Luxury Primary Care Medicine

                       Peter St. Louis, MD

"Primary care practitioners in several states have recently decided to restructure their practices in a way that enables them to see a much smaller number of patients and to spend more time with the ones they do see. Patients enrolled in these practices, referred to as "luxury primary care," pay an annual fee to the practice. In return for this annual fee, they can expect certain amenities that are not currently part of primary care, such as access to their physicians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using cell phones or prompt paging devices.

After practicing internal medicine at the Eisenhower Medical Center since 1990, I introduced the first-of-its-kind "Luxury Primary Care" medical practice in the Coachella Valley in 2003.

Since then, my patients have experience what I consider to be the "ideal" doctor’s office: the assurance of unprecedented physician access, including immediate telephone contact with me 24/7 via cellular telephone or direct pager; the security of cutting-edge medical care with added emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion; and the comfort and convenience of unparalleled personal attention. Amenities include same day appointments, frequent and extensive physicals, unhurried visits with no waiting, even housecalls when necessary. The headaches, hassles and delays often encountered in our local medical systems are eliminated because I am each patient’s personal advocate with subspecialty consultants and radiology and laboratory services. The size of my practice is carefully restricted (no more than 200 total patients under my care) to ensure that at all times, "each patient is the only patient."

This arrangement offers a renewed opportunity for an "old-fashioned" patient-doctor relationship working year-round towards optimizing each individual’s good health. The worries and discomforts of medical problems are not compounded by delays in communication or scheduling or by frustrations in arranging subspecialty testing or consultation. Urgent conditions are managed by me, not by an overburdened emergency room doctor. Office evaluation, explanation and treatment, health screening and preventive education are never pressured by time constraints. Year-round continuity of care is restored through direct communication with all out-of-town physicians.  My practice continues to pursue traditional standards of medical excellence - patience, empathy, attention to detail, scholarship, conscientious follow-up, and respect for the personal needs of each patient.

The fee for enrollment in this practice is $5,500 per year per patient or $9,000 per year for a couple. This web site contains additional information about me and further details about luxury primary care and my medical practice.  If you wish to enroll, or if this arrangement appeals to you and you have questions,  please call me personally (760.568.9831) or email me Admin@LPCMedicine.com.