Scottsdale Husband-and-Wife Team Opens Prevention-Focused Primary Care Practice
By Lisa Padilla | Arizona Health & Living
After nearly 20 years in family medicine, Dr. David Francyk, DO, is taking a more personalized approach to primary care with the opening of Francyk Signature Medicine, a husband-and-wife practice in North Scottsdale focused on preventive health, individualized care planning and long-term physician-patient relationships.
In an interview with Arizona Health & Living, Francyk discusses why he and his wife, Jennifer, PA-C, decided to establish a different model of primary care, their complementary medical backgrounds and their approach to helping patients take a more proactive role in their health.
Francyk says increasing documentation requirements, standardized requirements, insurance pressures and rising operating costs have changed the traditional primary care environment. Over time, he found himself seeing more patients in less time, making it increasingly difficult to provide the level of attention he wanted to give.
“I felt rushed, and I couldn’t give people the kind of care I wanted to give,” Francyk says.
A turning point came when Jennifer was asked to see 28 patients a day or leave her practice. The experience reinforced his decision to pursue a different model, one that would allow them to work together and spend more time with patients.
“I did not want to spend the rest of my career in a model that left so little time for meaningful care, especially without my wife, who is my best friend and professional partner,” he says.
Francyk Signature Medicine is affiliated with MDVIP, a network of physicians that uses a membership-based primary care model. The approach allows affiliated physicians to maintain smaller patient panels, schedule longer appointments and place greater emphasis on preventive health and ongoing relationships with patients.
For Francyk, the goal extends beyond treating illness. He wants to help patients improve their healthspan, maintain independence and quality of life, and make informed decisions about their long-term health.
A Different Approach to Prevention and Personalized Care
For Francyk, prevention starts with understanding the individual and how different systems in the body work together.
His approach has evolved over the past five years, particularly since the pandemic, when he began seeing more conditions such as autonomic dysfunction, POTS and brain fog. Those experiences reinforced the importance of looking beyond individual symptoms.
As an osteopathic physician, Francyk takes a systems-based approach to health, considering how nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, medications, environmental exposures and metabolic health may affect overall well-being.
“Prevention is not just generic advice to exercise more or eat better,” Francyk says. “It means understanding how a patient’s nutrition, activity, sleep, stress, medications, environmental exposures, and metabolic health may be affecting their overall well-being, then creating a plan that fits the individual.”
He also plans to incorporate genomic testing when appropriate to identify relevant genetic variations and help tailor lifestyle recommendations.
The goal is to identify potential risks early and help patients make sustainable changes before those risks become more serious health concerns.
Individualized Care Beyond the Annual Physical
The practice’s Annual Wellness Program begins with a comprehensive assessment that goes beyond a standard physical examination.
Francyk says the process starts with understanding the patient, including medical history, lifestyle, stress, sleep, nutrition and long-term goals. Those findings help shape a personalized prevention plan that can be monitored and adjusted over time.
Recommendations may include changes to nutrition, physical activity and sleep, targeted supplementation or other appropriate therapies. The plan is developed collaboratively, with an emphasis on the patient’s individual needs and priorities.
Francyk says his previous practice required a different approach to accomplishing this level of care. He developed a system he called “frequency,” addressing different health concerns over a series of regular visits rather than attempting to cover everything in one appointment.
The membership model provides more time to develop a comprehensive picture of each patient’s health and follow progress over time.
Experience in Chronic Disease Management and Clinical Research
Chronic disease management is one of Francyk’s core clinical interests. Early in his career, he took over a large panel of older patients after a longtime physician left the practice. Many had multiple chronic conditions, giving him experience managing complex health needs while treating each patient as an individual.
He believes effective management of diabetes, hypertension and other chronic conditions requires more than reviewing a diagnosis, adjusting medication and scheduling another appointment. Understanding patients’ daily routines, nutrition, sleep, stress and personal goals can help identify challenges and shape a more practical care plan.
His clinical background also includes serving as a principal investigator in more than 50 Phase II, III and IV clinical trials involving vaccines and treatments for conditions including shingles, hepatitis B, diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.
That research experience informs his emphasis on evidence-informed decision-making and thoughtful testing.
“I do not order tests simply because they are available,” Francyk says. “I consider a patient’s history, symptoms, risk factors, existing conditions, medications, and goals.”
Additional testing, he says, is most useful when it can answer an important clinical question, clarify risk, establish a baseline, monitor a condition or guide treatment. He also wants patients to understand what a test can and cannot reveal and how its results may affect their care.
A Husband-and-Wife Care Team
Francyk and Jennifer bring complementary experience to the practice.
Jennifer, PA-C, has a background in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive endocrinology, with a focus on women’s hormones and complex women’s health concerns. David focuses on diabetes, hypertension, complex chronic disease management, functional wellness and musculoskeletal concerns. He also provides osteopathic treatment and offers modalities including cold laser, Emsella, Emsculpt Neo and Exomind.
Their combined experience allows them to address different aspects of patient health while maintaining a shared focus on personalized care and quality of life.
Francyk shares a humorous expression Jennifer uses to describe their partnership: “You fix them, you keep them alive, and I’ll make them happy and pretty.”
He says the remark reflects their complementary roles and shared goal of helping patients feel well and maintain their quality of life.
Membership and Patient Access
Francyk Signature Medicine operates on an annual membership model designed to give patients more time with their physician and greater access to preventive care.
The annual membership fee is $3,500. Members receive an Annual Wellness Program, personalized health planning, longer appointments, same- or next-day appointments when appropriate, and after-hours phone communication.
The wellness program may include hearing and vision screenings, body composition and mobility assessments, lung-function testing, circulation testing, an electrocardiogram (EKG) and advanced blood work. Depending on individual needs, additional testing, including genetic testing, may also be considered.
The membership fee is separate from health insurance and supports the Annual Wellness Program and preventive services not typically covered by insurance. Medicare and commercial insurance continue to cover eligible medically necessary care, including covered preventive and sick visits, according to each patient’s plan.
Francyk encourages prospective patients to consider what they want from their primary care relationship, including the amount of time with their physician, continuity of care, preventive services and whether the membership model fits their health goals.
About Dr. David Francyk and Francyk Signature Medicine
Dr. David Francyk is a board-certified family medicine physician with nearly 20 years of experience. He earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his family medicine residency at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix.
In addition to his clinical work and research experience, he teaches osteopathic techniques at Midwestern University. He is a member of the American Osteopathic Association, American Medical Association, Arizona Medical Association and Arizona Academy of Family Physicians.
Francyk Signature Medicine is located at:
7231 East Princess Boulevard, Suite 208
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
For more information:
Contact the practice to ask about membership, availability, services and insurance arrangements.
Phone: 520-509-7127
Website: mdvip.com/AZHealth
This article is based on an interview with Dr. David Francyk. His views are presented as those of the interviewee. This article is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute individualized medical advice.
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