Please forgive my ignorance as I'm not a doctor but I've always been curious about certain aspects of income generation for docs. As I search for PCPs to shadow I see quite a few PCPs and concierge doctors offering chelation therapy, IV vitamin/nutrition therapy (which seems like overkill to me for most people but again I'm no expert), appetite suppressants, dubious terms like "preventative aging." Some of these are medi spas but others are standard primary care offices that offer extra stuff on the side. Do a lot of physicians utilize these therapies? For IV "nutrition" is it truly for say anemic patients who qualify for iron injections vs. giving injections because someone asks for it/whats the harm/easy money? I'm not trying to point fingers or anything, truly just curious since clearly at least some doctors are offering it.
I'm very interested in becoming a PCP but I'm not particularly on board with things like chelation and weight loss programs with appetite suppressants/injections. I bust my butt in the gym to stay in good shape and couldn't imagine prescribing a suppressant so you could lose weight. Can you guys just shed some light on me please? Is this stuff proven and legitimate to offer or is it more in line with OMM having some benefit but not much proof/anecdotal?
Perhaps I see a lot of this because I live in Florida where everyone goes to die but still wants to look good doing it?