Ron Weiss, MD.
1. What's your practice focus and what kind of clients knock on your door ?
My focus is the reversal and prevention of chronic illness with lifestyle changes and Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diets. I prefer to use food as medicine. That’s not to say that I would never prescribe medications or procedures. I like to think that I’m in the business of medicine “de-escalation.”
People I see seek a life free of pills, dialysis, or stents. I also see athletes and fitness enthusiasts interested in optimizing performance and recovery through better nutritional choices
2. Tell us about yourself.
I started practicing lifestyle medicine when, with my guidance through a WFPB diet, my father’s end stage pancreatic cancer diagnosis, with a life expectation of 1-3 months, led to a CT scan showing his tumor had shrunk by 50%. He lived for another year and a half, working, exercising, and feeling better than he ever had. I stay motivated, because I see my patients weaned off pills, reversing chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, and emerging victorious and empowered.
3. Tell us the story of a patient who you are most proud of helping.
Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine”. I saw this realized in a patient diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy. She responded to my care with a complete reversal of her condition. When she saw me, she was on ACE Inhibitors and steroids and, at 26, thought dialysis and kidney replacement were her future. Motherhood was a distant dream. She followed my plan for a year, her kidney function returned to normal, and she went on to deliver a healthy baby. I am grateful I can heal people this way.
4. What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a practitioner in private practice?
The hardest thing explaining why I am NOT in network of insurance companies as they provide sick care and I am interested in well care. I believe accessibility is subjective. Insurers provide minimal coverage with high deductibles and disregard for non-traditional care that prevents and reverses chronic disease. I aspire to underscore how accessibility should be seen from the perspective of a passionate healer who believes in the power of diet and lifestyle changes for a disease-free life.
5. What are the top 3 tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a private practice today?\
The top three tips I would give.
- Quality time with patient is possible with a direct pay model. It can offer greater control over fees and administrative processes, ensuring increased autonomy for the doctor and patients. In addition, patients must be partners in the treatment rather than passive recipients.
- The attitudes toward medicine needs to be changed to learning the association of 'Lifestyle Medicine'.
- Participating with commercial health insurer can cause physician burnout syndrome.