Senior primary care in Tampa that takes the time.
Primary care for adults 65 and over, in a room, with a board-certified physician who is the same person in January and the following November. An hour for the first appointment, the medication bottles gone through one by one, and a wellness plan sized to your age rather than to a schedule.
- One physician, not a panelDr. Jason Saylor, DO sees you personally at each appointment. No resident, no rotation.
- An hour, and a hands-on examGait timed, blood pressure taken lying and standing, feet checked, cognition screened face to face.
- Ground-floor suite off Moran RoadFree parking at the door in Carrollwood, with Florida telehealth for follow-ups that do not need the room.
Free · Confidential
Request a callback
A patient coordinator calls you within one business day. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. We will be in touch.
A patient coordinator will reach out within one business day. If you would rather not wait, call (813) 670-3331.
Some findings only exist in the room.
A drop in blood pressure on standing, an unsteady turn, a sore under a callus that nobody could see. These are not questions you can ask; they are things somebody has to measure. A quarter-hour slot with a different face each year does not produce them.
Request a callbackMost senior primary care in Tampa runs on volume. This is built around the same physician, an unhurried hour, and a plan for the whole year.
What this is, concretely: an appointment usually inside the same week at the Carrollwood office, 3971 Moran Road, Suite 101, 33618, with the same physician on every return and enough minutes on the clock for someone over 65. It covers the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, going through the medication containers one at a time, screening for falls and for cognition, chronic disease managed against older-adult risk rather than mid-life targets, and the advance care planning conversation. Established patients use Florida telehealth for the follow-ups that do not require hands. The physician is Dr. Jason Saylor, DO. Call (813) 670-3331 or request a callback.
Ask around Tampa for senior primary care and two answers dominate. The first is a large hospital-system practice, where the specialists are excellent and the continuity is whatever the rota produced that morning; you may meet a different clinician, or a resident midway through a rotation, at each appointment. The second is a stand-alone senior centre running on a Medicare Advantage contract, engineered for throughput, with slots frequently in the fifteen-to-twenty-minute range. Several of those cannot register you at all if you hold Original Medicare or the wrong Advantage plan, because a single capitated contract is the entire business model.
The Carrollwood office is a third answer. Board-certified family medicine, one physician you keep, roughly sixty minutes for a first appointment, and a payer mix that is not welded to a single Advantage network.
The distinction that matters most, though, is clinical rather than administrative. Senior primary care is a separate scope of practice, not an adult physical with a different label on it. A drug regimen that behaved well at 54 behaves differently at 74. A fall becomes a clinical outcome you track over time rather than an accident somebody mentions in passing. Cognition gets screened on a schedule instead of when a family member finally says something. And the conversation about what care you would actually want has to happen while it is still a conversation, not a decision somebody else makes for you in a corridor at two in the morning.
Illustrative
One physician who actually knows your history
Every senior patient at the Carrollwood office is seen by Dr. Jason Saylor, DO, a board-certified family medicine physician with 17 years of clinical experience and Chief Medical Officer at Ascend, whose scope explicitly includes senior care, medication reconciliation, fall prevention, and chronic disease management.
- Board-certified family medicine (DO)
- 17 years clinical experience
- Chief Medical Officer
- Medicare AWV and chronic care
Dr. Jason Saylor, DO is a board-certified osteopathic family medicine physician who sees Tampa-area seniors in person at the Carrollwood office and via Florida-statewide telehealth for established-patient follow-ups. His clinical scope covers senior care, preventive medicine, chronic disease management, and medication reconciliation, built on a broad family medicine background rather than a separate geriatric fellowship. He is the reviewer of record for this page.
Geriatric medicine organizes around a set of overlapping problems, sometimes called geriatric syndromes, that do not show up cleanly on a single lab value: polypharmacy, falls, cognitive change, frailty, incontinence, and social isolation. None of these is a single diagnosis code, which is exactly why they get missed in a rushed visit built around chief complaints. Our first-visit structure goes after them deliberately, and the hour it takes is the reason it works: a full medication reconciliation from the actual bottles, a falls and near-falls history, a validated cognitive screen administered face to face, a depression screen, an observed assessment of how you move, and a conversation about who is at home and what daily life genuinely involves. Several of those are observations rather than questions, which is why the first visit happens in the office.
Is a family medicine physician the right fit, or do you need a geriatrician?
A geriatrician completes additional fellowship training focused specifically on aging. For most senior patients without highly complex frailty, a family medicine scope that explicitly includes senior care covers the visit well. Patients with very complex geriatric needs (advanced dementia management, a full interdisciplinary geriatric assessment team) may also benefit from a geriatric specialist referral, which we help coordinate rather than pretend we are the only answer.
Real appointment access, and an unhurried visit
New senior patients are typically scheduled within the week, the first visit runs about 60 minutes, and follow-ups run 30 to 45 minutes, in person or by telehealth. Nobody is rushed through a five-minute appointment.
-
1
You request a callback
Call (813) 670-3331 or use the form. A coordinator confirms your goals, insurance, and scheduling, and verifies your benefits before the first visit.
-
2
Your first visit is about an hour
A thorough history, focused exam, a Medicare-appropriate cognitive screen, depression screen, and fall risk assessment, plus a full medication reconciliation against what you are actually taking.
-
3
You leave with a real plan
What labs, what specialist follow-up, which screenings are due, and what is coming in the next year, written down rather than rushed.
-
4
Follow-ups fit your life
Established patients do many follow-ups by Florida telehealth from home, with family welcome to join, and come in for the annual wellness visit and anything needing a hands-on exam.
If something new comes up mid-appointment, we deal with it in that visit rather than asking you to book a second one. That is the practical difference an unhurried visit makes.
The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, explained plainly
If you have Medicare Part B, an Annual Wellness Visit is a covered preventive benefit each year, and it is not the same thing as a physical exam. We do not bill Medicare directly for primary care, so we confirm your coverage before your visit.
Actual waiting area
Medicare recognizes three distinct visit types, and the differences trip a lot of people up. The Welcome to Medicare visit is one-time, in your first 12 months of Part B. The Annual Wellness Visit is the yearly, no-copay risk assessment after that. A physical or problem-focused visit is a separate, billable hands-on exam. We layer a focused exam onto your AWV so you get both in one trip.
- The Welcome to Medicare visit (Initial Preventive Physical Examination, or IPPE): a one-time visit available only within your first 12 months of Medicare Part B enrollment. It covers a review of your medical and social history, a basic exam, and screening schedule planning.
- The Annual Wellness Visit (AWV): available every year after that, covering a Health Risk Assessment, cognitive screening, fall risk assessment, depression screen, review of current medications, updated advance directive status, and a personalized prevention plan listing which screenings are due.
- A physical exam or problem-focused visit: a separate, billable visit (with your normal cost-sharing) where a provider actually examines you for a specific concern; the AWV is a risk-assessment and planning visit, not a hands-on exam by itself.
Because splitting these into two separate appointments is inconvenient for patients who drove to Carrollwood, most Ascend senior patients layer a focused exam onto the same visit as their AWV. You get both the Medicare-covered risk assessment and the physical exam that visit, billed appropriately for each component. Medicare eligibility is not strictly an age-65 rule either: some younger adults qualify due to a qualifying disability or certain diagnoses, and the same AWV benefit applies to them once enrolled.
Original Medicare, Advantage, and Medigap: what each one does to your choice of physician
Original Medicare lets you see nearly any Medicare-participating provider in the country. Medicare Advantage substitutes a private insurer's contracted network for that open access, and the network decides which senior primary care practices you may use. In Tampa this is the usual explanation for a patient sitting in a clinic they did not pick: their plan contracts with a limited set of practices, often the large capitated senior centers, and mid-year switching is restricted to specific enrollment windows.
| If you have | Who you may see | Referrals | Ask before booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original Medicare (Parts A/B) | Any provider nationwide who accepts Medicare assignment. | None needed for primary care. | Does the practice accept assignment? We verify this for you in advance. |
| Medicare Advantage (Part C) | Only practices contracted with your specific plan. | HMO versions usually require an in-network referral for specialists. | Is this practice in your plan's network this plan year, and how does referral routing work? |
| Medigap supplement + Original Medicare | Same nationwide access as Original Medicare. | None needed for primary care. | Which plan letter you carry, since Part B coinsurance coverage varies by letter. |
One practical note for patients who value an in-person physician relationship. If you are weighing an Advantage plan during open enrollment mainly to keep a specific doctor, call the plan and confirm that doctor's status directly. Published provider directories are frequently out of date, and a listing in one is not a commitment. Ask also whether the practice's status is contracted for the full plan year, since network changes at year boundaries are what separate patients from physicians most often.
Ascend does not bill Medicare directly for primary care, and is in-network with Aetna, ChampVA, and UnitedHealthcare. We confirm your coverage and what you would owe before your first visit rather than after it.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "Your Medicare Coverage Choices" and "Yearly Wellness Visit" program guidance. Medicare.gov and CMS.gov.
Ready for care that actually takes the time?
Tell us what is going on and we will get you scheduled, usually within the week. Same physician every visit, in Carrollwood or by Florida telehealth. The first conversation is information, not a commitment.
In-person in Carrollwood or by Florida telehealth statewide for established patients.
Chronic disease management, adjusted for the realities of aging
The target numbers and treatment thresholds that make sense for a 45-year-old often do not apply the same way at 78. Good senior primary care adjusts the goal, not just the medication, individualized to your health, frailty, and fall history rather than applied by age alone.
-
Blood pressureMost common
Measured lying and standing on office equipment, because the drop is what predicts the fall.
Read more -
Type 2 diabetes
Includes the foot exam that gets skipped almost everywhere else, at every relevant visit.
Read more -
Cholesterol
Weighed against a current cardiac exam and your own priorities, not a default by age.
Read more -
Thyroid disease
Neck exam and same-visit labs, so a dose change does not wait on a second appointment.
Read more -
Chronic pain
Non-opioid approaches first, guided by an actual joint and range-of-motion exam.
Read more -
Preventive screenings
Reviewed and ordered in the room, with most immunizations given before you leave.
Read more
If you are ever in immediate danger or having thoughts of self-harm, call 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or 911 now. For everything short of that, a first visit is simply information.
Blood pressure and orthostatic drops
Hypertension in an older adult is managed against the standing number, not the seated one. We take orthostatic blood pressure the way the measurement actually requires: a reading after several minutes lying down, then repeated at one and three minutes after you stand, with a staff member close by. That sequence is the entire point. A patient can have a seated pressure that reads like a treatment success while dropping thirty points every time they get out of a chair, and that patient is being harmed by more medication rather than helped by it.
Targets are individualized to your overall health, frailty, and fall history rather than applied as a flat rule by age. We also ask you to keep home readings between visits, because two weeks of them describes your blood pressure better than any single day can. The office visit is where the orthostatic measurement gets made correctly; the home log fills in the rest of the year.
Diabetes and hypoglycemia risk
For type 2 diabetes, HbA1c targets are often intentionally loosened for older adults, particularly those who are frail or have limited life expectancy, because tight glucose control raises the risk of dangerous hypoglycemia without a clear corresponding benefit in that population. The American Diabetes Association's Standards of Care includes a dedicated older-adults section addressing exactly this individualization.
The part of diabetes care that most depends on being in the room is the feet. A diabetic foot exam means shoes and socks off, a look between every toe, a check of the pulses, and sensation testing with a monofilament. It is a short exam and it is the one that finds an ulcer while it is still small. Patients rarely raise it themselves, partly because many cannot easily see the bottoms of their own feet, which is exactly why it belongs on the schedule rather than on the patient.
Bone health and osteoporosis
Bone density loss is silent until a fracture happens, which is why the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends bone density screening (a DXA scan) for women 65 and older, and earlier for those with specific risk factors; recommendations for men are less settled and are individualized based on risk.
Two things we look for in the room that a scan does not report. Height, measured on the same stadiometer each year, because losing more than about an inch between visits can be the first sign of a vertebral compression fracture nobody knew had happened. And posture, because a new forward curve of the upper back points the same direction. Both are quick, both are physical, and both routinely precede the conversation about treatment.
Depression and isolation in later life
Depression in later life is not a feature of aging, and treating it as one is how it goes unrecognized. It frequently arrives as physical complaints, irritability, or a flat withdrawal from things rather than as stated sadness, which is why a patient can be screened by symptom description and still be missed. The risk is real: the suicide rate among older adults, and among older men in particular, runs higher than in most other age groups. We screen for depression at every Annual Wellness Visit using a brief validated questionnaire and take a positive screen seriously. When it makes sense, we refer to talk therapy for grief, life transitions, or ongoing depression and anxiety alongside the medical management we provide.
Medication reconciliation and polypharmacy
Actual Carrollwood office
Medicare Annual Wellness Visits, medication reconciliation, fall and cognitive screening, and chronic disease management are built for adults 65 and older.
Polypharmacy, typically five or more regular medications, is one of the highest-yield things a senior visit can address, because the risk of a harmful interaction climbs with every drug added, especially when multiple prescribers are not talking to each other. Bring every bottle to the visit and we will go through them one at a time, in your hands and ours.
We ask Tampa patients to bring the actual containers rather than a typed list, and the request is deliberate. A list records what someone intended you to take. The bottles record what you have. The fill dates on them tell us whether a medication is being taken as written, because a ninety-day supply with three refills left after eight months is a fact that no interview question reliably extracts. A patient will sincerely report taking something daily while the pharmacy label quietly says otherwise, and nobody in that exchange is being dishonest.
Handling them matters too. Two of the most common medication errors in older adults come from bottles that look alike or pills that look alike, and that is a problem you solve by putting the two containers side by side on a desk. We also look at how the labels are printed, because a patient who cannot read the small type on a label is a patient who will eventually take the wrong one.
What we routinely find is a dozen prescriptions from four prescribers, duplicated drug classes nobody caught, and supplements a family member picked up that were never flagged as clinically relevant. The American Geriatrics Society's Beers Criteria informs this conversation without dictating it. It is a reference list of medications that carry higher risk in older adults, not an automatic stop-order, and treating it as a checklist produces worse care than not consulting it at all.
Combinations we specifically watch for
Anticholinergic burden
Older sedating antihistamines, some bladder medications, and certain antidepressants each carry a modest anticholinergic effect that accumulates across the full list into worsened confusion, dry mouth, constipation, and fall risk. No single prescriber sees the total, because each is looking only at their own drug. We total the load across every prescriber rather than judging any medication in isolation. The office visit adds something here: dry mouth and constipation are findings we can ask about and examine for directly, and both are early signals that the cumulative burden has become too high.
Sedative-hypnotic and opioid combinations
Benzodiazepines, sleep aids, muscle relaxants, and opioids taken together significantly raise fall and respiratory-depression risk in older adults. This combination gets specific attention during reconciliation, and where a change is warranted we look for a safer path with the prescribing specialist rather than stopping abruptly, since an abrupt stop carries its own risks. In the office we can pair the conversation with a gait assessment on the same day, which often makes the risk concrete in a way a warning does not: a patient who sees their own unsteadiness measured tends to engage with the taper differently.
The "triple whammy"
A diuretic, an ACE inhibitor or ARB, and a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen or naproxen, taken concurrently, is a well-documented combination linked to acute kidney injury risk in observational research. It is common precisely because each drug class is prescribed for a different and reasonable-sounding purpose. The third component is usually bought off a shelf, so it never appears in any prescription record. Being in the office lets us check kidney function with labs drawn the same day rather than scheduling a separate draw and waiting on the result.
Deprescribing, done carefully
None of this means every medication on these lists is wrong for you. Individual responses and risk-benefit calculations vary, which is why medication decisions get made with your full history in front of us rather than off a checklist. When something may no longer be needed we taper and coordinate with the prescriber who started it rather than stopping in a vacuum. Deprescribing is slower work than prescribing and it is worth the time; removing one drug that is causing a symptom often prevents a second drug being added to treat that symptom.
American Geriatrics Society. "2023 Updated AGS Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults." J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023;71(7):2052-2081. Lapi F, et al. BMJ. 2013;346:e8525.
The measurements that only happen when you are in the room
Gait and balance, observed and timed
A fall workup has a component that cannot be described, reported, or filmed. It has to be watched. In the office we use a timed get-up-and-go: you rise from a standard chair without pushing off the arms, walk a marked distance, turn, walk back, and sit. It takes under a minute and it is the single most informative minute of a senior visit.
What the physician is reading in that minute is not the stopwatch. It is the shape of the movement. Whether you push off the armrests and how hard. Whether the first two steps are hesitant. Whether your stride shortens as you turn, which is where a large share of falls happen. Whether your arms swing. Whether you reach for the wall on the way back. Whether you land in the chair or lower into it. None of that is available from a history, and none of it is available through a screen. It is also the part that lets us tell the difference between generalized deconditioning, a neurological pattern, and a joint problem, which lead to three different referrals.
The framework around it is the CDC's STEADI protocol (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries): falls and near-falls over the past year, a review of medications that raise fall risk, vision, and footwear. We ask you to wear the shoes you actually wear at home rather than your good shoes, because we would rather assess the real ones.
Orthostatic vitals, done the way the measurement requires
Orthostatic blood pressure is one of the most useful readings in senior medicine and one of the most commonly done wrong. Done properly it means a reading after you have been lying down for several minutes, then repeated at one and three minutes after standing, on a calibrated cuff, with a staff member close enough to catch you if the number is bad. A single seated reading, or a home cuff used sitting at the kitchen table, cannot produce it.
It matters because it is the mechanism connecting blood pressure treatment to falls. A patient whose seated pressure looks like a chart success can be dropping thirty points on standing and getting lightheaded every morning. That patient does not need more aggressive treatment. They need less. Finding it requires the measurement, and the measurement requires the office.
What else the visit gets you the same day
- Vitals taken on the office equipment, including a weight on the same scale each visit, which is what makes a weight trend trustworthy rather than noisy.
- A cardiac and pulmonary exam, plus a check for peripheral edema and for the pulses that a claudication complaint depends on.
- A skin check for the lesions people do not mention, on the back and scalp where they cannot see them.
- A look at the feet, which in diabetes is a screening exam and not a courtesy, including sensation testing and a look between the toes.
- Joint range of motion where pain or stiffness is limiting what you can do.
- Labs drawn during the same visit rather than as a second trip.
Cognitive screening, administered face to face
A brief structured cognitive screen is part of the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, and we administer one annually. It is a planning tool, not a diagnostic test, and the distinction is not a technicality. In its most recent formal review, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that current evidence is insufficient to weigh the balance of benefits and harms of screening all asymptomatic older adults for cognitive impairment. That is not a reason to skip it. It is a reason to be honest about what a result means: a starting point for conversation and monitoring, not a verdict.
Administering it in person removes the confounders. Most of these instruments were validated face to face, and several include drawing or object-naming tasks that depend on a shared physical page. In the office we can also tell the difference between a patient who cannot recall a word and a patient who did not hear it, which is a distinction a video connection routinely blurs and which changes the interpretation completely.
What gets our attention between visits is functional change: repeating questions within one conversation, getting lost on a familiar route, or new difficulty managing money that used to be straightforward. When those appear we take a detailed history, review whether medications or an untreated condition could be contributing (thyroid disease, depression, sleep apnea, a urinary tract infection), and refer to neurology or neuropsychological testing when a fuller workup is warranted. Some memory change with age is ordinary. A change that costs you the ability to run your own day is not something we wait out.
Vision, hearing, sleep, and nutrition
Uncorrected vision and hearing loss are two of the most fixable contributors to falls, apparent confusion, and social withdrawal, and both get missed because people adapt to gradual loss. We ask about your last dilated eye exam and encourage an annual one, and we raise a hearing referral when the pattern of the conversation suggests it.
Sleep, fatigue, appetite, and weight changes get investigated rather than filed under getting older; they are often the first sign of something treatable, from sleep apnea to a medication side effect. Unintentional weight loss of more than about five percent of body weight over six to twelve months gets a workup, and having every weight measured on the same office scale is what makes that threshold meaningful rather than a rounding artifact. We address the age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) that drives fall risk with practical protein, hydration, and activity guidance, and check for common, easily corrected deficiencies such as vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
Immunizations, given at the visit
The schedule for adults 65 and older is more involved than the annual flu shot most people default to, and several of these target risks that climb sharply with age. We review the list at every Annual Wellness Visit rather than assuming you are current, and where we stock it, you can leave with it done rather than making a separate stop.
- Recombinant zoster vaccine (shingles): two doses, recommended from age 50, aimed as much at the lingering nerve pain that can follow an episode as at the rash itself.
- Pneumococcal: recommended at 65, though which product and what interval depend entirely on what you have already had, which is why we check the record instead of guessing.
- RSV: from age 60, and a stronger recommendation if you carry chronic heart or lung disease.
- Influenza: yearly, using a higher-dose formulation once you are 65, since immune response to the standard dose falls off with age.
- COVID-19: the recommended interval has changed repeatedly, so we confirm what currently applies to you at the visit rather than working from memory.
- Tetanus (Td or Tdap): every ten years, and sooner if you sustain a deep or dirty wound.
CDC STEADI initiative; Bergen G, et al. MMWR. 2016;65(37):993-998. US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA. 2020;323(8):757-763. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), CDC Adult Immunization Schedule.
Telehealth for seniors, and getting to and from appointments
Our Carrollwood office is built for older adults to get in without a fight, and for the visits that do not require an exam, Florida telehealth removes the drive entirely.
Established senior patients can complete most follow-ups by Florida telehealth from home, including medication review, chronic disease check-ins, and care coordination, with family welcome to join. Annual wellness visits and any visit needing a hands-on exam happen at the Carrollwood office, which has an accessible, no-stairs entrance and exam rooms sized for walkers and wheelchairs.
- Accessible by design: a single-story building, surface parking near the entrance, an accessible entrance with no stairs, and exam rooms that accommodate walkers and wheelchairs.
- HART bus and paratransit: the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) serves the Carrollwood corridor along Dale Mabry and Gunn Highway, and HART's HARTPlus paratransit provides door-to-door service for riders who qualify due to age or disability. Check current routes and eligibility directly with HART.
- Medicare Advantage transportation benefits: many Medicare Advantage plans include a supplemental benefit for a set number of rides to medical appointments each year. This is not universal; check your plan's member handbook or call the number on your insurance card.
- Rideshare and family drop-off: the accessible, no-stairs entrance makes rideshare and family drop-off straightforward for patients who no longer drive.
- Telehealth for established patients: once you are established, most follow-up visits, chronic disease check-ins, and medication reviews can be done from home over secure video, with family and caregivers welcome to join with your consent.
What you actually need for a telehealth visit
A smartphone, tablet, or computer with a camera and a reasonably stable internet connection is enough; in most cases you do not need to download specialized software ahead of time. If technology is the barrier rather than transportation, a family member can help set up the call or join from a separate device the first time. Florida law requires you to be physically located in Florida during the session, and your provider confirms that at the start of each visit. We would rather talk you through a clunky first telehealth visit than have you skip a follow-up because the technology felt intimidating.
Specialists, discharges, and directives: keeping one physician at the center
Most senior primary care does not need a specialist, but knowing when it does and closing the loop afterward is part of the job. After a hospital stay, an in-person reassessment catches the deconditioning, weight loss, and wounds that a discharge summary never mentions.
When primary care is enough, and when it is not
Routine labs for a stable patient on chronic disease management, a basic metabolic panel, lipids, HbA1c, thyroid function, and others as indicated, are typically repeated somewhere between every three and twelve months depending on what is being managed and how steady it has been. That is a clinical judgment rather than a fixed calendar. Tampa patients generally have them drawn during the office visit itself, which removes a second trip and means a dose change does not wait on a separate appointment to act on the result.
We refer out when a condition genuinely needs specialist-level management: cardiology for complex or unstable heart disease, endocrinology for difficult diabetes or thyroid disease, neurology for a concerning cognitive screen, urology for problems beyond what primary care handles well. A referral is not finished when it is sent. We forward the records, we chase the note back, and we reconcile whatever the specialist changed against the rest of your list, because a specialist adding a drug without seeing the whole list is a leading way interactions get created.
After a hospital stay or an emergency visit
Medication changes made on an inpatient unit are not reliably communicated to the outpatient side. Doses are adjusted, home medications get held and never restarted, and the discharge summary arrives days later. Medicare recognizes the risk with a dedicated transitional care management service for a follow-up scheduled inside a defined window after discharge. Call us after any hospitalization rather than waiting for your next routine appointment.
For this particular visit there is a strong argument for coming in. A hospital stay of even a few days produces measurable deconditioning in an older adult, and the questions that matter afterward are physical ones: how much strength was lost, whether the gait has changed, whether weight has dropped, whether a surgical site or a pressure area is healing, whether new swelling has appeared. Those are findings, not answers to questions. Reconciling the medication list matters just as much, and we do both in one visit while the discharge paperwork is still in your hand.
Advance care planning under Florida law
Advance care planning means putting your wishes in writing while you are able to. Florida Statutes Chapter 765 governs health care advance directives, including a living will covering your wishes about life-prolonging treatment, and the designation of a health care surrogate to speak on your behalf.
One detail causes real trouble and deserves its own line: honoring a do-not-resuscitate decision outside a hospital requires Florida's specific yellow Do Not Resuscitate Order form, DH Form 1896. A living will alone does not direct paramedics in the field. Families tend to learn this at the worst possible moment. Bring the yellow form to a visit and we will confirm it is completed correctly and put a copy in your chart.
We raise these topics as part of ongoing care rather than as a one-time checkbox, and we refer you to an elder law attorney to draft and execute the documents properly. We are not attorneys and do not prepare the paperwork. The aim is not to rush a decision but to ensure your wishes, rather than a default, direct your care if you cannot speak for yourself. Having the conversation in the office, with your spouse or adult child physically present, tends to produce a more complete one than it does over a phone line.
Caregivers and HIPAA authorization
If you are the relative coordinating a parent's care, you can attend visits with the patient's consent and, with a signed HIPAA authorization naming you on file, discuss their health information with us between visits. To be precise: that authorization lets us speak with you. It does not make you the legal decision-maker, which comes from a health care surrogate designation or a court-appointed guardianship. They are different documents solving different problems, and we will happily explain the difference, though we cannot draft either one.
We keep a chair in the room for whoever came with you. The person who manages the pill organizer, drives to appointments, and notices changes first should hear the plan directly rather than receive a secondhand version in the parking lot.
Signs it may be timeSignals that the appointment has stopped fitting
There is no birthday that triggers this. There are patterns, and any one of them is reason enough to ask for something other than a standard adult physical.
- You walk out with the questions you went in to ask still unasked.
- Five or more regular medications, more than one prescriber, and nobody has looked at the whole list inside a year.
- A fall, or a near one, in the last twelve months that never reached a physician.
- Somebody in the family mentioned memory or judgment and it got waved off.
- Several chronic conditions, several specialists, and no evidence any of them talk to each other.
- Things you used to do have quietly dropped off the list because of balance, pain, or fatigue, and nobody has looked into why.
- Your feet have not been examined with the shoes and socks off in longer than you can remember.
Individually, none of these proves anything is wrong. Together they usually mean the shape of the appointment no longer matches the situation. Give the sixth one extra weight. A quietly contracting range of activity is among the earliest indicators that function is slipping, and it is close to the last thing anybody volunteers unless they are asked directly.
Insurance and access, stated plainly
In network: Aetna, ChampVA, and UnitedHealthcare. Medicare is not billed directly by this practice for primary care. Benefits get checked before your first appointment, the self-pay picture is laid out in full beforehand, and superbills are issued so you can pursue out-of-network reimbursement. Nobody here is going to tell you a plan covers something it does not.
In-network today
Dr. Saylor currently participates with Aetna, ChampVA, and UnitedHealthcare.
If you need a self-pay bridge
Paying directly is a workable route, and the billing team walks the whole figure through with you when you ring (813) 670-3331, before anything is booked. Third-party financing exists if it helps, and superbills are provided where your plan permits out-of-network claims. Knowing precisely where you stand beforehand beats discovering a gap in an envelope afterwards.
How this compares with the other Tampa options
Realistically the decision is between a hospital-system practice, an Advantage-only senior centre built around volume, and a practice like this one holding a wider payer mix and a slower clock. All three involve genuine trade-offs, and they are worth stating rather than glossing.
How Ascend compares to your other options
Better that you weigh these before you ring us than after you have registered.
| Model | Same physician each visit | Payer flexibility | Visit pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascend Mind and Body, Carrollwood | Dr. Saylor every visit | Broader payer mix | About 60 minutes for the first visit |
| Large hospital-system practice | Often a rotating provider | Broad, but access to in-system specialists is the draw | Varies; continuity is inconsistent |
| Medicare Advantage-only senior center | Often shared across a large panel | Locked to one capitated network | Frequently 15 to 20 minutes |
This office suits you if a genuine relationship with one physician is what you are after, if you would trade a same-day walk-in slot for a longer appointment, and if your coverage leaves you some room to choose.
It suits you less well if what you need right now is the zero-copay Advantage senior-centre arrangement and you cannot wait out the current enrolment window, or if your situation calls for complex geriatric specialty services beyond a family medicine scope. In the second case we will say so plainly and help you find where that work is actually done.
Illustrative
Senior care is built around what matters to you: staying mobile, managing medications safely, and keeping the people and routines you value.
Our Tampa office, and who we see
We are at 3971 Moran Road, Suite 101, in Carrollwood (33618), just east of the Veterans Expressway, with an accessible, no-stairs entrance and exam rooms sized for walkers and wheelchairs. We regularly see seniors from across Hillsborough County and nearby.
Ascend Mind and Body, Tampa
3971 Moran Road, Suite 101
Tampa, FL 33618 (Carrollwood)
Phone: (813) 670-3331
The building is single-story with surface parking, an accessible entrance with no stairs, and exam rooms that accommodate walkers and wheelchairs. From South Tampa via Dale Mabry, expect about 20 minutes northbound outside rush hour. From New Tampa or Tampa Palms via I-275 and Bearss, about 25 minutes west. From Westchase via the Veterans Expressway, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Drive times and areas we serve
| From | Approximate drive time |
|---|---|
| South Tampa (33606, 33609, 33611) | About 20 minutes via Dale Mabry |
| New Tampa & Tampa Palms (33647) | About 25 minutes via I-275 and Bearss |
| Westchase & Town N Country (33626, 33615) | 15 to 20 minutes via the Veterans Expressway |
| Citrus Park & Northdale (33625, 33624) | 10 to 15 minutes |
| Lutz (33549, 33558) | About 15 to 20 minutes |
We serve seniors from North Tampa and Carrollwood (33618), Citrus Park (33625), Northdale (33624), South Tampa (33606, 33609, 33611), Westchase and Town N Country (33626, 33615), Tampa Palms (33647), and Lutz (33549, 33558). Florida telehealth covers any Florida resident for eligible follow-up visits. Tampa/Carrollwood is one of three in-person Ascend locations, alongside Wesley Chapel and Lakeland, plus statewide Florida telehealth. Because the practice also covers primary care, psychiatry, and other services, a senior patient who also needs a medication evaluation or coordinated mental health care can be referred within the same organization rather than starting over elsewhere.
Related nearby senior care: senior care in Brandon, Riverview, Land O' Lakes, and St. Petersburg (Florida telehealth for those areas).
Function and frailty: the assessment that decides how aggressive a plan should be
Two patients with identical labs and identical diagnoses can be in completely different places functionally, and function predicts independence better than any lab value does. Age contributes surprisingly little. Measured capability contributes most of it.
Frailty is not a condition you either have or do not have. It runs along a spectrum, and where a patient sits on it changes the risk-benefit calculation for nearly every treatment decision that follows. A plan appropriate for a robust and independent 80-year-old can be actively wrong for a frail 72-year-old, and nothing in the chart distinguishes the two.
The assessment is partly conversation and partly observation. We ask about specific tasks rather than general wellbeing: rising from a chair without using the arms, carrying groceries in from the car, whether an activity has been dropped because of pain, balance, or fatigue, whether driving still feels the way it did. Concrete questions produce accurate answers in a way that asking how someone is doing never will.
Then we watch. Grip strength, the timed rise from the chair, gait speed across a marked distance, and how steadily you turn are all measurable in the office in a few minutes, and they are measurements rather than impressions. That matters because they can be compared year over year. A patient whose gait speed has slowed measurably between two annual visits is telling us something that no self-report captures, usually before they have noticed it themselves. That trend is one of the most useful pieces of data in senior primary care, and it exists only because someone recorded the same measurement the same way twelve months earlier.
Driving, and the conversation nobody wants to start
Driving is the hardest independence conversation in senior primary care, and we do not raise it reflexively or on the basis of age. When something specific prompts it, a recent accident or near-miss, new vision changes, a cognitive change affecting judgment, or medications causing sedation, we address it directly and can refer for a formal driving evaluation through occupational therapy. That is a real functional assessment, and it is far more useful than the same argument repeating at family dinners. We make no blanket age-based recommendations about driving. The question is function, every time.
When the answer does turn out to be that driving should stop, that is the beginning of a planning problem rather than the end of a conversation. We would rather work through how you will get to appointments, to the pharmacy, and to the people you see than deliver the recommendation and leave you to solve the rest of it alone.
This page is informational and does not substitute for a clinical visit, legal advice, or a review of your specific insurance plan. Coverage of services depends on your specific Medicare or insurance plan; advance directive documents should be reviewed with a qualified attorney for your situation.
FAQs about senior care in Tampa
Still deciding? These are the questions Tampa seniors and their families ask most before they call.
Where in Tampa is the senior primary care office?
3971 Moran Road, Suite 101, in Carrollwood (33618), just east of the Veterans Expressway. The building is single-story with surface parking, an accessible entrance with no stairs, and exam rooms that accommodate walkers and wheelchairs. Most senior visits run about 60 minutes for the annual wellness visit and 30 to 45 minutes for follow-ups.
Do you accept Medicare in Tampa?
We do not bill Medicare directly for primary care. Currently the practice is in-network with Aetna, ChampVA, and UnitedHealthcare. We verify your benefits before your first visit.
What is the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, and how is it different from a physical?
The Annual Wellness Visit is a Medicare-covered risk assessment: health history review, medication review, cognitive screen, fall risk assessment, depression screen, vital signs, and a personalized prevention plan. It is not a hands-on physical exam by itself. We layer a focused exam onto the same appointment so you get both in one visit.
Does my Medicare Advantage plan limit which senior primary care doctor I can see?
Yes, usually. Medicare Advantage plans use a private network, and only practices contracted with your specific plan are covered. Original Medicare, by contrast, lets you see almost any provider who accepts Medicare assignment. Always confirm network status directly with your plan, since online directories are often out of date.
Is a geriatrician the same as a family medicine doctor who treats seniors?
Not exactly. A geriatrician completes additional fellowship training focused specifically on aging. Dr. Saylor is a board-certified family medicine physician whose clinical scope explicitly includes senior care, medication reconciliation, and chronic disease management, without a separate geriatric fellowship. Patients with very complex geriatric needs may also benefit from a geriatric specialist referral, which we can help coordinate.
How long is a senior primary care visit at Ascend?
About 60 minutes for the first visit or the annual wellness visit, and 30 to 45 minutes for follow-ups. Telehealth visits typically run a bit shorter. We do not schedule five-minute appointments, and you see the same physician each time.
What counts as polypharmacy, and why does it matter?
Polypharmacy is generally defined as taking five or more regular medications. The risk is not the number itself, it is that interactions, duplications, and side effects become harder to track as prescribers multiply. We reconcile your full list, including supplements and over-the-counter drugs, at every visit.
How does cognitive screening work, and what happens if something looks off?
We do a brief, structured cognitive screen at every Annual Wellness Visit. It is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. If it raises concern, or you or a family member notices a real change in daily functioning, we do a deeper history, check for contributing causes like medications or thyroid disease, and refer to neurology or neuropsychological testing when warranted.
What is included in fall prevention care?
A fall and near-fall history, gait and balance screening, a review of medications that increase fall risk, and vision and footwear checks, following the structure of the CDC STEADI framework. We also cover home safety basics and refer to physical therapy for a formal balance program when appropriate.
Will my blood pressure and diabetes targets change as I get older?
Often, yes. Blood pressure targets account for orthostatic drops and fall risk, and diabetes A1c targets are frequently loosened for older or frailer patients because the harm from hypoglycemia can outweigh the benefit of tight control. These decisions are individualized, not applied by age alone.
Do you provide telehealth follow-ups for senior patients?
Yes. Established senior patients can complete most follow-up visits via Florida telehealth from home, including medication review, chronic disease check-ins, and care coordination. Annual wellness visits and any visit requiring an in-person exam are scheduled at the office. Family members are welcome to join telehealth visits with the patient's consent.
What immunizations should seniors get, and how often?
The adult schedule for 65 and older typically includes an annual high-dose flu shot, a pneumococcal vaccine, a two-dose shingles vaccine, an RSV vaccine for those 60 and older (especially with heart or lung disease), current COVID-19 boosters, and a Tdap or Td booster every 10 years. We review where you stand at every Annual Wellness Visit.
Can you help with advance directives and a healthcare surrogate in Florida?
We raise the conversation and explain the Florida-specific mechanisms: a living will and healthcare surrogate designation under Florida Statute Chapter 765, and the separate yellow Do Not Resuscitate Order form for out-of-hospital situations. We are not attorneys, so we refer you to an elder law attorney to draft and execute the documents correctly.
Can a family member be part of my care and talk to the doctor on my behalf?
Yes, with your consent and a signed HIPAA authorization on file naming that person. That authorization lets us discuss your health information with them; it is separate from, and does not replace, a legal healthcare surrogate designation.
I was just discharged from the hospital. Do I need a special follow-up visit?
Yes, ideally sooner than your next routine appointment. Call us after any hospitalization or ER visit. We reconcile medication changes made in the hospital against your outpatient list and review discharge instructions, which is a common point where errors happen if nobody double-checks.
What should I bring to my first visit?
Every medication bottle or a complete list with dose and frequency, your insurance or Medicare card, contact information for your other doctors, records of recent hospitalizations if you have them, any existing advance directive paperwork, and a family member if you would like a second set of ears.
What ZIP codes near Tampa do you serve?
North Tampa and Carrollwood (33618), Citrus Park (33625), Northdale (33624), South Tampa (33606, 33609, 33611), Westchase and Town N Country (33626, 33615), Tampa Palms (33647), and Lutz (33549, 33558). Florida telehealth covers any Florida resident for eligible follow-up visits.
Still have a question? Talk it through with our team.
(813) 670-3331Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Timed Up and Go (TUG) Assessment
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Yearly Wellness Visits
- American Geriatrics Society, 2023 Updated AGS Beers Criteria
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STEADI: Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Screening for Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults
- American Diabetes Association, Standards of Care, Older Adults section
- Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, CDC Adult Immunization Schedule
- Florida Statutes, Chapter 765, Health Care Advance Directives
Last medically reviewed by Dr. Jason Saylor, DO, Chief Medical Officer, on 2026-07-06.
This page is educational and does not replace an individualized clinical evaluation. Coverage of services depends on your specific Medicare or insurance plan, and advance directive documents should be reviewed with a qualified attorney.
Start with a conversation, not a commitment
Describe what has been going on and we will find you a slot with Dr. Saylor, generally inside the week, at Carrollwood or by Florida telehealth statewide once you are an established patient. An appointment with time in it, a medication review that goes through the actual containers, and the same physician next year.
In crisis right now? Call or text 988 anytime. Senior primary care is not an emergency service.