TOLEDO – Opening your own business or medical practice can be daunting.
Dr. Susan Federman, a board-certified family medicine physician, opened an MDVIP-affiliated practice at 3425 Executive Parkway, Suite 117, in the Westgate Village area on March 31.
“It was terrifying,” Dr. Federman said, half tongue-in-cheek. “Having to learn another computer system…I figure I could make someone a darn good secretary. There are a lot of applications, paperwork, and government agencies, and it’s mildly terrifying hoping you fill out all of the forms correctly.”
MDVIP-affiliated practices offer a solution to frustrations that many patients experience with traditional primary care, including long waits for an appointment, rushed visits and difficulty getting all of their concerns addressed.
By maintaining a smaller practice size, Dr. Federman is able to spend more time with each patient and provide proactive, prevention-focused medicine.
Dr. Federman, a native of Rochester, N.Y., has one employee and medical assistant – Swanton native Lindsay Albright.
“She is extremely talented,” Dr. Federman said. “She functions as an MA and office manager. I met Lindsay in a former practice and we have been together 13 years.”
Dr. Federman, who has lived in Toledo since 1984, earned her medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences (formerly the Medical College of Ohio) and completed her internship and Family Medicine residency at the WW Knight Family Medicine Center in Toledo. She has been an MD for 38 years.
She is also certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and maintains affiliation with ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
“My dad was a doctor and my mom was a nurse,” Dr. Federman said. “My mom’s brother was a doctor, and my maternal grandfather was a doctor. Since I was around 6, that’s what I wanted to do. My grandfather was a really big influence in my life. Before I graduated from med school, he sat me down and said, ‘If you’re in a room with a patient, that person should be the most important person in the world to you.’”
MDVIP stands for a national network of primary care physicians that operates on a membership-based, concierge medicine model. It emphasizes preventive care, wellness programs and a highly personalized doctor-patient relationship.
Today, the MDVIP network includes more than 1,400 physicians and 430,000-plus members across the country.
“I have patients who want to be with me who are invested in preventative healthcare, and MDVIP allows me the time and the tools to try to do that as best I can,” Dr. Federman said. “I know my patients, they know me, and we know what we expect from each other.”
She added that the MDVIP model allows her to be able to practice medicine the way she was trained “without trying to do the high volume that other practices want to do.”
“A lot of my patients have been with me for decades,” Dr. Federman said. “They know my kids, I know their kids. I know the family and it’s good continuity of care. Because I do know them, I know what they are saying, what they are not saying and what they should be saying. To me, it’s so gratifying when I can work with someone and they listen to me, and we can improve their health and they actually feel better. That’s incredibly cool.”
Dr. Federman and her husband, Doug, have been married 39 years and have six children and three grandchildren “with another one on the way.” Dr. Federman enjoys scuba diving, swimming, riding horses, hiking and kayaking.
Dr. Federman’s office hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. She said she can also be contacted directly when she’s not in the office. Learn more about Dr. Federman’s practice or schedule an appointment here.
