Dear Doctor: Sylvia Chudy
The integrative medicine physician who thinks outside the box to treat patients
Walking into the Crossover Health office in Midtown Manhattan, you’ll likely first be struck by the lack of a traditional waiting room; there are no couches or magazine racks in the expansive, sleek entryway. “We don’t have one, because we see our patients right away,” explains Dr. Sylvia Chudy, who practices at Crossover as a primary care physician and works with the team to develop innovative and accessible health and wellness programs to serve busy New Yorkers.
As we toured the offices, thoughtfully designed with cutting-edge technology and images of New York City landmarks, Dr. Chudy discussed the path that brought her to practice in an integrated care setting and why she was attracted to the role at Crossover Health. Read on for her thoughts on future of healthcare and much more!
“Growing up, biology and chemistry were my favorite subjects. As I got older and began to study pre-medicine, it became clear to me that I wanted to work with people rather than spend time in a lab researching. After gaining exposure to many different specialties in medical school, I knew I wanted to be able to build a connection with my patients and provide continuity of care, so I pursued family medicine, which gives you exposure to the full scope of one’s life cycle.
From Family Medicine to Integrative Practice
From the very beginning of my career, I enjoyed building relationships with my patients and their families, even working with four generations of a single family! I think this is the only profession where you are often blessed to be a part of a whole family, and you get to play an integral part in a person’s life. I love getting to know a person’s background; it’s both interesting and fulfilling, as well as helpful from a psychosocial perspective in forming a diagnosis.
As I evolved in my career, however, I found that we were seeing patients every fifteen minutes or so, and it felt like a revolving door. There was a focus on making a diagnosis and developing treatment options, but in some cases, prescribing medication felt like putting on a Band Aid and I wished I had more time and autonomy to step back to get to the root cause.
Around the same time, I stumbled upon integrative medicine and got board certified, and I am currently pursuing functional medicine certification. In both integrative and functional medicine, you focus on the full range of factors that may be affecting a patient, beyond just the physical, and you provide treatment options beyond conventional practice.
I love getting to the root cause and helping patients make good lifestyle choices to keep them healthy and prevent future issues.
Coming to Crossover
I joined the team at Crossover Health in June of 2017. Crossover is very unique, pioneering how medicine should be practiced. We have several different disciplines working together at the practice so that providers can collaborate and come up with a plan together, a big change from the disconnect that may occur when one patient is being treated by a primary care physician and several outside specialists. In fact, Crossover is unique in that we offer services like health coaching, behavioral therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic services, massage therapy, physical therapy, and optometry — all under one roof. I think of Crossover as a leader in changing our healthcare system. Crossover and I mirror each other in our vision of how medicine should be practiced, and we both want to bring more of a preventive medicine approach to care that is focused on lifestyle.
I typically see young, healthy people and my primary goal with these patients is to work more on optimizing health and wellness. Our patients are actually very proactive in terms of thinking about preventative care, which is great — and a generational shift from older generations who thought about the doctor as a place to go when you get sick. I often get questions like, “what else can I do for my health”? It’s great to see that patients are shifting to a similar mindset that we have as providers.
There are definitely still misconceptions about integrative medicine. Providers in the traditional medical community may not grasp what it is, and this lack of knowledge may lead to assumptions that the practice is not evidence-based or focused on research.
Not all of our patients come in knowing the difference between traditional and integrative medicine, but I’ve found that patients value and appreciate the out-of-the-box thinking involved in the practice.
A Day in the Life
I get up early to take the train into the city. I turn on my computer pretty much immediately, but I also make sure to take a few minutes to meditate. My day is a blend of seeing patients, administrative meetings, and working on projects in order to continue innovating.
Every morning, our team has a huddle in the area we call the bullpen. We use this time to look at the schedule, review patient comments, present on educational topics, bring in specialists to deep dive into a topic, and review patient care and treatment plans. We’re similar to a startup in that we don’t have our own offices and all sit together so we can chat and collaborate. We have a whiteboard that shows projects we are working on or have in the pipeline as well as important reminders and updates for the team. During the day, in between seeing patients, our providers can be found charting, and we use this time for informal check-ins too.
I use technology all day long. I rely on our EMR (electronic medical records) system, which is invaluable in providing access to all patient information. In addition, we have a portal system where we can message patients, and they love it. In addition, this is where patients can book appointments, access their labs, and see trends across their vitals and lab results over time.
Looking Ahead
I’m constantly learning from the providers here at Crossover. I had never worked closely with, for example, a chiropractor, physical therapist, or acupuncturist before, and it’s so helpful to learn more about their approach. It also helps me better explain to a patient what to expect when they see one of these specialists.
Since Crossover is still brand new to the city, I often go out to specialists’ offices and meet with them to build relationships. It’s important to me to know and build trust with other like-minded providers that I may call upon for referrals.
I’m really excited about the health and wellness initiatives we are doubling down on in 2018. We plan to continue engaging with our patients and empowering them to take their health into their own hands. We’ll be broadening our focus on nutrition and fitness; there is a lot in the works!
Lightning Round
I love what I do because…I love to help people and I want to be impactful in people’s lives.
If I weren’t a doctor…I might be a chef, since I love to cook.
Favorites
On my playlist: I love listening to TED Talks and motivational speakers. I always try to take away little moments of inspiration when I can. One of my favorites is Simon Sinek, who has written several great books about the power of asking why.
Time saver: I always pick out my outfit the night before to save a few minutes in the morning.
Relax ritual: Going for a walk or having a cup of herbal tea after dinner.
NYC Neighborhood: I love Central Park because in the middle of a bustling city, you can find a place of peace.
App: I love Flipboard, a news aggregator that organizes articles based on any topic imaginable. Some of my favorites topics to read about are entrepreneurship, internal medicine, technology, and general health care news.
You can learn more about Dr. Chudy at Crossover Health in Midtown.
Know a great female doctor in NYC? We’d love to meet her, introduce us here!
