Executive Spine & Pain

My interest in medicine began in high school: biology introduced me to the remarkable complexity of cells and the human body. There were no physicians in my family, but long conversations with a classmate’s physician father helped me understand how knowledge of the human body could be used to relieve suffering and meaningfully contribute to society. After studying science in college, I was accepted to medical school.

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During my medical training in New York City, I explored many specialties but anesthesiology captured my attention. I was drawn to its combination of in-depth organ system knowledge, advanced monitoring technology, and precise procedural skills (including nerve blocks and spinal injections). I remember observing and admiring an anesthesiologist efficiently and calmly save a patient’s life with post-anesthesia complications. 

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During my residency rotations at a pain management center, I discovered the importance of care continuity. During my anesthesiology training, patient encounters were brief and lacked follow-up. My desire to better support health led to the realization that achieving real system health, and pain avoidance, involved more tools and approaches than pain medication and anesthesia. I saw the value of pain clinic patients repeatedly working with physicians to achieve improved health over time, with lasting relationships formed—that relationship connection mattered. I helped a patient suffering from a serious industrial accident. While supporting his care, I could see how operation anesthesia knowledge can translate into a life-altering positive health outcome for that patient. That experience inspired my pain management focus. 

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Having had the privilege of treating tens of thousands of pain medicine patients over the years reinforced my belief that time to listen, understanding a patient’s history, evaluating treatment options, and engaging in thoughtful medical decisions collaboratively leads to better outcomes. But US healthcare insurance reimbursement is not designed to promote overall wellness or to facilitate a relational-based care model. Insurance plan restrictions on time, frequency and scope of care, and the need to justify diagnosis and treatment based on condition severity, all frustrate the relational and connected version of healthcare I believe works best.

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Searching for alternative approaches to structuring healthcare, I discovered a subscription/membership care model has existed in the US for over 100 years and emphasizes annual/follow-up comprehensive diagnostic exams, supported by year-round direct communication with a healthcare professional, to better prevent, diagnose and treat in ways that are entirely beyond what healthcare insurance plans cover. After spending five (5) years studying various versions of this care model (sometimes called executive/corporate health, or concierge, or lifestyle/longevity medicine) I decided that adopting this care model would better enable me to practice medicine the way I believe works best. I transitioned our chronic pain management practice into a subscription/membership model so that my approach care is not restricted by plan coverage or prior authorization restraints. We focus on personalized care, ongoing and lasting relationships, and having all the time needed to make thoughtful, individualized prevention, diagnosis and treatment decisions.