Paradox Health

04/03/2024

Sometimes life comes at you hard, and sudden. Fortunately, in those times, Paradox Health can help ease the pain with lower wait times, concise planning, and clear solutions.

This finger got caught in a gate at a kids play area and we were able to put everything back together again.

Cost - $30/mo membership

01/23/2024

“Show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome.” Some may recognize this quote by the late, great Charlie Munger. I’ve been thinking of it’s application often since he passed.

I think it applies to medicine as well as anywhere else.
The system of insurance based medicine is not incentivized to help docs take ownership of a problem. This is not to demonize all the great docs out there helping people 24/7, but the system they work in that rewards them for referrals, and punishes them harshly for doing things “outside of their scope” as defined by a hospital administrator. For example, an urgent care I worked at wouldn’t let me do joint injections as a matter of policy even though I had plenty of training and experience with them. Because of this, patients were quite frustrated that I wasn’t “allowed” to help them with their problem, even though the solution was at hand.

DPC flips those incentives on their head. We want happy, healthy patients, full stop.
Whatever your need, whatever time, we’ve got you covered!

This was a nice little subcuticular closure with a 5-0 absorbable suture on an early Monday morning forehead laceration. The patient interacts a lot with clients and so he preferred a closure that would be less noticeable.

12/11/2023

Remember when you were told, “If you like your insurance, you can keep it?”
Remember when you were told, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?”
Well, I don’t remember the second one. But it would seem to make sense that you should be able to stay with the same doctor if they know you well and you have a good relationship. This article really gets to the heart of the matter. It does not benefit the corporate interests to allow you to stay with the same doctor or even to see a medical doctor in the first place. The corporations that run medicine have never figured out how to make money delivering primary care. They tend to lose money by capturing patients into their primary care clinics in order to refer them to their specialist clinics where the margins are much higher.

Walgreens, a company that has been around since 1901, had their first losing year after acquiring two primary care companies and trying to run them in 2023.

Washington hasn’t figured out primary care and it never will. The corporate interests will come up with a solution that benefits them and not you. But the market has already found a solution, it’s called DPC and it benefits the patients first and foremost. You get to keep your doctor no matter what. No matter if you lose your job, change insurance, or even if you’re not in town.
RMI hysterosalpingogram is $549 out of pocket cost. Location is Lennon Rd Flint MI.

10/10/2023

Early morning text conversation before school a few weeks ago:

Parent: **** gashed up his check pretty good this morning. Do you do stitches in house? He may be in need of some.

Dr. Hellman: That's a nice one! Can you meet me at the office at 8:45?

Parent: Yeah! Thanks.

In and out in 30min. He didn’t go to school...but he could have!

Cost - $30 monthly membership

09/05/2023

Blood Pressure, one of the most unsexy ways to lower your risk of death and disease. In fact, elevated blood pressure carries with it the same level of risk for stroke and heart attack as does elevated cholesterol.
In order to obtain an accurate reading, you need to be very thorough and make sure you have both an reliable machine and the right sized blood pressure cuff. You also need to make sure you’re not stressed or anxious at the time of the reading.

Blood pressure does tend to rise with age, as the elasticity of your blood vessels decreases.
Daily vigorous exercise, general physical movement, along with stress reduction are the surest ways to keep your blood pressure under control. Monitoring levels of Uric Acid can also be important for a certain subset of the population.

If you’re overweight, you need to shed the fat. 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of weight reduction, on average, results in 1.02mmHG decrease in systolic BP and 0.92mmHG decrease in diastolic BP.

The most important take away, is to have your BP controlled, whether with medications or without. If you can do it without, great, but if you need a little extra help, that’s much better than going uncontrolled for years and years.

08/29/2023

08/29/2023

Molecules that can influence your biochemical milieu include not just prescription medications but also supplements.
These are some of the supplements we carry to help our patients with different deficiencies and to lower their risk of atherosclerosis and dementia.

When it comes to supplements, just like Big Pharma, there is Big Supplement. In fact, most of the supplement companies are owned by either pharmaceutical companies, or Big Food companies like Nestle. There are plenty of snake oil supplements out there that have no benefit and can actually be harmful, especially to the liver and kidneys.

So before you start on a supplement, make sure you're educated on its efficacy, its risks, and its benefits

08/24/2023

First day of school for these two.

One question we are frequently asked -
Can you do Health Appraisals or physicals for school?

YES! YES! & YES!

So if you're in need, don't hesitate to call us up. Same day appointments available. Just another perk of having a DPC doctor.

medicine # rochestermi  

07/29/2022

A few weekends ago we attended the DPC Summit in Kansas City, MO. Along with learning more about practice efficiencies and helping other docs launch their own DPC practice, we took a Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) course and learned a ton! POCUS is great because it allows us to answer a specific question very quickly, such as:
- Is that kidney stone causing a blockage?
- Does this patient have an adequate ejection fraction?
- Is there an abdominal aortic aneurysm?
- Is there fluid in the knee joint?
- Is this patient able to fully empty their bladder?
- Does the patient have pneumonia?

05/18/2022

KIDS AND FOOD
I find there to be a lack of good information on how to raise kids with a good diet. What’s more, is the double standard we see displayed:

What does society view as an ideal diet for adults? Vegetables, lean meats, some fruit, and a lack of processed food. (Most people would at least agree upon shopping the periphery of the grocery store).

What does society idealize for kids? Cereal, goldfish, donuts, candy, juice, ice cream, and happy meals.

Why do we view these latter foods as okay for kids but bad for adults?

I plan on writing a longer blog post on this topic soon, and I know I’m going to offend someone with it, but for now my main goal is to get people thinking about this juxtaposition. And if you’re looking for some guidelines, I have found those below to be quite helpful:

My kids should be eating what I’m eating for 75% of their meals.
Try to minimize food as reward.
If they’re eating something different, make it another healthy option.
If my kids have a treat, make sure their next meal is not a treat.
If my kids start throwing tantrums over a food item, take it out of the house, at least temporarily.

I chose these photos because I get a lot of comments from parents that their kids will eat fruit, even some veggies, and of course the processed, packaged stuff, but not meat. This is just to demonstrate it’s not impossible to raise kids with a balanced diet.

I realize the photos make it look like my kids only eat meat, and that’s definitely not the case. It’s just the salad pictures aren’t as click-baity!

03/03/2022

Paradox Health is growing! In just 12 days we will be a team of three with Dr. Lyndsi Davenport joining the practice. Dr. Davenport is an internal medicine doctor who graduated from Michigan State College of Osteopathic Medicine. I knew that she would be a great fit for the clinic when I first met her because of her deep interest in nutrition and lifestyle interventions to help keep her patients as healthy as possible. Lyndsi Davenport-Paul is a former bodybuilder and still maintains a very regular and impressive workout schedule. She is especially knowledgeable in adult medicine and managing complex diseases. She's also a female! So, if you've been hesitating to join Paradox Health due to our lack of a female doctor, the wait is no more!
🎉🎉🎉
She will be starting March 15th and is currently accepting new patients! If interested, go to our website (www.paradox.health) to enroll now with Dr. Lyndsi Davenport.
👊🤩🥳