A piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune today puts a healthy spin on concierge medicine and cash clinics.

The article examines some of the rewarding and revolutionary possibilities awaiting physicians willing to buck the system and venture in creative new directions.

The gist: What's good for doctors is, not surprisingly, also often what's good for patient-care:

(Dr. Michael Oldenburg is) among a sprinkling of Twin Cities doctors escaping the pressures of modern American medicine by striking out on their own. Some are offering "concierge care," where a limited number of patients pay a membership fee for 24-hour access to a physician. Even University of Minnesota Physicians is experimenting with a small clinic opening soon in Minneapolis' Warehouse District, where two doctors will make house calls on bicycles.

These experiments amount to tiny rebellions against increasingly large and impersonal health care systems and their emphasis on the bottom line. But they also speak to a hankering for something many doctors feel they've lost in the hurly-burly of seeing up to 30 patients a day -- the personal relationship between doctor and patient.