Physicals in Carrollton, TX

"I have just returned from my 30th (yes 30th) consecutive annual physical exam with FMA, with perhaps another 30 pop-up visits interspersed over the three decades. I've read each review here on Yelp, and while I would certainly never question anyone's perception of their own experience, I can honestly say that I am personally a perfect 60-for-60 in receiving exceptionally personal, professional and deeply concerned care at FMA.  I started 30 years ago with the noted patriarch of FMA, Dr. Richard Honaker, whom has recently retired from his decades of "Keeping me going."  However, the key to FMA is the quality of ALL of the physicians on the team, whom are interchangeable from a professionalism standpoint, and thus one is nearly always available to see you on short notice.  And if the Physicians are all booked, their staff of Physician Assistants (PA's) are both phenomenal and available.  I routinely request my own PA (the simply unparalleled Marla Lehmann) at a frequency ratio of 4 to 1 over my also gifted (albeit quite busy) primary physician, Dr. Jeff Hischke (whom Dr. Honaker personally matched with me upon his retirement.)  And I feel quite compelled to address the complaints (and misunderstanding of) the "Two-Part" physical exam process.  This system is infinitely more informative and useful than the typical "One-stop-shop," wherein your blood is drawn at the same time as your poke-and-prod...however, given the week it takes to garner the lab results, you receive no detailed review or discussion of exactly where you stand with regard to the dozens of critical health measurements and parameters within the report, and how they relate to each other, and to you personally.  The one-stop-Doc will simply tell you: "If you don't hear from us, your good to go." However each measurement is a placement within lower and upper limits, and wouldn't you like to know how close to the edge of each limit you are? And what if your numbers in vital measurements are trending steeply toward a limit year-to-year (such as safely-low to very high) but have not yet exceeded that upper limit, and thus are not brought to your attention. The analysis of each these numbers, and your personal trend (which is a core element of the FMA second visit) is the most critical part of the entire exam, which is totally ignored by the "We'll call you if it's bad" approach. Furthermore, the examination of each number individually points to specific dietary, vitamin, or lifestyle changes necessary to remedy that particular issue.  For instance, if you are an aging male, is it enough to simply know that your PSA (Prostate) numbers are "Within limits?"  I personally prefer to know that they are "Way" within limits, and not just barely below the line, and going to blow well into the Red a year from that visit.  And as far as complaints regarding billing issues, I am not qualified to comment, as I've not experienced such an issue in 30 years. In summary, this practice is "Family" to me."

"I have just returned from my 30th (yes 30th) consecutive annual physical exam with FMA, with perhaps another 30 pop-up visits interspersed over the three decades. I’ve read each review here on Yelp, and while I would certainly never question anyone’s perception of their own experience, I can honestly say that I am personally a perfect 60-for-60 in receiving exceptionally personal, professional and deeply concerned care at FMA.  I started 30 years ago with the noted patriarch of FMA, Dr. Richard Honaker, whom has recently retired from his decades of "Keeping me going."  However, the key to FMA is the quality of ALL of the physicians on the team, whom are interchangeable from a professionalism standpoint, and thus one is nearly always available to see you on short notice.  And if the Physicians are all booked, their staff of Physician Assistants (PA’s) are both phenomenal and available.  I routinely request my own PA (the simply unparalleled Marla Lehmann) at a frequency ratio of 4 to 1 over my also gifted (albeit quite busy) primary physician, Dr. Jeff Hischke (whom Dr. Honaker personally matched with me upon his retirement.)  And I feel quite compelled to address the complaints (and misunderstanding of) the "Two-Part" physical exam process.  This system is infinitely more informative and useful than the typical "One-stop-shop," wherein your blood is drawn at the same time as your poke-and-prod...however, given the week it takes to garner the lab results, you receive no detailed review or discussion of exactly where you stand with regard to the dozens of critical health measurements and parameters within the report, and how they relate to each other, and to you personally.  The one-stop-Doc will simply tell you: "If you don’t hear from us, your good to go." However each measurement is a placement within lower and upper limits, and wouldn’t you like to know how close to the edge of each limit you are? And what if your numbers in vital measurements are trending steeply toward a limit year-to-year (such as safely-low to very high) but have not yet exceeded that upper limit, and thus are not brought to your attention. The analysis of each these numbers, and your personal trend (which is a core element of the FMA second visit) is the most critical part of the entire exam, which is totally ignored by the "We’ll call you if it’s bad" approach. Furthermore, the examination of each number individually points to specific dietary, vitamin, or lifestyle changes necessary to remedy that particular issue.  For instance, if you are an aging male, is it enough to simply know that your PSA (Prostate) numbers are "Within limits?"  I personally prefer to know that they are "Way" within limits, and not just barely below the line, and going to blow well into the Red a year from that visit.  And as far as complaints regarding billing issues, I am not qualified to comment, as I’ve not experienced such an issue in 30 years. In summary, this practice is "Family" to me."

"My wife and I moved to this practice, as patients of Dr. Jeffrey Stewart, back in 2016.  I was sick and my internist’s staff in Dallas told me to go to a ’doc-in-the-box’ or wait 3 days.  Couldn’t do that, and it happened twice in a period of 2 months during flu season, so we decided to change doctors.  Looking through our plan, we found this practice not far from us.We also found that Family Medicine Associates could see me that day and I was assigned to Dr. Stewart.  Later we discovered they have Saturday office hours and at various times both my wife and I have been there on a Saturday if we were ill and didn’t want to go to the urgent care center or wait until Monday.A couple years ago Dr. Stewart began treating my wife’s high blood sugar and at a certain point her case became more complex so he referred us to an endocrinologist.   This was a life-changing moment that probably saved my wife’s life.  I’ve just been referred to a urologist for an issue that requires a higher level of specialty, the outcome of which is uncertain at this point.What you should take away from this is that it is comforting to have a physician who knows when it’s time to call in a specialist.  Doctors don’t know everything about everything, if they are the right kind of person to know their own limitations and we respect this in Dr. Stewart.  He has not steered us wrong yet and we have no reason to expect he would.I’d rather go to him knowing that if he feels we should dig deeper he will send us out to a professional colleague whom he knows for a higher level of care if it’s needed.  It’s about what each type of physician is trained for.And for physicals, I have my annual physical every year, in 2 parts, with Dr. Stewart.  This is not this medical practice’s policy, it’s standard procedure for a complete physical.  Get your blood and urine work done first, and return a 2nd time to review the results and develop a plan of action.  We are fortunate to have very good health care coverage and it covers the 2-part physical 100%.  A lot of this depends on your coverage, so know your policy’s parameters before you go somewhere and think you are being taken advantage of.We’ve never had issue with the office staff, either, nor any billing issues.  Don’t rely on others to know your coverage.  Learn what is covered and for how much and pay attention, ask questions, and always review your EOBs.  Especially in this tough time, this practice is well-organized to handle your needs in person or remotely and they seem to be a group of caring professionals who have just one interest - your well-being."