My grandmother, Billie Jean Reed, is 97 years old. She still reads the Houston Chronicle everyday and usually finishes the crossword without any cheating.
I named this practice after her because she's the clearest example I know of what I actually want for my patients. Not simply a long life - a long life she's still enjoying.
I spent 15 years in emergency medicine. I loved that work and I'd do it again. But you meet people at the wrong end of their health. It was a never ending line of people who were waiting to hear back from a doctor or waiting to see one. People with unaddressed problems and unaddressed questions. By the time someone reaches an emergency department, the window to change what's happening has usually closed. I kept thinking about the conversation that could have happened ten years earlier - the one nobody made time for.
Billie Jean Health is that conversation.
What patients come to me for varies. Some want to lose weight. Some want their hormones addressed because they haven't felt like themselves in years and have been told that's just aging. Some just want their energy back. Underneath, they're all asking the same question: How do I stay well enough to keep doing the things I care about?
That's a question worth someone's full attention, and it's not one you can answer in a seven-minute visit.
If you've been my patient before, nothing about your care changes. Same physician, same records, same phone number. What changes is the name on the door and the fact that I've built the practice around how I actually think care should work.
I tell my patients they're never bothering me, and that I'd rather hear from them than have them wait and wonder. I mean it. That's what personal healthcare means to me.
Welcome to Billie Jean Health.
- Lauren Leavitt, MD
Frequently asked questions
Why is the practice called Billie Jean Health?
It is named after Dr. Leavitt's grandmother, Billie Jean Reed, who is 97, still reads the Houston Chronicle every day, and usually finishes the crossword without cheating. She is the clearest example of the goal: not simply a long life, but a long life you are still enjoying.
Who is Dr. Lauren Leavitt?
She is the physician who founded and runs the practice, and she spent 15 years in emergency medicine before starting it. That experience is the reason the practice exists: in an emergency department you meet people at the wrong end of their health, usually after the window to change what is happening has closed.
I was a patient before. Does anything change?
Nothing about your care changes. Same physician, same records, same phone number. What changes is the name on the door, and that the practice is now built around how Dr. Leavitt thinks care should work.