Want More than 15 Minutes with Your Doctor?

Dr. Paul Pisarik of Owasso Family Medicine focuses on individualized patient care, booking only two patients per hour.

Dr. Paul Pisarik of Owasso Family Medicine.

In a time of HMOs and ­insurance company red tape, it is often difficult to remember the “good old days” when the family physician took time to understand your needs and was more concerned with the medicine than money. Dr. Paul Pisarik of Owasso Family Medicine, ­however, has no trouble ­remembering this vision of ­medicine he had when first becoming a doctor almost three decades ago.

    “We have a crisis in health care right now, and I’m cutting through the red tape,” says Dr. Pisarik, whose goal is to omit the middleman and cut health costs overall. “I would like to provide excellent health care for people without medical insurance or those with a high deductible and who would like to spend more time with their physician than today’s current practices can offer.”

    Dr. Pisarik worked for many years within the current medical system and so understands its problems. Originally from Chicago, he obtained his medical degree from the University of Illinois, completed his residency in Rockford, and then lived and practiced in Phoenix for nine years before taking a research ­fellowship in Houston. Because his wife is from Oklahoma, he took a teaching position at OU Medical School in Tulsa, where he stayed for four years. He now works within the Urgent Care system in addition to taking patients at his new office in Owasso. Dr. Pisarik hopes to build his new practice on old ­values and soon concentrate on family health care full time.

    “Patient care is my top ­priority,” he says. “I try to do an excellent job and be thorough, and I’ve found that often takes more than the typical 15 minutes allowed in most physicians’ offices today.”

    Dr. Pisarik does not blame his colleagues for current costs and quick office visits; rather, he blames the system within which they have to operate. “It is very frustrating – the average doctor’s office spends over $82,000 a year dealing with insurance companies,” he says. “Offices often have to double- or triple-book patients to make enough money just to keep their clinic going.” After his time at OU Medical School, Dr. Pisarik decided to step out of the system so he could concentrate on truly ­practicing medicine. In bypassing the insurance system, he ­lowers ­overhead costs and can charge about half the amount of many other physicians' offices. He books only two patients per hour. “This is not only better for the patient, but it is more ­fulfilling for me,” says Dr. Pisarik. “I don’t feel like I’m rushing patients through on an assembly line.”

    The old saying might be “time is money,” but for Dr. Pisarik, time equals quality. “Having time with my patients helps me get to know them ­better as human beings, and they feel they are being heard and not rushed,” he explains. “I like to make sure everything is being done that possibly can be, and time gives me a better understanding of their problems and how I can properly treat them.”

For more information, contact

Owasso Family Medicine

www.owassofamilymd.com