GFM Weight Management LLC

GFM Weight Management & Direct Primary Care was started to provide physician-guided weight management and Direct Primary Care.  The first half of the name, Weight Management, was founded based on the research that shows the most effective method of weight loss was long-term, frequent episodes of physician-delivered counseling to make the lifestyle changes necessary to maintain weight loss.  For a monthly fee, the patient receives counseling every two weeks, Body Composition Analyses at each visit, and injections of Lipo B at each visit for eight months or longer should the patient choose.
 
The second half, Direct Primary Care, is part of the recent movement to free patients and physicians from the limits imposed by medical insurance companies.  Direct Primary Care allows physicians, freed from the reporting requirements demanded by insurance companies since the advent of electronic medical records, to spend longer appointments, provide more access by phone, text and email, and develop relationships with patients.  For a low monthly membership fee, patients have as many visits they need and the option of same-day appointments, while receiving low-cost lab tests, imaging studies, and medical procedures.  Future plans are the addition of low-cost medications distributed by the office and inclusion of office-based testing such as urinalyses, strep and mono testing, and urine pregnancy tests. 

Doctor Theresa C. (Tess) Garcia has a degree of Medical Doctor from the Medical College of Virginia (now known as Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School) and is board-certified in Family Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine since 2002.  She went through Family Medicine Residency at the University of Missouri Kansas City Family Practice Residency Program.  She has 14 years of experience in weight management counseling, mental health care, and providing primary care to patients of all ages.  Twelve of those years were spent providing full-scope Family Medicine including Maternal-Fetal Medicine (prenatal care, delivery including C-sections, and care of the infant from birth till adulthood), pediatric and geriatric medicine, hospital care at Truman Medical Center, both the Lakewood and Hospital Hill campuses, and ambulatory care at the Samuel U. Rodgers Community Health Center in Kansas City, Missouri (urban medicine), Rodgers-Lafayette Community Health Center in Lexington, Missouri (rural medicine), and Garcia Family Medicine & Women's Health in Grain Valley, Missouri.  While at Rodgers-Lafayette, she worked for the Migrant Health  Project, serving a Hispanic population during the migrant season and, during the entire year, caring for the Spanish-speaking population in permanent residency in Lafayette, Ray, and Saline Counties, providing them with full-scope Family Medicine.   This required developing her Spanish-speaking skills to cover all aspects of medicine, from pregnancy to diabetes care.  While at Garcia Family Medicine & Women's Health, she provided care to the populations of Jackson, Lafayette, and Ray County including providing a sliding scale payment program for underserved populations.

GFM Family Medicine & Direct Primary Care is in Blue Springs, Missouri, a part of Eastern Jackson County (the western part of which is Kansas City, Missouri).   It is intended to provide care to patients from all of Jackson County.  Direct Primary Care is the lowest cost option for underserved populations, and it is Dr. Tess's desire to continue to serve the underserved which was the reason she went into medicine.