Primary Care Like It Used to Be: Bob’s PartnerMD Story

If you remember primary care a few decades ago, you may remember a different kind of experience.

Your doctor knew you. They knew your history and often your family. Appointments didn't feel rushed, and there was time to ask questions, talk through concerns, and understand what came next.

For Bob Spears, that wasn't nostalgia. It was the kind of relationship he and his wife had with their longtime primary care physician for nearly 30 years.

“He knew me. He knew my wife,” Bob said. “He didn't have to go to the chart just before he walked into the room to say, ‘Okay, who am I seeing now?’”

So when their doctor retired and they found themselves in a healthcare system that felt increasingly rushed and impersonal, Bob noticed the difference immediately.

Eventually, he found his way back to the kind of primary care relationship he thought he had lost. And remarkably, he found it with a doctor he'd met years earlier under circumstances he would never forget.

A Kidney Stone That Led to Something More

Years before Bob joined PartnerMD, a sudden attack of back pain sent him looking for an appointment with his longtime primary care physician. His doctor couldn't see him that day or the next, but another physician working with the practice could.

That physician was Dr. Patricia Burkwall.

After examining Bob, Dr. Burkwall suspected a kidney stone. She gave him medication for the pain and advised him to rest and drink plenty of fluids. But she also wanted to make sure a kidney stone was really the cause, so she sent him for imaging.

The next day, Bob got a call. The imaging had confirmed the kidney stone, but it had also revealed stage 1 renal cell cancer in his kidney. Soon after, Bob underwent surgery to have the kidney removed.

The kidney stone itself passed within a day or two. And that's a detail Bob still thinks about. Without the imaging, he believes the kidney stone could have resolved, and the cancer might not have been discovered until it had progressed further.

“Dr. Burkwall's attention to detail, carefulness, and thoroughness probably saved my life,” Bob said.

Years later, when Bob was searching for a different primary care experience, he remembered the physician who had taken that extra step.

So he went looking for Dr. Burkwall.

Finding Dr. Burkwall Again

When Bob's longtime primary care physician eventually retired, he and his wife tried other doctors but missed the kind of personal relationship they had been accustomed to. That's when Bob thought about Dr. Burkwall and decided to find out where she was practicing.

His search led him to PartnerMD.

Bob knew concierge medicine existed, but he didn't know much about it. As he learned more about the model, he began to understand how the membership fee allowed physicians to care for fewer patients and spend more time with each one. For him, that more personal approach to care was worth the additional cost.

So, in September 2016, Bob joined PartnerMD and reunited with Dr. Burkwall. His wife joined him as a patient as well.

Bob doesn't remember much about that first visit back with Dr. Burkwall, but he does remember asking whether she remembered him.

“She said, ‘Oh yeah, I remember you. I remember exactly the case,’” Bob recalled.

This time, there was something different about the environment in which she was able to care for him.

Compared with the primary care experiences that had immediately preceded PartnerMD, Bob noticed that Dr. Burkwall had more time to go into detail, explain things, and discuss his options.

For Bob, it felt like a return to the kind of primary care relationship he had been missing.

More Than Knowing His Medical History

Bob describes himself as having been relatively healthy over the years. But both he and his wife have had times when they've needed more from their primary care physician.

Through those moments, Dr. Burkwall has been a consistent presence, taking the time to understand their needs, answer questions, and help them navigate their care.

For Bob, that continuity matters. It's not simply that Dr. Burkwall knows his medical history. She knows him and his wife as people, and she takes the time to make sure they understand their health and the decisions in front of them.

He appreciates that conversations don't end with simply being told what needs to happen. As Bob describes the kind of care he values: “Here’s what’s happening. Here’s what we can do. Here’s what we can’t do. And it’s up to you. What do you want to do?”

For Bob, that has brought back something he valued in primary care years ago: a physician who knows you, listens to you, and is there to help you navigate your health over time.

“Couldn’t Ask for Any Better”

Nearly a decade after finding Dr. Burkwall again at PartnerMD, Bob says what stands out most is still the relationship they have built and the time she gives him.

“She always takes whatever time is needed to explain, to listen to and answer my questions,” Bob said. “Couldn’t ask for any better.”

It's why he says he would recommend PartnerMD without hesitation.

And in many ways, it has brought Bob full circle. The kind of primary care he remembers from decades ago never really disappeared. He just had to find it again.

If Bob's story resonates with you and you're looking for a physician who knows you, takes the time to listen, and is there to help you navigate your health over time, complete our form to schedule a conversation with a PartnerMD team member and learn more about membership.