Question 1

What is a personalized medicine practice?

Accepted Answer

Personalized medicine is a small, attentive practice where we limit the number of patients to provide the needed time for preventative and personalized care. In order to keep the practice small and intimate, we charge an annual fee instead of billing your insurance company for visits.
We serve as your physician, advisor and advocate.  We open the doors to specialists and hospitals for the best medical care possible.

Question 2

What does the annual fee cover?

Accepted Answer

The annual fee covers all of our doctor visits, whether in the hospital or office.

Question 3

How does insurance work in all of this?

Accepted Answer

You need to keep your medical insurance for all of the ancillary testing, specialist consultations or hospitalizations that you may require. We currently are out of network for all private insurance and no longer participate in Medicare, but all testing (blood work, x-rays etc) will be billed to your insurance by the in-network provider that we refer you to. As long as your private insurance is not an HMO or Medicare HMO, your out-of-pocket costs will not be affected by our insurance status.

Question 4

What about specialist referrals?

Accepted Answer

As your personal doctor, we are knowledgeable about the best specialists in the area, and have excellent lines of communication with them. Our staff is able to coordinate these appointments, and, many times, expedite the waiting time for the visit. When you visit the specialist, it will be a conventional visit using your medical insurance. We are then able to follow-up with you and your specialist about the visit.

Question 5

What hospitals do you go to?

Accepted Answer

We are on staff at Barnes-Jewish, Barnes-Jewish West, and Missouri Baptist Hospitals. Should you require hospitalization we will coordinate your care and visit you in the hospital.

Question 6

Do you share coverage?

Accepted Answer

Each physician cares for their patients from Monday at 6 a.m. until Friday at 5 p.m. One of us will then be on-call for concerns regarding any patient in the practice from Friday evening until Monday morning. The on-call physician will cover all medical issues during this time. We think you will find that our practice styles and personalities are quite similar, making coverage situations seamless.

Question 7

How do I reach you?

Accepted Answer

We are easily contacted at the office by phone or through the MyChart Patient portal during usual business hours. If we are in the midst of seeing patients, we will return the call or message promptly. After hours we can be reached on our cell phones for urgent issues or the MyChart portal for non-time-sensitive concerns.  The MyChart patient portal is secure, HIPAA compliant messaging that is linked to your chart automatically. This is the preferred method of communication as email is not HIPAA compliant or encrypted.

Question 8

Does my annual fee apply to my insurance deductible, or can it be made tax deductible?

Accepted Answer

Your annual fee does not count toward your medical insurance deductible. Some patients have Health Savings Accounts or Flexible Spending Accounts which may allow for your annual fee to be paid with pre-tax dollars. You should check with your specific plan to find out if it applies.

Question 9

Do you make house-calls?

Accepted Answer

Our practice is office and hospital-based. On rare occasions, we will make home visits for patients who are home bound.

Question 10

How do I sign up?

Accepted Answer

Our physicians' panels are full. If you would like to join a waitlist or have additional questions, please call the office at 314-993-1200.

Frequently asked questions