How a Relationship With Your Doctor Can Improve Your Health
Discover why having a doctor who truly knows you can improve your health. Dr. Kelli Peiffer explains how long-term relationships lead to better care—and how concierge medicine makes it possible.
Why continuity of care matters—especially in a concierge practice.
In today’s healthcare system, it’s not uncommon to feel like you’re starting over every time you visit a doctor. Long wait times, short appointments, and unfamiliar faces can make even routine care feel disconnected. But when you have an ongoing, trusted relationship with your doctor, the experience—and the outcomes—can be dramatically different.
At West Side Concierge Medicine in Akron, Dr. Kelli Peiffer believes that building lasting relationships with patients isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential to delivering better care. And the research backs that up.
The Power of Continuity in Primary Care
Continuity of care means seeing the same physician over time and forming a consistent, long-term partnership. Studies have shown that patients who have an ongoing relationship with a primary care doctor are more likely to:
Have better health outcomes
Receive faster diagnoses and more accurate treatments
Avoid unnecessary testing or medications
Adhere to care plans and follow-up recommendations
Experience lower hospitalization and mortality rates
In short, the better your doctor knows you, the better they can care for you. That’s especially important when it comes to early detection, chronic condition management, and preventive health—all of which rely on nuance, context, and consistency.
Why Being Known Matters
Your health is more than lab results and checklists. It’s how you’re sleeping, how you’re coping with stress, how your symptoms evolve over time. When you see a new provider at every visit—or when your doctor has hundreds of patients—it’s hard for those subtleties to be noticed.
But when you have a long-term doctor relationship, like the one Dr. Peiffer offers through her concierge model, she’s able to:
Spot changes early—even the subtle ones
Understand your full health history and patterns over time
Take a holistic view of your physical and emotional wellbeing
Partner with you in decision-making, not just prescribe and refer
Create a sense of safety, trust, and open communication
“Some of the most important things patients share come at the end of the visit—when they finally feel like someone’s truly listening,” says Dr. Peiffer.
How Concierge Medicine Supports Real Relationships
Traditional primary care often limits doctors to 10-15 minute appointments and thousands of patients. This makes it hard to build the kind of connection that leads to great care.
At West Side Concierge Medicine, Dr. Peiffer’s smaller patient panel allows her to:
Spend more time with each patient
Offer same- or next-day appointments
Be available by text, phone, or email
Follow up proactively and consistently
Treat patients like people—not charts
This is personalized healthcare at its best: care that’s proactive, thoughtful, and centered entirely on you.
Invest in a Doctor Who Truly Knows You
If you’re tired of feeling rushed, repeating your history at every visit, or struggling to get answers when you need them, it may be time for a different approach.
At West Side Concierge Medicine in Akron, Dr. Peiffer offers the kind of long-term doctor relationship that improves not just your health—but your entire experience of care.
