It’s as simple as it sounds - direct care between a physician and a patient with no involvement from third parties. Thus, we do not contract with any insurance companies. At Connected Internal Medicine, 100% of your care is delivered by a board-certified internal medicine physician, and uniquely, our pricing is transparent, so you can plan your life accordingly.

A board-certified internist is a physician with 3+ years of specialty training in the field of Internal Medicine. While there is a role for other providers in the practice of medicine, there is a difference in training level amongst physicians vs different providers, with NP/PA providers having less than 10% of the training or knowledge of physicians. Board certified physicians typically have completed 4-year university studies at the top of their class, 4 years of medical school (approx. 16,000 hours of study), 12,000-28,000 hours of residency training as licensed physicians, and a rigorous board certification exam before even becoming eligible to practice medicine out in the community. Dr. Correa additionally practiced full-scope primary care Internal Medicine at Hoag for nearly 6 years, and completed her training and board certification in Obesity Medicine in 2021. So yes, physician-led care is worth it.

No. Concierge medical practices bill insurance and also charge an annual fee to the patient. All the same copays, deductibles, co-insurances, etc apply in concierge medicine, and this makes it so that patients are unable to apply for reimbursement from their insurance.

Dr. Correa's practice does not bill insurance, except Medicare as required by law.

Probably not. Insurances pay for 5-10 minutes of face to face time with a doctor. Dr. Correa spends 60-90+ minutes with each patient, monthly or as often as needed.

Our practice gets special pricing on labs, imaging and medications, and we pass those prices directly to you, unlike insurance companies that substantially mark prices up.

A study published in JAMA Network Open found that median insurance payments for medications increased by 64% from 2010 to 2016, despite manufacturer discounts and rebates.

Source: Changes in Drug List Prices and Amounts Paid by Patients and Insurers.

Yang EJ, Galan E, Thombley R, et al. JAMA Network Open. 2020;3(12):e2028510. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.28510.

Still, many of our patients do opt to use insurance for their prescriptions, and because of this, we have built a robust & responsive Prior Authorization team to get it all done (& covered), while keeping our patients informed every step of the way.

Practicing within this model felt like being a ski instructor at the top of a double-black diamond slope, but only having 10 minutes to teach. It felt like shoving the students down the double-black diamond only to reassure the poor students “but there’ll be an ambulance waiting for ya at the bottom just in case!” Trying to help people down the double-black diamonds in the traditional healthcare model left her feeling chronically behind, helpless and drained. Dr. Correa believes that a better method would be to take several hours to teach each student to their level, moving up from green slopes, to blue slopes, to black diamond, then double-black diamond, so everyone learns how to navigate the double-black diamond safely, and never actually needs the ambulance. She believes that every patient that comes and sees her for health, arguably the most important thing in life, deserves a doctor in the best version of herself.

Maximum, 100. The whole reason Dr. Correa left her old, beloved practice at Hoag was to spend more time with her patients. The average primary care doctor in the traditional system has 3,000+ patients. Concierge doctors on average care for 400-800 patients.

No.

For 6 months of the year at her choosing, Dr. Correa accepts new patients. The other half of the year, our practice closes to new patients in order to focus Dr. C's time and energy on existing patients.

Because the quality is better. Our practice will only ever have 3-4% of the number of patients to care of in comparison to a typical insurance-based PCP. In our practice, your doctor works for you, not for the insurance company or a big corporation.

If you change your mind after signing up—but before your intake paperwork is submitted or your visit occurs—we still have incurred costs (payment processing fees, staff time, etc.). In some cases, a partial refund may be offered at our discretion, minus non-recoverable fees. No one is forcing you to join our practice and there are many, many options out there for excellent physicians, so we suggest that you carefully consider your finances and priorities before signing up, and/or take advantage of our no-questions-asked cancelation policy after you've signed up!

The traditional office model (fee-for-service) provides incentives for doctors & "providers" in large organizations to make you appear “sicker”. A scoring system for coding disease called HCC scoring is now the standard. In a nutshell, the sicker a patient becomes, the more money that insurance will allocate to the practice. Instead of making patients sicker to make more money, Dr. Correa focuses on helping patients achieve their best health.

For you. Each patient walks away with a thorough medical note of what was discussed during the visit. It’s for your records, and for ours. It will be in medical-ese, so that other physicians can read it efficiently if you need them to review it with you.

Most typical patients would benefit most from a membership, with unlimited access to Dr. C to discuss issues as they arise. (See the Pricing tab.) However, for the occasional need, a 20-30 minute medical visit with Dr. Correa is priced between $200-300, considerably lower than the national average cost of a comparable insurance-based primary care visit, with zero surprise bills and almost zero wait. Follow up visits are done as necessary. We pride ourselves on transparent pricing, as we believe bills are the worst type of surprise.

We are an adult-focused, relationship-based medical practice. Patients must schedule, communicate, and cancel their own appointments. While we understand family involvement, we only engage directly with the patient, unless explicit consent is given.

Mutual Fit Policy

Our practice is built on mutual trust, clear communication, and shared expectations. We invest deeply in our relationships with patients, and we believe good care only happens when both the patient and the doctor feel aligned. Because of this, we reserve the right to decline to establish or continue a care relationship if we feel the fit isn’t right—for any reason.

Examples of when we may determine a relationship is not a mutual fit include:

• Communication is routed through a third party (e.g., parent or spouse) instead of the adult patient

• Disrespectful, demanding, or aggressive behavior toward staff

• Public threats or reputational attacks during a disagreement

• A mismatch in expectations about how care is delivered (e.g., wanting insurance billing or transactional visits)

If we determine that we are not the right fit, we will clearly communicate that decision and will not proceed with care. We sincerely wish every person who contacts us finds the care model that works best for them—even if it’s not with us!

The $320 fee covers registration, onboarding, and administrative setup for new patients joining our practice. As stated clearly on our website and in our intake documents, this fee is non-refundable.

This policy allows us to dedicate time and resources to preparing for your care, even before your first appointment.

Upon request, we can provide you with a coded receipt called a “super bill”. You can submit this to your insurance for reimbursement if you have out-of-network benefits. Not all insurance companies allow reimbursement for services - we cannot predict or guarantee if or how much you will get reimbursed. Please check with your insurance company regarding reimbursement rules. By law, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries cannot submit for reimbursement.

No, but strongly recommended in case of a hospitalization, catastrophic diagnosis, accident or other urgent need that Dr. Correa cannot meet.

No, it’s healthcare. By now, most adults have come to the sobering realization that having insurance does NOT mean one actually gets healthcare. You can have an insurance plan and a card, but most doctors aren’t available for several weeks to months, and certainly not available over the phone.

Yes! We welcome you to experience the difference. We are currently not in contract with insurance, but we can help you to use your insurance plan for labs, prescriptions, and imaging (unless we can find you a lower price on a direct-pay basis). You may use your HSA or FSA card as payment for medical services in line with the administrator’s guidelines.

Traditional insurance-based primary care visits allow for 5-15 minutes of one-to-one time with a MD/NP/PA. Visits with Dr. Correa at her new practice are longer and unrushed, usually lasting 30-60 minutes.

If your appointment needs are beyond the scheduled amount of time, we will always try to extend your appointment to meet those needs.

However, we try not to let one patient's appointment time bleed into another's. Members enjoy unlimited visits with Dr. Correa - we can always schedule more time together in a few hours or days!

We are proud to offer same-day and same-week appointments. Once you get to the office, you will experience minimal to no wait times to see the doctor..

No. You will always see a board-certified physician at every single visit.

Yes, Dr. Correa has been safely and judiciously prescribing the GLP1 injections for metabolic dysfunction including diabetes and obesity since 2018, long before the craze began. This includes Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda, Victoza, Mounjaro, Zepbound, etc.

Yes. Many practices, especially these days, focus on getting the weight off, but Dr. Correa is passionate and specifically skilled in helping patients keep the weight off over the long term.

Yes! While Dr. Correa is not a registered dietician, she did graduate from UC Berkeley with Honors, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition. She also does not prescribe strict diets. She prefers to partner with you to build healthy habits that fit your life. For example, you won't find her prescribing a labor-intensive homemade meal plan for a patient who travels often for work - that is simply not practical. Instead, for that patient, she may put together a framework for acceptable items to order at common airport restaurants like Starbucks or Panera so that her patient can still find success within the context of their career and lifestyle. This strategy aims to help patients develop the knowledge and tools to maintain their health long-term. And if a patient ever decides to discontinue our services, they will have a whole bucket of tools to use to better their health while they ride off into the sunset!

Yes, she is well-versed in the treatment of adult ADHD and other neurological disorders. She always requires neuropsychiatric testing results and/or consult with a psychiatrist prior.

Yes, to educators, arts instructors, healthcare workers, and family members of enrolled patients.

Yes, she will visit you in the hospital if you are hospitalized at Hoag Hospital Newport or Hoag Hospital Irvine. She has been part of Hoag Hospital Presbyterian Medical Staff since early 2018.

If you are hospitalized at a hospital other than Hoag Hospital, she still will make her best effort to come visit you at the bedside and communicate with your inpatient team.

When Dr. Correa goes on vacation, she will still be able to get texts and emails, chat through a problem, send prescriptions, etc. (even internationally). However, as a backup, she always arranges for another accomplished board-certified physician to care for any urgent needs or office visits while she is away.