You paid for a relationship with a specific doctor. Then a letter arrives saying that doctor is retiring, selling the practice, or joining a national network.
Your first question is probably, "What happens to my care?"
The next questions follow quickly. Do you automatically become a patient of the successor? Can you get your membership fee back? Who controls your medical records? Will the price change? Does your doctor still make the clinical decisions?
Those answers depend on what is actually changing and what your membership agreement says. Retirement usually ends the relationship on a stated date. A sale may replace the owner while the same physician stays. Joining a network may add a brand and management services without changing the professional practice owner at all.
Treat the notice as the beginning of a new buying decision. You do not have to evaluate every transition as good or bad. You need to identify the new arrangement, protect active care, and decide whether the relationship you originally purchased will still exist.
Start by Identifying Which Event Is Happening
"The practice is changing" can describe several different transactions.
Event | What may change | What may stay the same | Your immediate question |
|---|---|---|---|
Doctor retires and practice closes | Your physician relationship, office access, prescriptions, referrals, and record custodian | Your records and your right to obtain them | Who covers care after the final date? |
Doctor retires and names a successor | Your treating physician and possibly the membership agreement | Office, staff, records, and service model | Am I choosing the successor or being automatically enrolled? |
Practice is sold and doctor stays | Ownership, management, contract terms, pricing, staffing, or technology | Your doctor and current office may remain | What authority does the new owner have? |
Practice is sold and doctor leaves | Ownership and the physician relationship | Office location, staff, or brand may remain | Can I follow the doctor, choose another doctor, or receive a refund? |
Practice joins a network | Branding, membership administration, wellness program, marketing, or fee collection | The physician may continue owning and operating the clinical practice | Is this an affiliation, a management agreement, or an ownership sale? |
A logo change does not tell you which row applies. Ask the practice to describe the legal and practical change in plain language.
What the Practice Owes Its Patients
Physicians have a professional obligation to support continuity of care. American Medical Association ethics guidance says a physician ending a relationship should notify the patient far enough in advance to allow time to find another physician and should facilitate a transfer when appropriate.[1]
When a practice is sold, the outgoing physician should tell patients about the ownership change, retirement or departure, and how to access or transfer records. A 2025 AMA Journal of Ethics analysis also argues that patients should be told who or what organization is assuming ownership so they can make an informed choice.[2]
State requirements differ. Some states specify which patients must receive notice, how notice must be delivered, what it must say, and how records will be stored. The North Carolina Medical Board, for example, expects notice to explain that patients may choose their provider, how to contact remaining or departing clinicians, and how to obtain or transfer records.[3]
The practical standard is straightforward. A useful transition notice should tell you:
The effective date of the retirement, departure, sale, or affiliation
Whether your current doctor will continue treating patients
The successor physician's name and credentials, if one has been selected
Who will provide urgent coverage during the transition
Who will handle open test results, referrals, refills, and prior authorizations
Who will store the medical record and how you can obtain it
Whether your current membership agreement continues, transfers, or ends
Whether the annual fee, benefits, renewal date, or cancellation terms will change
Whether you may follow the departing doctor
How to decline the transition and request any available refund
If the notice does not answer those questions, request the answers in writing.
Your First 48 Hours: Protect Active Care Before Comparing Practices
Do not begin with the new owner's website. Begin with anything that could cause a medical interruption.
1. List every open clinical item
Write down:
Medications that will need a refill within 60 days
Controlled medications or treatments requiring regular visits
Pending laboratory, imaging, biopsy, or screening results
Referrals that have been ordered but not completed
Specialist appointments your concierge doctor was coordinating
Prior authorizations in progress
Forms, clearances, or letters you are waiting for
Chronic conditions due for follow-up
Ask who owns each task and when it will be completed. A patient with a biopsy result due Friday has a different transition risk than a patient whose next preventive visit is nine months away.
2. Download the portable parts of your chart
Save your current medication list, allergy list, problem list, vaccination history, recent laboratory results, imaging reports, specialist notes, and last comprehensive care plan. Portal access can change when an electronic health record or ownership arrangement changes.
3. Confirm interim coverage
Ask which clinician will answer urgent questions between the outgoing doctor's final day and your first visit with a successor. Clarify how refills, abnormal results, and after-hours calls will work. The North Carolina Medical Board notes that continuity can include bridge refills and appropriate referrals until a patient establishes new care.[3]
4. Avoid signing immediately
A successor may send a new agreement with a short response window. Request enough time to review the services, fees, cancellation language, privacy terms, and physician assignment. Ask whether receiving interim care or attending a transition visit triggers a new membership term before you schedule it.
Who Owns Your Medical Records After the Change?
The practice or another designated custodian may physically maintain the record. The information remains accessible to you.
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), patients generally have the right to inspect and receive copies of medical and billing records held by covered providers. A provider cannot deny a copy because you owe money for care, although limited reasonable copying and mailing charges may apply.[4]
Your access right covers much more than a visit summary. It can include clinical notes, medication history, laboratory reports, imaging, billing records, insurance information, and other information used to make decisions about you. HHS says a covered entity generally must act on an access request within 30 days, although a shorter state deadline may apply.[5]
Request the record before the transition date when possible. Ask for a complete electronic copy for yourself and a clinically useful transfer to the new physician. Confirm whether large imaging files, outside specialist records, and older archived records are included.
AMA ethics guidance says physicians should never refuse a requested record transfer and should tell patients how long stored records will remain available.[6] State retention and notification rules vary, so the notice should identify the custodian's name, address, phone number, and request process.
Can You Get a Refund or Transfer the Membership?
There is no universal concierge refund rule. The membership agreement is the starting point, and state contract or consumer-protection law may also apply.
Read these provisions:
Termination by the physician or practice
Termination by the patient
Assignment of the agreement to a buyer or successor
Automatic renewal
Refunds and prorating
Required notice period
Physician substitution
Material changes to services
Practice closure, disability, or death
Some agreements provide a prorated refund. Others require 30 days' notice, make annual fees nonrefundable after a stated date, or permit the practice to substitute another physician. Northwestern Medicine's public concierge FAQ, for example, describes a prorated refund after its required cancellation-notice period.[7] That is one program's policy, not an industry standard.
Ask the practice to calculate your options in dollars:
What amount have I paid for the current membership year?
What date will the current physician stop providing the contracted service?
What refund would I receive if I decline the successor?
Can the unused balance transfer to another physician or location?
Will accepting one visit with the successor waive my cancellation or refund rights?
Will a new annual term begin automatically?
Keep the original agreement, renewal notices, receipts, transition letter, and written answers. This guide is general information, not legal advice. If the fee is substantial or the practice disputes the contract, consult a lawyer familiar with healthcare and consumer contracts in your state.
How to Evaluate the Successor Physician
A successor inherits a chart. That does not mean the successor inherits your trust.
Evaluate the physician as if you were joining a new practice:
Credentials and scope
Confirm an active medical license, board certification, training, disciplinary history, and whether the doctor's scope fits your needs. The Federation of State Medical Boards directs patients to state medical board profiles and its DocInfo service for license and disciplinary information.[8]
Actual access
Ask how many patients the doctor carries, how long routine visits last, who answers after-hours calls, and how often you will see the named physician instead of another clinician. Concierge doctors generally keep panels under 300 and offer 30- to 60-plus-minute visits, but a buyer can change enrollment targets over time.
Clinical continuity
Schedule a transition visit before committing to a full year. Ask the successor to summarize your active problems, medications, recent results, and next three priorities. The answer shows whether the chart was transferred and reviewed or merely made available in the software.
Coverage and affiliations
Recheck private insurance, Medicare status, hospital privileges, referral relationships, and telehealth coverage. None should be assumed from the former physician's arrangements.
Personal fit
Ask how the doctor approaches prevention, testing, specialist coordination, messaging, and decisions with uncertain evidence. More technology or a longer annual exam may not compensate for a physician whose style does not fit yours.
Multi-physician groups can offer more internal continuity than a solo practice. A group such as Northern Virginia Family Practice in Arlington, for example, has multiple physicians across adult and pediatric care. Even in a group, patients should ask whether they may choose among physicians and whether the membership terms change. Patients can compare other options in the Virginia concierge and DPC directory.
Use NextMD's doctor-selection checklist to compare the successor with outside candidates on the same criteria.
How to Evaluate the New Owner or Network
Ownership and network affiliation affect the business around your doctor. Focus on what can change your care.
Ask seven questions:
Who owns the professional practice? Request the legal entity name, not only the consumer brand.
Is there a separate management company? Ask which company controls staffing, technology, marketing, fee collection, and the membership agreement.
Did the physician sell equity or only sign an affiliation agreement? A network relationship does not always mean the network bought the practice.
Who controls clinical decisions? Ask whether the physician controls referrals, tests, appointment length, panel size, and hiring of clinical staff.
What changed today? Request a comparison of the old and new price, services, staffing, privacy notice, cancellation terms, and renewal date.
What can change at the next renewal? Ask about fee increases, service reductions, physician substitution, and additional locations.
How can you leave? Confirm the notice process, effective date, refund calculation, and records transfer.
Network scale can bring backup coverage, standardized technology, a larger referral directory, and administrative support. It can also bring new fees, central scheduling, enrollment targets, or more distance between the doctor and business decisions. Judge the specific agreement.
NextMD's analysis of private equity in concierge medicine explains the ownership structures. The SignatureMD sale to L Catterton is one recent example of a network-level ownership change that did not automatically amount to the sale of every affiliated physician's practice.
Stay or Leave? Use the Same Test in Both Directions
Stay may make sense when | Compare outside options when |
|---|---|
Your doctor remains and retains clinical control | Your named doctor is leaving or reducing availability |
The successor reviewed your chart and fits your needs | The successor is assigned without a meaningful introduction |
Price, access, and services remain clear | The fee rises while access or included services shrink |
Active treatments will continue without interruption | Refills, results, referrals, or coverage are unclear |
The agreement preserves reasonable cancellation and refund terms | You are pressured to sign before receiving the complete terms |
Ownership is disclosed and questions receive direct answers | The practice will not identify the owner or management company |
Familiar staff and a transferred chart have real value. They should not become reasons to accept a materially different service without comparison.
If you leave, use NextMD's step-by-step switching guide to sequence the new-patient visit, records transfer, medication coverage, and cancellation.
A 30-Day Transition Plan
Days 1 to 3
Read the notice and original membership agreement.
List active medications, pending results, and open referrals.
Ask for the effective date, interim coverage, records custodian, and financial options.
Save portal information and key documents.
Days 4 to 10
Meet the successor physician if one is offered.
Verify credentials, coverage, hospital affiliations, panel design, and after-hours access.
Obtain the new agreement and a written comparison with the old one.
Identify two outside practices for comparison.
Days 11 to 20
Choose whether to stay, follow the departing physician, or select another practice.
Request your records in the needed format.
Schedule the first appointment with the chosen doctor.
Confirm enough medication and monitoring coverage to reach that visit.
Days 21 to 30
Submit cancellation or transfer instructions before the deadline.
Confirm the refund or account credit in writing.
Verify that records arrived and are readable.
Close every pending result, referral, and authorization with a named owner.
FAQ
Can a concierge practice assign me to another doctor?
The membership agreement may allow physician substitution or assignment to a successor, but you retain the ability to choose who provides your care. Review the contract, meet the proposed doctor, and ask how to decline or cancel.
Am I entitled to a prorated refund if my doctor retires?
It depends on the agreement and applicable state law. Some programs provide prorated refunds, while others use notice periods or different termination rules. Request the practice's calculation and the contract section supporting it.
Can the buyer keep my medical records?
A buyer or designated custodian may maintain the records, subject to privacy and state requirements. You generally retain the right to access your record and request a copy or transfer.
How long does a practice have to provide my records?
HIPAA generally requires a covered entity to act within 30 days of receiving an access request. State law may require a shorter period. Request records early when a closure or system change is approaching.[5]
Do I have to stay with the physician selected by the practice?
No. Patients retain freedom to choose their physician. You can evaluate the successor, follow a departing physician when available, or move to another practice, subject to the financial terms of your membership agreement.
Will joining a national network change my care?
Possibly. A network may provide administration, branding, technology, wellness benefits, or backup support while the physician continues owning the practice. Another transaction may change ownership or management control. Ask what changed legally, financially, and operationally.
What if the practice closes without useful notice?
Contact the practice, records custodian, successor, or health system named in any communication. If you cannot obtain records or continuity information, contact your state medical board. Address urgent medication or clinical needs through another qualified physician, urgent care, or emergency services as appropriate.
Compare Before You Transfer the Relationship
A smooth handoff can preserve years of clinical history. A rushed handoff can lock you into a different service because the office address feels familiar.
Search NextMD to compare physician-led concierge and DPC practices by location, model, pricing, and services. Meet the successor and at least one alternative before deciding where the next chapter of your care belongs.
Sources
American Medical Association. Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 1.1.5: Terminating a Patient-Physician Relationship. Read the ethics opinion
American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. (2025). What Are Physicians' Duties to Patients When They Sell Their Practices? Read the ethics analysis
North Carolina Medical Board. Departures From or Closings of Medical Practices. Read the position statement
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Your Medical Records. Read the HIPAA patient guidance
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Individuals' Right Under HIPAA to Access Their Health Information. Read the access guidance
American Medical Association. Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 3.3.1: Management of Medical Records. Read the ethics opinion
Northwestern Medicine. Concierge Medicine Frequently Asked Questions. Review its cancellation and refund policy
Federation of State Medical Boards. Information for Consumers. Review physician-verification resources