing.
What "Employer Concierge Medicine" Actually Is
Employer-sponsored concierge medicine is a benefits arrangement where the company pays a flat fee, usually monthly, to a physician-led practice in exchange for direct primary care access for some or all of its workforce.
It is not insurance. It does not replace insurance. It sits alongside the medical plan and reduces the load on the medical plan, because most primary care needs (sick visits, preventive screenings, chronic disease management, mental health check-ins) are handled inside the membership.
The two model variants you will encounter:
DPC employer contract. The cheapest tier. Annual fees run roughly $600 to $2,400 per employee per year (about $50 to $200 per month). The practice does not bill insurance. Best paired with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP).
Concierge medicine employer contract. The more comprehensive tier. Annual fees range from $3,000 to over $40,000 per patient depending on the practice tier. Most concierge practices still bill insurance for covered services on top of the membership. Best for companies whose population includes executives or whose workforce skews older.
Most mid-market employers (50 to 500 employees) start with DPC for the broad workforce and add a concierge tier for executives. NextMD's directory carries practices in both categories.
The Three Procurement Models
When you actually buy concierge or DPC for your workforce, there are three contract structures to understand. Each has its own price math and operational implications.
1. Direct contract with a single practice
The simplest. Your company signs a per-employee-per-month (PMPM) agreement directly with a local concierge or DPC practice. The practice maintains the patient relationship; you maintain the contract.
Best for: Companies with one office or workforce concentrated in one city
Typical PMPM: $80 to $150 PMPM for DPC, $300 to $1,000+ PMPM for concierge
Pros: Simplest contract, fastest pilot, real local relationship
Cons: Does not scale across multiple offices or remote workers
2. Network platform contract
Larger employers (or distributed workforces) often go through a network platform that contracts with hundreds of practices nationwide. Hint Health, for example, supports more than 2,400 clinicians and 1.2 million members across its platform [2].
Best for: Companies with employees in 5+ metros
Typical PMPM: $90 to $180 PMPM, with platform fees layered in
Pros: Single contract, distributed geographic coverage, normalized service bundles
Cons: Less direct relationship with the practice; platform takes a cut
3. Hybrid stipend (reimbursement model)
Instead of contracting directly, the employer reimburses employees up to a fixed dollar amount for a concierge or DPC membership of their choice. This is the lowest-friction path for procurement and the most popular entry point for companies with 25 to 100 employees.
Best for: Lean HR teams or geographically distributed workforces with strong individual preferences
Typical stipend: $1,200 to $3,000 per employee per year
Pros: No vendor contract, lowest administrative burden, employee chooses the practice
Cons: Less negotiation leverage on price, harder to standardize the service experience
The ROI Evidence Mid-Market Buyers Should Know
Three studies establish the case. Each was published in a peer-reviewed or industry-credible setting, and each tested a different employer-sponsored arrangement.
The Hint Health real estate firm case study (2025). A real estate company offering DPC through its benefits package reported $282 PMPM for the DPC cohort against $592 PMPM for non-DPC employees, a 52 percent difference [2]. Across Hint's broader platform, DPC members saw their physician 3.5 times per year compared with 1.6 times for the national fee-for-service average, and lab costs ran 52 to 93 percent below national pricing [2].
The Mount Sinai Solutions employer concierge data (2023). Mount Sinai's network of 12,000 physicians documented that employer-sponsored concierge clinicians treat 4 to 6 patients per day, compared with 30 to 50 patients per day in traditional employer-clinic primary care [4]. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey paired with the same study found 89 percent of employees say healthcare benefits are important to job satisfaction [4].
The pattern across all three is consistent. Pay more for primary care up front, spend less on the rest of the medical plan, and improve employee retention.
For the underlying math on why DPC alone (without an employer wrapper) often costs less than traditional insurance for healthier populations, see DPC vs traditional primary care: a real cost comparison in 2026.
What a 100-Employee Contract Actually Costs
Take a hypothetical 100-employee company in a metro like Nashville, Tennessee considering a DPC employer contract.
100 covered employees at $100 per month = $120,000 per year in DPC fees
Average traditional medical claims for the same population, per Hint Health's $592 PMPM benchmark, would total roughly $710,000 per year [2]
Layer in projected DPC-driven savings of 30 to 50 percent on the medical plan, and the all-in benefit cost can drop by $150,000 to $300,000 per year while the workforce gets dramatically better access [2][3]
The smaller the company, the more sensitive the math is to the actual usage rate. A 50-person company piloting DPC should expect break-even or modest savings in year one and a clearer ROI by year two as preventive care reduces ER visits and specialist referrals.
For a deeper read on why these access changes drive measurable cost reduction, the 40 percent ER utilization reduction analysis lays out the patient-level mechanism.
How To Evaluate a Practice or Network
The procurement decision usually breaks down into six questions.
Is the practice MD or DO led? NextMD only lists practices led by a doctor of medicine (MD) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO). Nurse practitioner-only and physician assistant-only practices are growing in adjacent segments but are a different category. Ask the practice directly.
What is the panel cap per physician? Concierge models keep panels under 300 patients per doctor. DPC models cap at roughly 800 patients per doctor [5]. Compare with traditional primary care panels of 2,000 to 2,500 patients per doctor [5]. The lower the cap, the more access your employees actually get.
What is included in the PMPM? Most DPC contracts include unlimited primary care visits, basic in-office labs, and direct messaging with the physician. Imaging, specialty referrals, and urgent care outside business hours are typically not included.
HDHP and HSA compatibility. As of January 1, 2026, new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules formally allow DPC memberships to coexist with HDHPs and health savings accounts (HSAs). Confirm your benefits broker has updated plan design templates accordingly.
Onboarding and data privacy. What is the eligibility flow? What employee data does the practice or platform require, and where is it stored? AAFP data shows 24 percent of employers actively require some form of utilization reporting in 2024, down from 32 percent in 2019 [1]. Less data sharing is the trend.
Pilot terms. Most practices and platforms will agree to a 6- to 12-month pilot with a defined ramp. Use the pilot to confirm clinical fit, employee satisfaction, and observable cost trends before the full rollout.
Where Mid-Market Buyers Find Candidate Practices
NextMD's directory carries more than 4,600 MD and DO-led concierge and DPC practices across all 50 states. For an employer-side procurement search, the highest-leverage filters are city or metro, practice type (DPC vs concierge), and tier (entry, premium, or ultra premium).
Sources
American Academy of Family Physicians. (2024). Direct Primary Care: A Data Brief on Practice Patterns and Employer Contracts. Read on AAFP.org
Hint Health. (2025). Employer Trends in Direct Primary Care: 2025 Industry Report. Read the Hint Industry Report
Basu, S., Phillips, R. S., Phillips, R., Peterson, L. E., & Landon, B. E. (2020). Primary care practice finances in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Network Open. Find on PubMed (verify exact URL before publishing)
Mount Sinai Solutions. (2023). Employer-Sponsored Concierge Medicine: Patient Volume and Engagement Findings. Mount Sinai Health System. Read on MountSinai.org (verify exact URL before publishing)
NextMD. (2026). Pricing tiers and panel-size standards. Internal canonical reference (panel-size and pricing data drawn from NextMD directory of 4,600+ MD/DO-led practices).