FAQs

The short answer is yes.
We specialize in what primary care should be — proactive, preventive, personalized, and healthspan-oriented. But primary care as a legal term is something else. ACA-mandated insurance requires you to select or be assigned a legal primary care provider within your insurance network. We do not accept assignment as a primary care provider with any insurance company, and we are not in-network for any insurance company.
For our concierge patients, Dr. Abendroth is their personal physician. We manage nearly all conditions that a conventional primary care doctor would manage, and many that they would not. And, we practice Medicine 3.0, a proactive, personalized, preventive, and performance-oriented style of medicine that is not offered through insurance-driven conventional care.
We do not currently perform Pap smears and pelvic exams, and recommend that women have annual pelvic exams with an experienced gynecologist. This is covered entirely under ACA-mandated insurance policies, where it is referred to as a “well woman exam.” We also do not provide pregnancy care.
No, at this time, the minimum age for our patients is 18.
Not for daily use. If you break a bone, for example, we will treat your pain, but we do not treat chronic pain with continuous opioid therapy. Likewise, we do not prescribe benzodiazepines for daily, continuous use either.

Yes, frequently. We are experts in both male and female hormone optimization therapy.
No. Pellets are a great way for providers and pellet manufacturers to make money, but not a great way to deliver hormones. They are invasive, non-adjustable, and carry a significantly higher risk of adverse effects. Pellet manufacturers provide “education and support” to providers looking to enter the hormone space in exchange for a contract with those providers, effectively creating a lucrative nationwide distribution system for their hormone pellets. This is why they are ubiquitous in med spas and among providers who lack rigorous medical training, as pellets offer a high-margin, cookie-cutter approach to BHRT.
Yes, we frequently prescribe low-dose physiologically normal testosterone for women to bring levels back to what a healthy young woman should have. Healthy women often have around three times as much testosterone as estrogen. Like other hormones, levels fall with aging, and replacing it can improve or preserve muscle mass, cognitive function, mood, sexual function, and energy.
No.

Yes. Most often, we prescribe tirzepitide for its dual GLP-1/GIP action.
However, we are fans of going low and slow. We often start with doses below the normal prescription level. And to be clear, we do have concerns about them regarding long-term safety, muscle loss, rebound weight gain, and the exit strategy. But we recognize that obesity is a serious health problem that needs to be addressed without undue delay and with medical assistance when needed. With close monitoring of muscle and fat mass, and when combined with proper nutrition and a structured exercise program, drugs like tirzepitide can be life-changing.
Outside of GLP-1s, no, we do not at this time. Most are stimulants or otherwise alter brain chemistry, and we do not believe in their use. They are also all inferior to tirzepitide and semaglutide.
We treat each patient individually. As such, we do not have any standardized program. If you are a concierge patient, weight loss may be part of your overall health optimization plan.

We accept credit card, debit card, ACH, cash, and for most services, FSA and HSA cards. If using HSA or FSA, be sure to check with your plan administrator or accountant to verify eligibility.
When you pay your doctor directly, your doctor works for you. When an insurance company pays your doctor, your doctor works for the insurance company, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
We steer clear of health insurance so we can offer you the time, diagnostics, and treatments you need for optimal health. We have a lot to say about health insurance, but we’ll save it for a blog post.
Due to unsustainably low reimbursement from Medicare, we must limit the size of our Medicare patient panel. Contact us if you wish to be placed on our Medicare waitlist. Due to federal regulations, we must bill Medicare if you qualify for it. At this time, we cannot accept cash from a Medicare patient for services covered by Medicare.