JerryNelsonMixonMD

Summary

• For the first 25 years of my career I was a small-town family physician. The first several years of practice were both emotionally and financially rewarding. However, as the years passed the nature of small-town medical practice changed dramatically. I finally reached a point where I realized that I was no longer working for the patient, but instead, for their insurance carrier. The old saw that goes "whoever pays the bills makes the rules" was proven true. As responsibility for payment shifted from the patient to the insurance company I also noticed a tendency for patients to abrogate responsibility for their life and increasingly expect me to cure them of diseases that were caused in large measure by their own lifestyle choices.
  
  I opened Longevity Medical Clinic and rejected insurance reimbursement in large measure to return to a situation in which I worked directly for the patient as opposed to their insurance carrier. I find that in this setting patients actually tend to follow advice when they're investing their own time, effort, and money in the therapeutic process.
  I currently do 4 hrs of live talk radio each week during which I answer questions, and comments on any aspect of medicine that happens to arise. Additionally I average 4 public lectures per month.
  We now have three clinics and close to 50 employees. We have hopes of expanding beyond the state of Washington in the near future. We work closely with MDs, naturopathic physicians, and chiropractors. Each of our clinics have both MDs and NDs as practitioners. I enjoy the cross pollination of ideas and attitudes and think that this gives a better rounded clinical and intellectual approach to problem solving for patients. Our patient visit average one hour each. This allows the doctors ample time to explore the nuances of the patient's clinical situation.
  We now have our own clinical laboratory and unique line of supplements. Life is great and I Love every day of my practice.