Meet Dr. Bernstein
Dr. Andrew Bernstein is board-certified in Family Practice. He graduated from State University of New York, Binghamton with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology, Cum Laude and earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Nova Southeastern University. He completed his residency at Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida. Prior to becoming a concierge physician, he had been practicing medicine in Collier County at NCH Naples Community Hospital for over 15 years.
I am a hardworking and dedicated physician who has always enjoyed improving patient health and wellness with proactive strategies aimed at nutrition intervention and lifestyle modification, above and beyond prescribing medications when possible. I am analytical in approaching individual concerns, and talented in leveraging wealth of medical training and contemporary knowledge based on national guidelines and studies, to formulate successful treatment plans. My approach is deeply focused on improving patients’ mental health. This has always been extraordinarily important to me; diseases can often be easy to treat, but it takes skill to mend a soul and then aid in keeping patients happy throughout their lives. My concierge practice allows me to accomplish this.
Practice Philosophy
Always attempting to minimize medications prescribed; nutrition and lifestyle counseling is priority one and will always take precedence over prescribing medication, it’s how I’ve practiced medicine since 2006.
Explaining complex diagnoses and deconstructing them so patients understand and feel comfortable with them; health anxiety can be soothed when a physician can demystify a condition properly for a patient.
Disease prevention is the goal and my focus, lets prevent something serious with some hard work together early on, often via nutrition and lifestyle modification.
Detailed lab result assessment and explanation of results with patient. I’ve always really enjoyed explaining labs to patients, it’s amazing how much we glean from laboratory tests. Subtle abnormalities can sometimes pose serious health consequence, patients should understand their labs thoroughly.
Lengthy detailed documentation in the patients’ records. I create a running timeline in a patient’s office note- so one
single office note will always contains absolutely everything that has occurred with a patient and all their active and inactive diagnoses, since i have met them. I have some patients that have been with me since 2006 and a single office appointment note can span 15 pages; personally I find this a great benefit to patients in terms of their care that I provide- when they present with a problem I can easily review one single lengthy time line based note, that has been growing since they established, versus traditional medical documentation where a physician is left having the patient remind the physician they had a similar problem in the past- whether it’s 1 to 20 years ago- and the physician is then left trying to find that documentation in the old record. Another benefit is that this timeline based documentation aids specialists in getting a better sense of what has been occurring with patients when records are sent.
Relationship building: I have always treated my patients like family and have created life long bonds with many of them; bedside manner is essential and an extremely important aspect of my care.
Assessment Skills: Every patient, disease, and symptom is a puzzle that needs to be put together. Physicians need to take time to do this, in a non-rushed environment, via long appointments. This is how I have always practiced medicine, and will continue to do so.
Specialist Referrals: I have been in practice in Collier County since 2006. I know which specialists provide superior care and as importantly, which ones my patients truly enjoy seeing.
“For 17 years in my old traditional practice, my patients expected to be taken back promptly when they arrived at my office. No one ever waited in the waiting room; I accomplished this by getting to the office at 6:00 am daily and reviewing all patient appointment charts for the day. By preparing for a patient appointment in advance, it makes for a smoother workday. This is what patients should expect in my concierge practice.”
Experience
Naples Community Hospital, Physician | Naples, FL
- Diagnosed and treated a wide variety of diseases and disorders affecting different body structures and systems.
- Cared for patients from newborns to age 100.
- Acted as a conduit for hospice care when appropriate.
- Coordinated transition of outpatient care upon discharge from hospital.
- Reviewed all inpatient records when patients were hospitalized.
- Always practiced medicine based on national guidelines, evidence based medicine, and study-proven data.
Anchor HealthCenter, Physician | Naples, FL
- Same job description as above, however, also practiced inpatient medicine at Naples Community Hospital and North Collier Hospital, in addition to providing outpatient care.
- Admitted patients to both hospitals, five days a week, 24 hours a day and provided weekend coverage every 4th weekend.
- Acted as the main hospital physician overseeing care of hospitalized patients, admitting them from the emergency department to standard floors and ICU, and following them daily until discharge.
- Managed a wide variety of disease states in the hospital, the more serious including stroke, myocardial infarction, intra-abdominal infection, failure to thrive/end of life, surgical management of joint replacements, gastrointestinal bleeds,
primary and metastatic cancer, aneurysms, mental health issues, renal failure, auto-immune disease, diabetes, fever of unknown origin, multisystem organ failure, sepsis, and trauma.
Collier County, Sheriff’s Physician | Naples, FL
- Performed annual physicals and medical clearance for police officers, including treadmill stress testing and laboratory evaluation.
Neighborhood Health Clinic, Physician Volunteer | Naples, FL
- Volunteered to provide medical care to uninsured patients in Collier County.
Collier Home Health Agency, Medical Director | Naples, FL
- Acted as medical director for outpatient home health agency that provides services once a patient is discharged from the hospital setting.
- Created plans to achieve organizational goals, promote employee welfare and deliver quality patient care.
Department of Energy, Research Fellow | Richaland, WA
- Graduated a semester early from college to complete a half year research fellowship with the Department of Energy. Research involved a cytotoxicity study and polymer synthesis trials, involving a thermoreversible gel as a matrix for radionuclides used in tumor based cancer therapy.
- Presentated at American Chemical Society (ACS) in California July 1998.
- Evaluated data from advanced research studies to help determine goals of our current research, and developed new study protocols on thermoreversible gel synthesis at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Managed confidential information to protect Department of Energy data.
Credentials, Education, and Training:
- Board Certified Family Practice, 2006
- Residency, Family Practice, Columbia Hospital, West Palm Beach, FL with additional training rotations through Mount Sinai Miami Beach, University of Miami and University of Texas, Southwestern Dallas, 2003
- Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Davie, FL, 2003
- Bachelor of Art, Biology, Cum Laude, State University of New York, Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, 2007
Undergraduate Research:- Physics Department- x-ray analysis of the mineral uptake versus time of the year of NY and Canadian trees. Entailed the proposed use of tree planting to decontaminate polluted soils.
- Biology Department- headed a study on the concentration of IgG and IgM produced by Con-A and LPS stimulated mouse spleen cells, versus addition of dilution of IL-2 and Il-4 post stimulation.
- Biology Department- study on the improvement of the cold storage solution hypothermasol by the addition of vitamin E versus Aloe versus malic acid.
Interests
In his free time, Dr. Bernstein enjoys cooking, exercising, and playing the electric guitar. He is also very interested in photography. You will see several of his photographs throughout the office. He and his wife travel annually to Yellowstone National Park in the winter and have visited South Africa, the Amazon and jungles of Belize- all in search of the perfect shot!