Where Medicine, Technology and Fitness Unite
When my mother started dealing with different health issues several years ago, I discovered there are few things as frustrating as navigating the labyrinth of medical insurance to determine what services were covered, the co-pays, ensuring that one treatment protocol wasn’t contraindicated by another, etc. – all while attempting to guide her toward better nutrition and incorporating fitness for a better quality of life.
Personally, I have always leaned toward a more holistic approach to healthcare so I was looking to escape the “process” and get straight to the result. The trick is, with medicine, there are no short cuts.
Enter a new model of wellness: one where you don’t have to choose between a healthy patient-physician relationship and the stresses of co-pay or tiered billing.
An Internal Medicine physician with a passion for preventive care, Dr. Sridhar Kundula, M.D. completed his residency at NYU Langone Brooklyn. Resident of the Year wasn’t accolade enough, so he went on to become chief resident during his final year. A hospitalist (specialist in inpatient medicine) in western New York after graduation, he also worked in primary care in suburban New Jersey before moving back to his hometown of Mission Viejo.
The lessons he learned led him to open Fitscription M.D. last December. In researching physicians who approach care as a whole-person specialty, instead of just vitals and lab results, Dr. Kundula’s practice truly stands out.
His mission is simple: interweave personalized medical care into one’s lifestyle to reach optimal health. Hearing it from a board-certified physician, certified diplomate with the American Board of Obesity Medicine and a certified physical trainer hits different: “it is important to spend time knowing my patients outside of their medical conditions.”
But why is that so different from traditional practices? First and foremost, average time spent with your primary care physician is 18 minutes. That’s less time than it takes to watch one episode of your favorite show on AppleTV.
“Over the years in the traditional system, it became frustrating to rush patients through the door while recommending generic lifestyle choices and writing prescriptions,” says Dr. Kundula. The conditions are by and large the same – chronic inflammatory health breakdowns. Heart disease, cancers, lung disease, stroke. “But due to their physicians’ lack of time, most patients don’t end up getting the help they need.”
At Fitscription M.D., Dr. Kundula combines general primary care with personal training to create a custom health and fitness plan under one roof. Dr. Kundula monitors and analyzes your health data to create an optimal health and nutrition routine to efficiently and effectively reach your health goals – with consistent medical and fitness consultations.
Fitscription M.D. incorporates technologies that are usually reserved for larger institutions: FDA-approved wrist monitors for remote vital monitoring and equipment to measure resting metabolic rate and fitness analysis. Prescriptions aren’t written wholesale to address any number of recurring or persistent symptoms – because personalized nutrition and exercise go hand-in-hand with any medication patients might leave the office with.
“I’m a well-rounded physician that is better able to prevent and treat disease because we have been able to remove barriers to the physician-patient relationship,” he says. “I’m excited to provide the community comprehensive primary and preventive care, free of the restraints of the healthcare system.”
There’s enough evidence-based medicine out there to prove we don’t need longer waits for more rushed access to our doctors, but how does the actual care play out? Lifestyle interventions, advanced diagnostics, physicals, sick visits, follow ups, and access to Dr. Kundula seven days per week all add up to the delivery of quality healthcare through thorough insights, optimizing your physical state, and leveraging live feedback to maintain a strategy for future care. No labyrinth navigation or shortcuts necessary.
