At HealthspanMD™, we believe everyone deserves more than the typical “medicate and operate” approach to health.
I built HealthspanMD™ to deliver healthcare the way it’s supposed to be – meaning the comprehensive, personalized, and connected care that gives you the best opportunity to achieve your health and weight goals, live a long and vital life for the next 20, 40, 50+ years, while spending less time in doctor’s offices and hospitals.
My goal is for you to be doing more of what you love and are meant to do.
We specialize in providing the comprehensive, personalized, and connected care science tells us can:
The problem is, it’s an incredibly unhealthy world out there, and it’s very difficult to stay slim, energetic and healthy these days.
Yet, healthcare continues to focus on medications and procedures – which certainly have their role – but they often aren’t enough to get the best care because they don’t address the root causes of your chronic illness.
The consequence is more people have chronic diseases than at any time in world history, and your risk for preventable illnesses like heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia, high blood pressure, and many others has skyrocketed – and all of that is costing years, even decades of healthy life for people like you.
But I want you to know you don’t have to settle for a shortened life of chronic illness.
There is more hope than you realize – and remarkably effective prevention and treatments – besides medications and operations.
There is a better way. A lasting way.
HealthspanMD™ partners with our patients to provide expert medical care AND the guidance and support needed to create habits and choices that we all know are critically important to health.
Our comprehensive approach focuses on the ten most powerful factors for for reducing the risk – and reversing – the most common and deadly diseases that we call the Healthspan-10™
The Healthspan-10™ is the ten most powerful factors we have control over to stay, or get, healthy and live a long and vital life.
The Healthspan-10™ is separated into two categories.
The Six Healthspan Tools. These tools are HOW you get healthy, reverse disease, and heal your metabolism.
The last four of the Healthspan-10™ are what we use to measure the health of your metabolism.
At HealthspanMD™, we know you are unique, and the most effective approach to your health goals will be unique as well. We take the time to get to know you and your goals because that’s the only way that works in the long-run. Plus, it’s a lot more enjoyable and gratifying for you and for us!
If you’ve ever tried to get healthier or lose weight, but eventually lost your way, you understand the importance of a connected approach. What we’re talking about is a relationship where you regularly interact with your expert team who cares about you and your goals.
We’ve all had the experience of calling your healthcare team and being on perpetual hold, talking to a robot, never getting a call back, or being offered an appointment in three months. Instead, imagine being just a text away from your expert healthcare team – available to provide the guidance, information, advice, and support you need when you need it.
HealthspanMD™ specializes in helping those who want to improve their health and lead a long and vital life.
The conditions we treat are:
The most common reason patients come to HealthspanMD™ is they want to live a long and vital life,get the best chance to be free of chronic disease, and aren’t willing to accept the typical “medicate and operate” approach.
HealthspanMD™ is for you if you…
Common examples of why people choose HealthspanMD™ include:
If any – or all – of these sound like you, HealthspanMD™ is designed to give you a solution to your problem that is not offered by traditional healthcare.
REQUEST AN APPOINTMENT
Take the first step to achieving the health, weight, and longevity goals you have always wanted by clicking the Request an Appointment button or calling our office in Phoenix, Arizona at 480-847-2575.
MEET WITH DR. HURST
Meet with Dr. Hurst and his team to create your personalized Healthspan Action Plan and get clear on your best opportunities to achieve your goals.
SEE AND FEEL THE RESULTS
Partner with our team – including your dedicated care coordinator – to get the guidance, support, encouragement and the step-by-step system you need to to achieve lasting results.
You don’t have to settle for living a life constantly concerned about chronic illness. Working together, we can help you achieve your future health, weight, and longevity goals so you can get the most out of life.
We can’t wait to show you how healthcare is supposed to be. Request your appointment today.
To provide the personalized care needed to get you the health and longevity results you want, we need to know as much as possible about you, your health, and your goals before your visit. All patients are asked to complete a detailed Healthspan questionnaire – and are asked to share any relevant testing results and medical records. After the initial consult, Dr. Hurst may suggest other testing to help fully understand the best opportunities to achieve your health and longevity goals.
HealthspanMD™ does not replace your primary care physician or cardiologist. Our goal is to work collaboratively with your medical team to help you achieve your health, weight, and longevity goals. We are happy to communicate with your primary care physician and other healthcare professionals with your permission.
No, HealthspanMD™ does not serve as a primary care or cardiology practice. HealthspanMD™ is a medical practice focused on wellness and longevity. We do not provide primary, urgent, or acute care. We aren’t equipped or set up to take care of acute health issues.
HealthspanMD™ works with clients anywhere in the world!
For our clients who are physically in the state of Arizona at the time of consultation, Dr. Hurst can serve as a physician and provide medical care (refer for testing, make diagnoses, recommend treatments, provide medical advice, and write prescriptions.)
For clients who are not physically in the state of Arizona at the time of consultation, Dr. Hurst will serve as a longevity advisor and provide general recommendations so you can have a more informed discussion with your medical team – but will not make diagnosis, recommend treatments, provide prescriptions, or otherwise engage in the practice of medicine. For clients outside of the state of Arizona, HealthspanMD™ services will be cash pay.
Yes, if you are physically in the state of Arizona, we prescribe medications that impact your wellness and longevity which would include blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and some weight loss medications.
We do not provide prescriptions or refills for controlled substances or other medications outside of our area of expertise.
Yes. HealthspanMD™ services are covered by Medicare and most commercial insurance. Please contact our office if you have additional questions.
We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
If you’re interested in a comprehensive approach to your health, your weight, and your longevity, then you will be a great fit to work with us!
If you are looking for just a prescription – or you need current symptoms evaluated like chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, etc, then we recommend seeing a traditional medical professional.
HealthspanMD works with a diverse team of experts to serve the needs of our clients. This includes:
And for our clients in Arizona:
Dr. Hurst is licensed to practice medicine in the state of Arizona. For clients who are not physically in the state of Arizona at the time of consultation, Dr. Hurst will serve as a longevity advisor and provide general recommendations you can discuss with your medical team – but will not make diagnoses, recommend treatments, provide prescriptions, or otherwise engage in the practice of medicine.
Experts predict that 50-75% of high blood pressure could be eliminated by addressing factors OUTSIDE of the doctor’s office. Our comprehensive approach is ideally suited to those who want the best treatment for their blood pressure to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia.
The latest data shows that over 70% of us are overweight and over 42% of us are obese. But this doesn’t tell the full story. A better measure of unhealthy weight is body fat percentage and/or waist circumference and some have a normal weight, but they are carrying too much body fat – particularly around the middle – than is health for them.
Unfortunately, it’s quite rare for people to lose weight and keep it off with traditional weight loss strategies. Most studies show that less than 10% of people can lose weight and keep it off over a year or two.
If you feel like you’ve tried everything and failed, the truth is the traditional ways to lose weight have failed you just like they have failed almost everyone else.
What we have learned is that a comprehensive, personalized, and connected approach is remarkably effective in helping people achieve lasting weight loss.
There are 240 million adults in the US – and a 100 million have unhealthy cholesterol levels.
There are 5 parts to a standard cholesterol profile.
The reason cholesterol levels are so important is that high cholesterol levels increase the risk for heart attack and stroke.
Our comprehensive approach is ideally suited to those who want the best treatment for their cholesterol levels – including the non-medical opportunities and (when needed) the best medications – to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Diabetes has increased 750% in the last 50 years. But it’s not just diabetes. About 40% of us have blood sugars that are too high – this can be called either pre-diabetes, or insulin resistance. What commonly goes along with high blood sugars is high insulin levels – which over time leads to insulin resistance and high insulin levels make it impossible to burn fat.
The HealthspanMD™ approach is ideally suited to those who want the best treatment for their blood sugar and insulin levels – including the non-medical opportunities and (when needed) the best medications – to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and dementia.
Fatty liver disease (also called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD) affects up to 40% of adults and is a common consequence of an unhealthy metabolism.
Lifestyle changes (what we call the Six Healthspan Tools (nutrition, physical activity, sleep, manage stress, avoid toxins, stay connected) are the cornerstones of the treatment of fatty liver disease – and in some studies up to 90% of fatty liver can be cured or reversed by healing your metabolism.
The expert guidelines for the treatment of chronic coronary artery disease (meaning having a history of heart attack, stent, or bypass surgery) give the strongest possible recommendation for a comprehensive approach to treatment that includes optimizing the factors in the Healthspan-10™.
In my experience of over 25 years of being a physician, people with a history of heart artery disease who optimize their blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, physical activity, nutrition, sleep, stress management, connection and avoid toxins rarely have recurrent heart attacks.
Research shows that those who have Afib and are overweight can increase the chances of being free of Afib by 1,100% by combining expert medical care with a comprehensive approach like the HealthspanMD™ program.
Metabolic disease (sometimes called cardiometabolic disease) is epidemic in the world today – 88% of adults have at least one sign of metabolic disease such as high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood sugar levels, or unhealthy weight.
There are six tools – that when combined with expert medical care – are most effective in treating blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and unhealthy weight – in other words, healing your metabolism:
The HealthspanMD™ program uses these six tools to help our clients heal their metabolism and reduce the risk of the most common and deadly diseases – namely heart disease, cancer, stroke, and dementia.
Here’s what the research tells us – those who have a healthy metabolism compared to those who don’t have:
And add 12-14 or more healthy years to life
Many people believe that healthcare is broken – and I understand why they feel that way – too many are seeing specialist after specialist, being prescribed medication after medication, paying copay after copay… and not getting better.
But I believe it’s important to understand what healthcare does well, and what it doesn’t do well so you don’t end up in the cycle of feeling unwell, seeing a doctor only to get prescribed more meds, and not addressing the root causes of your problems. Let alone learning how to fix it.
Here’s what you need to know about healthcare to avoid repeating this cycle over and over again:
Healthcare is quite good at taking care of acute health issues – and if you are having a heart attack, or stroke, or have acute leukemia or are critically ill with COVID – there is no better place to be than in a major healthcare system – but if your goal is to get well, stay well, treat the root causes, heal your metabolism, that’s just not what healthcare is designed to do.
I thought this was very well stated by Jay Olshansky when he said “Our medical model is a simple one – as soon as a disease appears, attack it with everything in the medical arsenal. Beat the disease down, and once you succeed, push the patient out the door until they face their next challenge; then beat that one down. The formula is simple—repeat until failure.”
It reminds me of the game I played as a kid – whack a mole – wait for illness to pop up – and beat it down.
And while this whack a mole strategy may not make sense if you want to get healthy, live a long and vital life, and stay out of hospitals and doctor’s offices, it does make great sense if you’re in the business of healthcare.
We spend almost 20% of all dollars on healthcare – There’s a lot of money in taking care of sick people: Some examples:
Here’s the point I want to make – expert medical care is essential to our health – thank goodness we have such great doctors, hospitals, medicine, procedures to save our lives when we need it – but expert medical care is only one tool in your toolbox – and if you want to heal your metabolism – if you want the amazing benefits of having a healthy metabolism – you need more than the typical “medicate and operate” band-aid approach. You have to also address things outside of the doctor’s office to live a long and vital life.
Typically, healthcare approaches health problems with a “medicate or operate” approach – which often are bandaids for the problem and don’t address the root causes.
HealthspanMD™ takes a more holistic view – helping our clients identify the root causes of their health issues – and the most effective way to achieve their health and longevity goals. Medications can be powerful tools – but they can also be toxic. Our approach is to recommend medications and supplements only if they are necessary and the potential benefits significantly outweigh the potential risks.
HealthspanMD does not provide primary care or evaluate symptoms that need urgent attention such as chest pain, shortness of breath, passing out spells, severe pain, or active signs of infection.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition. We are all unique and this makes creating a healthy longevity nutrition system complex. There is NOT one way to eat that fits everyone – whether it’s low carb, low fat, vegan, Mediterranean, keto, whole-food plant-based, etc. And even if there were, if you don’t enjoy it, it’s not going to work for you in the long run. But there is a framework for finding YOUR best diet which we use to help our clients discover their personal longevity nutrition system by helping them answer four questions:
Physical activity is the fountain of youth – essential to staying young and avoiding disease and healing your metabolism. The problem is for many, exercise is a burden – a mandatory way to burn calories – it doesn’t feel good and it is hard to stick to it.
On the other hand, some are regularly active, but aren’t doing the best activities to achieve their health, weight, and longevity goals.
At HealthspanMD™, we address both groups by helping our clients build a personalized longevity physical activity system that helps them go at their pace to address the four aspects of physical activity essential to a long, vital life:
No, we are not a concierge practice. We are a primary cardiology practice that takes commercial insurance and Medicare, and we provide dedicated care through our remote care programs.
Founder of HealthspanMD and esteemed cardiologist Robert Todd Hurst, MD will be the central component of your care team. In addition to Dr. Hurst, we offer Remote Care Programs where you will be matched with a dedicated care coordinator for your personalized program. Anything we cannot facilitate, we will refer to qualified providers.
Remote care is how we stay in contact virtually through your care coordinator, so you get the best results from our evidence-based methods.
This proactive and comprehensive approach provides you with a consistent connection to your expert care team. Everyone in a remote care team is assigned a care coordinator to stay in constant contact with the medical care team and get the best possible outcomes.
Your dedicated care coordinator will be your go-to contact on your care team at HealthspanMD. They will connect with you virtually to help you reach your goals, offering a supportive space to ask questions and gain accountability so you can reach those long-awaited health goals.
The procedure typically takes around 45 minutes. You will be asked to lie on your left side during the examination. Prior to the procedure, we will apply a clear gel to your chest area. It is important to avoid applying any lotions or oils to your chest on the day of the exam, as they can interfere with the ultrasound images.
Additionally, wearing loose and comfortable clothing will facilitate access to your chest area. If you have any specific concerns or questions regarding the preparation, we recommend consulting with your primary healthcare provider and our team beforehand.