Advanced Gynecology

04/24/2023

Mergers with big health systems have eliminated most independent physician practices.

Employed physicians are required to see more patients in less time. To keep schedules moving, nurse practitioners and physician assistants absorb the overflow. The resulting care is fragmented, and often lower in quality. Patients are frustrated.

Amid these trends, my greatest joy is the independence of my practice. It allows me to provide you personalized, high-quality care. I believe this style of medicine is the best way to keep you well.

So-called “small things”— like appointments long enough to answer your questions; or seeing an actual M.D. instead of an ancillary provider; or visits conducted with no computer in sight, so the doctor is focused entirely on you — may be deemed non-covered or not medically necessary by health insurance.

For that reason, we have a required practice membership fee. This allows me to offer you better care, including:

- Unhurried appointments with time enough to plan your care—and for individualized, preventative-health counseling.

- Fewer appointment delays. Your time is valuable. Barring emergencies, we keep your wait to the absolute minimum.

- Same day or next-day appointments for urgent problems, in person or over video.

- Greater access to me: email or secure messaging. That does not change if I happen to be out of town.

- Ability to book routine appointments online, 24/7.

- Prescription renewals within one business day

Read more about the benefits of Advanced Gynecology's membership program:

https://www.advancedgyne.com/membership

04/23/2023

It's . Here are some real-world pearls from Dr. Jahedi:

HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., is a tiny virus, small enough that condoms are not protective in preventing its transmission. It also happens that most people have no symptoms that they carry it.

No wonder it’s so prevalent!

In women, this virus can cause and ge***al warts. If you are a sexually active person in the country today, each new partner (unless you are mutual first partners) is another possible exposure to HPV. And since there are over 80 subtypes of HPV circulating, chances are likely you’ll be exposed at some point along the way. Over 42 million Americans have HPV.

Fear not though! The human immune system is amazing. Most of the time, your body will recognize that this virus doesn’t belong and is able to suppress it. Routine pap smears detect HPV related changes early and save lives. The Gardasil vaccine is a safe and effective tool for prevention.

Interested in learning more about how to best screen for and protect yourself against STIs? Come on in to discuss.

Photo credit: CDC.gov

04/22/2023

Happy Earth Day!

04/22/2023

Eid Mubarek!

04/21/2023

Have you been wondering why so many doctors are leaving their small private practices?

I will tell you what I tell my patients: is no longer a profitable enterprise. That is why doctors are leaving it and selling their practices to corporations. Drive down any street and you’ll see a plethora of retail pharmacy clinics, hospital owned urgent care centers and large health systems with big ads all over the place. Where is Jane Smith, MD hanging out her shingle? She can’t - and here are four factors at play:

1. Rising administrative costs - The cost of running a business is always on the rise. This is true for everyone from Amazon to my hairdresser. In medicine, however, we have some unique challenges. There are a host of non paid tasks that take up ever more time- coding and prior authorizations for example. Hours are spent on these tasks. People are hired to navigate these complex systems- with no direct return in reimbursements to the practice for the time and money spent on them.

2. Low and falling payment rates - While the costs of running a business are increased, reimbursements from insurance have either plateaued or decreased. Basic math tells you that this won’t end well for a small business. Yet medicine’s business model is such that insurance sets our prices- we do not have the ability to charge more (or less).

3. The doctor differential - Did you know that as an independent physician, I get paid less by insurance for doing the same work as a health system employed physician? An annual exam or procedure done in my office reimburses me less than it does for my colleagues employed by the large health system down the street. It is true, for reasons listed below.

4. Lack of negotiating leverage - When negotiating with insurance, it helps to be a big fish. Small doctor owned practices do not have the same resources to negotiate with insurance, and our voices are often ignored. We have to take what they give us- no room to argue. While many doctors made do with less for many years in order to practice medicine the way they knew was best, in the end the economics of the system took over.

For these reasons and many more (rising malpractice costs, anyone?) most independent doctors have decided to sell their practice to the large health systems, or to private equity firms that promise them less headache and larger returns.

The most recent numbers from early this year confirm this - only 26% of physicians in the US today are in private practice. Medicine in a small practice is simply not sustainable!

04/20/2023

A study published in 2016 in the Annals of Family Medicine showed that large practices did not result in lower prices, higher quality or better care experiences. Instead, it turned out that the main effect of the consolidation was market power used to extract higher prices from insurance and to prevent savings from being passed on to either insurers or patients.

The evidence did suggest that small physician owned practices provided a greater level of personalization and responsiveness to patient needs, with lower average cost per patient, fewer preventable hospital admissions and lower readmission rates than larger, independent and hospital owned practices.

04/18/2023

Welcome to Advanced Gynecology!

We are a small practice dedicated to preserving the doctor-patient relationship. My name is Sogol Jahedi, MD, and I believe that this relationship is at the heart of what makes good medical care possible for patients.

Many of my patients will lament to me the loss of a trusted doctor, and tell me how hard it has been for them to find a replacement in our current system of Big Medicine. They are frustrated by long waits to get in, rushed visits and multiple “providers”. They feel that their concerns are not well addressed and that “no one cares” the way their previous doc did.

I agree. Small practice medicine is known to produce good health outcomes.

To me, the reason that small practices often take better care of patients is obvious. We have skin in the game! You are my patient and your health is a direct reflection of the care that I am giving you. Your satisfaction is important to me. The more we build trust with each other, the better off BOTH of us will be.

By staying in solo practice, I am able to give a type of care (comprehensive, empathetic) that I would not have the time to do otherwise.

This autonomy in turn fuels my love of medicine and all of the reasons that I chose this profession. It is a win-win for the doctor-patient relationship!

We're so excited to make our Facebook debut and can't wait to further connect with you on social media.

Follow us here on Facebook and on Instagram at for patient education and more information about our practice!

Small gynecology practice — exceptional care.