"In a hospital gown, we are all created equal," reads the firm's Web site marketing material.

The company staffs a 24-hour operations center in Leesburg, Va., about 40 miles from downtown Washington, from which doctors may treat patients through secure high-resolution teleconferencing. The firm has about 55 individuals as clients of its support services, for which it charges from $6,000 to $12,000 a month, and has installed about 15 ReadyRooms, he says.

"We borrowed the idea of the technology, high-end telemedicine connectivity, out of the White House situation room," O'Mara says.

Part of the rush toward high-end, private services may stem from a growing gap in the availability of health-care providers. There was a shortage of about 13,700 physicians in the U.S. in 2010, which may rise to about 91,500 in 2020 and 130,600 by 2025, according to estimates by the Washington-based Association of American Medical Colleges.

An increase in doctors moving to a concierge or retainer business model could reduce access further, says Julia Paradise, an associate director in Washington at the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

"It's just math," Paradise says. "If the physicians who are practicing take fewer patients, it reduces access in the wider population and it generally limits access to people with very substantial resources."

The health-care reform law passed in 2010 could exacerbate a system that's already "overtaxed," says MDVIP's Murrison. The law may increase the number of Americans with health insurance by about 32 million, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Private Health Management, a high-end provider based in Los Angeles, assists with identifying doctors in the U.S. for primary and specialty care as well as abroad for travel-related emergencies. The firm also compiles reports to answer patients' questions about treatment and diagnosis options, says Leslie Michelson, chairman and chief executive officer.

The company digitizes patients' medical records, which they receive on portable USB memory drives that fit in their wallets.

"There's an enormous difference between the very best the health-care system has to offer and the very worst," Michelson says. "We help our patients get the very best."