A letter to you

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Dear patients of Observatory Primary Care,

I want to wish you all a healthy and happy new year. In October 2023 our practice celebrated 5 years of providing for the health needs of you and your loved ones. It has been my honor serve as your physician. I have learned a lot over the past 5 years and continue find my joy in helping you achieve your health goals. I want to recognize the people who have helped us over these 5 years. Jo and Laura continue to be the people who help make this practice work. I could not do what I do to help you without them. I also appreciate the roles that Sonya and Blair played in helping me run this practice in the past. There are many challenges that running a solo practitioner practice pose that I continue to balance. I want you to know that your well being is my primary motivation. I do appreciate that you understand that I am just a person who is also a doctor. I strive to provide you with excellent health guidance while at the same time having balance in my life.  

I have had patients in the past have expectations that Observatory Primary Care be a “concierge” practice. I have never claimed to provide this type of service and do not believe I personally have the ability, resources or inclination to participate in that type of offering. I know that there are similarities. I strive to provide you with personalized medical care that respects your values and needs, you have timely access to me either in person or via telehealth appointments nearly everyday and you all have direct access to my personal cell phone in case you have an urgent medical concern when I am not scheduling appointments (even when I am on vacation). Where my approach differs I think is that I treat each of you as a patient first not a client. If you need my medical advice or a prescription for something I have not prescribed for you then I hope you understand that I need time make a considered response to your particular situation when making these types of decisions. Unfortunately, we seem to be living in a culture where this type of time has been devalued. I am well aware of the trends of fast medicine, online prescribers and AI providers. It is my observation that managed care, medical insurers, and others are very quick to embrace these modalities if it means a more profitable financial quarter. In fact, the medical system is infested with parasitic entities that steal time and money that should be spent directly on the patients and medical providers that would benefit more from these resources. I was recently informed by one of our largest medical insurers that I would need to comply with an arbitrary condition or risk not having my contract renewed. I could see no direct benefit to the well being of my patients so I chose not to comply with this request. As a result I will no longer be under contract with this insurer. I suspect that other insurers may try similar tactics in the future. I want you to understand that I will consider all these requests on a case by case basis but ultimately I will only make my decisions based on 2 factors. Will this choice benefit the health of my patient directly and will this choice benefit our practice as a whole.  

In the spirit of wellness I want to outline my goals for you my patients, this medical practice and myself personally. I want the focus of the next years to be on the following aspirations. Strength. We can all benefit from building strength in our bodies, our minds, our relationships. The result of this will be strength and resilience of our health. Focus. Being focused and intentional about how we care for our bodies. Consider the decisions we make in regards to the impact they have physically, emotionally and psychologically. Harnessing the power that our mind has to improve our health through focus and thoughtfulness is  surprising and effective. Joy. I want us all to find as much joy as we can. Making this a goal makes finding joy a priority. I believe if you look for it you will find more of it. Do not interpret this goal as implying that being happy is the the most important thing in life. Clearly, it is not. Just give it a try. I will too. I believe that if we apply these principles to our daily lives that we will all be stronger, more resilient, more powerful people who find more joy in the struggles that we all face in this life. I look forward to the journey ahead with you.

Warm wishes,

Geoffrey Rose MD