Practicing Internal Medicine is a highly individualized and very personalized process. All wellness and illness exists within the context of an individual's life. Because of this, Dr. Friedman has always focused on his patients and not the insurance companies, whose main focus is on their population and bottom line rather than the individual. Dr. Friedman has never participated in managed care!
Patients come to Dr. Friedman's practice through referrals from colleagues or existing patients. Dr. Friedman does not advertise and for ethical reasons he has not accepted gifts from drug companies. Dr. Friedman's patients are seeing him by choice and frequently "out of network" from their health-plan, and he is deeply honored. He is always aware of health costs and always tries to practice cost effective medicine.
Dr. Friedman is a strong believer in wellness and understands that much of disease and pathology are secondary to poor personal choices we make in our daily lives. Dr. Friedman has a strong relationship with a nutritionist and whenever possible would prefer nutrition, weight management and exercise over medications. As a rule, a comprehensive first patient exam and annual exam provide the cornerstone of excellent care.
Dr. Friedman employs medicines and pharmacotherapy when necessary in order to treat or prevent disease, but he has a "jaundiced eye" knowing that almost all medicines have their own risks, just as certain diagnostic tests and procedures can have. In his medical practice he often employs the tacit concepts of "risk vs. benefit" and "evidence based" decision making woven into the "art" and "science" of practicing medicine. He is humbled that no "perfect" outcome is always achievable.
Dr. Friedman provides primary and consultative medical care to the greater Scottsdale and regional communities. He sees adolescents and adults for routine care as well as treating and diagnosing complex medical diseases. In order to take full advantage of what a busy medical center can offer for his patients and practice, he is on the campus of Honor Health Shea Medical Center(legacy Scottsdale Healthcare Medical Center at Shea).
Scottsdale is blessed with a diverse and very talented pool of well-trained clinicians and Dr. Friedman is fortunate to work closely with his esteemed colleagues. He is well respected by his peers. He uses the criteria "who would I send my family members to" when making recommendations to the best and brightest colleagues in the community
Dr. Friedman believes staying busy enables him to stay at "the top of his game". Continuously being challenged by the panoply of patient health issues enables him to maintain his skill set and stay connected to his colleagues.
Dr. Friedman has a traditional fee for service internal medicine practice. He develops long-term relationships with his patients and cares for them through the continuum of their care. He aims to leverage technology in order to better serve his patients and is on electronic contact with all three Scottsdale Healthcare Medical Center Hospitals. He utilizes electronic health records. He also has a very strong relationship with his esteemed radiology colleagues who utilize state of the art imaging technology.
Dr. Friedman participates weekly on the tumor board at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center (a collaborative academic and clinical partnership between The Translational Genomics Institute[T-Gen] and community oncology). This board brings together key physicians and clinical researchers in oncology/hematology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, pathology, genetics, radiology, and internal medicine in order to problem solve and clarify care and treatment for our cancer patients. Knowing and understanding the latest cancer therapeutics and investigational cancer trials greatly benefits Dr. Friedman's ability to guide his patients to the best cancer care in the community and beyond.
In order to stay informed, Dr. Friedman stays current on continuing medical education. He has participated and given lectures at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale Internal Medicine conference on topics including the care and treatment of Crotalidae (rattlesnake) envenomation (for which he has been a local expert) and acid-base disorders in the critical care of patients while on ventilators. Almost on a daily basis, Dr. Friedman reads from numerous medical journals (he laments that there is not enough time in the day to read the seemingly infinite number of articles) which include: The New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, The Lancet, American Journal of Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine and The Medical Letter.