Dr. Greg Keifer is doing things differently on Big Pine Key.
Keifer and his partner, Tommy Iglesias, bought Big Pine Medical and Minor Emergency in January from Dr. David Grider and his wife, Gigi, who had been caring for Lower Keys families for 40 years.
“Dr. Grider and Gigi were ready to retire years ago, but they wanted to sell the practice to an independent, family doctor rather than a corporate medical group,” said Keifer, a Toledo, Ohio native who moved to the Keys about six years ago and launched Florida Keys Concierge Medicine, a membership-based, all-housecall practice that serves patients from Marathon to Key West.
And while he still runs his concierge practice, Keifer and Iglesias were proud to buy Big Pine Medical & Minor Emergency and continue offering skilled and concerned primary care to patients of all ages in the community they themselves call home.
In the past eight months, Keifer has become “that” family doctor, caring for multiple generations of families in a small town — guiding them through flu seasons, strep throats, sprained ankles and the occasional fishing hook stuck in an arm.
Keifer and Iglesias, a biomedical engineer who formerly worked at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. and is now the practice manager in Big Pine, offer much more than traditional family medicine.
Keifer’s medical staff includes three nurse practitioners: Patricia Perry, who has been at the practice for 19 years, Jeremy Eades and Tabble Memoli, who will join the practice in October.
Big Pine Medical and Minor Emergency offers women’s health care, including PAP smears, pelvic exams and IUD placements for contraception. It also offers physicals and drug screens for Coast Guard-certified captains as well as transportation workers.
“We’re also thrilled to offer dermatology services, including skin checks, biopsies and we even do removal of basal and squamous cell cancers,” Keifer said. “Anything involving melanoma, we’ll certainly refer to a specialist.”
Dermatological care is crucial down here in the Keys, where the sun is relentless and thousands of people work outside and on the water — fishermen, captains, divemasters, construction workers, landscapes, pool cleaners and more.
“But unfortunately, there’s been a huge decline in dermatological services down here as local doctors retire,” Keifer said. “It’s actually been shocking to see the turnover in doctors and the departure of so many medical professionals just in the six years I’ve been in the Keys. I’m glad to be able to offer consistency in care to patients of all ages.”
Since January, the medical center on Big Pine also has added a new digital X-ray machine, medical marijuana licenses, a medical weight-loss program and cosmetic treatments, including Botox and other injectable fillers.
The office’s operations have been upgraded as well. Keifer and Iglesias immediately switched from cumbersome and outdated paper medical charts to electronic medical records that patients can access online. Their new phone system allows patients to text staff members directly about appointment times and other questions. And new electronic intake forms enable patients to complete their new-patient paperwork online before an appointment, rather than sitting in the waiting room with a clipboard and 10 pages of signatures. Insurance cards and information can also be provided online ahead of time.
Big Pine Medical and Minor Emergency accepts most major insurance — Medicare, Tricare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and their Medicaid approval is coming soon, along with approvals from other insurance companies. Uninsured patients are charged according to a sliding fee scale based on income.
“It’s funny, I’ve noticed a lot of doctors move to the Keys at the end of their career and work their way into retirement down here. But I’m proud to be here at the start of my medical career,” Keifer said. “We’re thrilled to live here and be part of this community.”
