Telehealth Primary Care for St. Petersburg, FL residents

St. Pete has no shortage of walk-in clinics that treat you once and forget you. A primary care physician who carries your chart from year to year catches the blood pressure creeping up, the labs drifting, the cough that is not just a cough, before they become the reason you end up in an ER.

• Board-certified family medicine
• Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)
• 17 years of clinical experience
• Whole-person, unhurried visits

Dr. Jason Saylor, DO is Ascend's primary care lead and a board-certified osteopathic family medicine physician. Over 17 years he has managed the full breadth of adult primary care: hypertension, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, hypothyroidism, chronic pain, preventive screening, annual physicals, and the ordinary sick visits that make up most of real medicine. He is the reviewer of record for this page.

The osteopathic (DO) part is not a technicality. DOs complete the same medical school training as MDs, then add coursework in the musculoskeletal system and a whole-person philosophy of care, according to the American Osteopathic Association. In practice that shows up as visits that connect how sleep, stress, and physical symptoms relate to each other, rather than treating one complaint in isolation and moving you along.

Insurance: We work with many major commercial plans and offer self-pay options. Coverage varies by plan and service. Our team will confirm with you. Call (813) 670-3331 with your card and we verify your specific plan before your visit. We do not tell you a plan covers something it does not.

1. 1

   Call in the morning

   Call (813) 670-3331 and tell the front desk what is going on. New physicals, an established-patient sick visit, or a records transfer are all handled differently, so this first conversation sets the right path.

2. 2

   Get a real appointment window

   New-patient openings move week to week; the live Zocdoc calendar shows the next one, or request a callback. Established patients with an acute issue are usually seen the same week.

3. 3

   We verify your insurance first

   We check your specific plan before the visit so there are no billing surprises, and we tell you the cost of any self-pay option before you are billed, not after.

4. 4

   Follow-ups by telehealth where it fits

   Once you are established, refills, stable-condition check-ins, and lab review can often be done by Florida telehealth, so in-person appointments are mostly for visits that genuinely need a hands-on exam.

Transferring your records

Switching primary care doctors does not mean starting from zero. With your written authorization, we request records from your previous office by secure fax or portal. Bring your prior provider's name and location to your first visit, or tell us when you schedule, and we begin the request before you arrive.

• HypertensionCommon

  High blood pressure caught early, monitored, and managed with lifestyle change and medication where indicated.

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• Type 2 diabetes

  Screening, A1c monitoring, and coordinated medication, with the same physician tracking your numbers over time.

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• High cholesterol

  Lipid panels and cardiovascular risk assessment, with a plan that fits your history rather than a template.

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• Thyroid conditions

  Hypothyroidism and related conditions, diagnosed with lab work and managed with ongoing monitoring.

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• Preventive screening

  Age-appropriate screening on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force schedule, reviewed at your annual physical.

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• Sick & acute visits

  Colds, infections, minor injuries, and flares of a chronic condition, often same-week for established patients.

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If what you are experiencing feels like a medical emergency, chest pain, trouble breathing, signs of stroke, call 911 now. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 anytime. Primary care is for everything short of an emergency, and a first visit is simply the start of your chart, not a commitment.

Annual physicals and wellness visits

An annual physical is the backbone of primary care: a head-to-toe check, a review of your history and medications, age-appropriate screening, and a plan for the year. It is also where problems get caught while they are still quiet. Dr. Saylor runs unhurried visits, typically 45 to 60 minutes for a new patient, so there is time to actually talk through what has changed rather than rush a checklist.

Chronic disease management

Hypertension, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and hypothyroidism are managed as an ongoing relationship, not a one-time fix. Having one physician who watches your numbers trend over months, per American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association standards, is exactly what a rotating-provider model cannot offer. Adjustments are made based on your full history, not a snapshot.

Sick and acute visits

Respiratory infections, sinus infections, minor injuries, and flares of a chronic condition are handled here, and established patients can usually be seen the same week. Because your physician already has your chart, a sick visit with primary care is often faster and better coordinated than starting over at an urgent care that has never met you.

Labs and screening

Lab orders are sent to a Quest Diagnostics or Labcorp collection site near you in St. Petersburg, so blood work never requires an appointment with us at all. Results typically post to your secure patient portal within 1 to 3 business days, and Dr. Saylor reviews them with you rather than leaving you to interpret a wall of numbers alone.

Telehealth follow-ups

Once you are an established patient, many follow-ups do not require an exam room. Medication refills, stable-condition check-ins, and lab review can be handled by Florida telehealth, which keeps in-person appointments for the visits that genuinely need a hands-on exam. Florida law requires you to be physically located in Florida at the time of a telehealth visit.

Medication management

Prescriptions go directly to your pharmacy of record through electronic prescribing, and refills for stable chronic conditions can often be handled at a telehealth follow-up rather than an in-person visit. Dr. Saylor keeps your full medication list, including over-the-counter drugs and supplements, so nothing interacts by surprise.

Illustrative

Whole-person, not one-complaint-at-a-time. Chronic conditions are managed as a relationship, tracked over time by the same physician.

A general starting guide, not medical advice. When in doubt, call and the front desk will point you to the right visit type.

You do not need to arrive with a diagnosis. "I have not had a doctor in years and want to get established" is a completely normal reason to call.

What is accepted now

• We work with many major commercial plans and offer self-pay options. Coverage varies by plan and service. Our team will confirm with you.
• Most other major commercial plans accepted; we confirm your specific plan on the phone.

How we handle cost

Call (813) 670-3331 with your insurance card and we verify benefits before your appointment. If you are paying out of pocket, the amount depends on the type of visit (new patient versus established, in-person versus telehealth) and whether any labs or procedures happen at the same appointment, so we confirm it with you directly rather than post a flat sheet online. Insurance questions go to our care team, who confirm your coverage with you before your first visit. Primary care is also an eligible expense under most HSA and FSA plans.

Insurance questions before your first visit

This takes a few minutes and removes almost all of the guesswork about what you will owe.

The tradeoffs are real, including the fact that we have no office in your county. We would rather you know them before you call.

A hospital-affiliated group has the deepest bench of specialists in-house, but that scale is exactly why the same physician rarely sees you twice. A concierge practice gives you access, but behind a recurring membership on top of insurance.

Our honest weakness is geography: there is no Ascend clinic in St. Pete, so in-person care means an appointment at Carrollwood. The counterweight is one physician who keeps your chart and telehealth follow-ups that reserve in-person visits for the ones that need an exam.

Ascend Mind and Body, Tampa (Carrollwood primary care office)
3971 Moran Rd, Suite 101
Tampa, FL 33618
Phone: (813) 670-3331

Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. First-floor suite, no stairs or elevator required. Get directions.

Transitions of care: the handoffs where things get dropped

The most dangerous moments in adult medicine are rarely the diagnosis or the procedure. They are the handoffs. A hospital discharge, a specialist consultation, an emergency room visit, a rehabilitation stay: each one ends with information that has to reach the person managing your care as a whole, and each one is a place where that information routinely fails to arrive.

Hospital discharge is the worst of them, and it is worth knowing why. Medications are frequently changed during an admission, sometimes substantially. Doses are adjusted, drugs are held for a procedure and never restarted, new prescriptions are added, and a patient goes home with a printed list that may or may not match what they were taking the week before. Nobody reconciles the two lists unless someone deliberately does it. A post-discharge visit within a week or two exists for exactly that reconciliation, plus catching the complications that surface after the third day at home, and the readmissions it prevents are real.

Specialist visits fail differently and more quietly. The consultation happens, a plan is made, a letter is written, and whether that letter ever gets read by the physician holding the rest of your care is largely a matter of luck. A cardiologist who starts a medication may not know what your kidney function did last month. A surgeon planning a procedure may not have your full list. The fix is unglamorous: ask for the note, bring it, and make sure one chart ends up holding all of it.

Emergency room visits are the most under-followed of all, because the visit ends with the immediate danger excluded and the underlying question wide open. "Your chest pain is not a heart attack" is genuinely important information and it is not a diagnosis. The follow-up is where the actual cause gets worked up, and it is the appointment people are most likely to skip because they already feel better.

What makes any of this work is one practice that expects the handoff and asks about it. After a hospital stay, an ER visit, or a new specialist, tell us, even if you assume we already know. Assuming the records travel on their own is the single most common way good care comes apart.

We see patients from across Pinellas County, including Downtown St. Pete (33701), Old Northeast and Snell Isle (33704), Crescent Lake and Shore Acres (33703), Disston Heights and Tyrone (33710), Pinellas Point (33705, 33712), and Pinellas Park (33781, 33782). St. Pete is well served by hospital systems and walk-in clinics, but a continuous relationship with one named family physician, with telehealth for the follow-ups, is the specific gap this fills.

Tampa-Carrollwood is the only Ascend office offering primary care in person, and primary care visits can also be by Florida telehealth. The practice covers primary care, psychiatry, ketamine therapy, and talk therapy, which is why a St. Pete primary care patient who also needs a medication evaluation or therapy can be referred within the same organization rather than starting over.

Related St. Petersburg care: telehealth psychiatry and talk therapy for Pinellas residents, and our main primary care service overview.

We are not going to pretend the geography is perfect. Ascend does not have a St. Petersburg office, and for a hands-on exam, that means an appointment in Tampa. For some St. Pete residents, especially anyone without reliable transportation out of the county, an in-city practice is the more practical choice, and that is a completely reasonable decision.

What we offer in exchange is continuity that is genuinely hard to find at scale: one board-certified physician who sees you at every visit, unhurried appointments, new-patient access measured in weeks rather than months, and Florida telehealth so that once you are established, most routine follow-ups do not require an in-person visit at all. For a lot of people, that tradeoff is worth it. For some it is not, and knowing which camp you are in before you book saves everyone time.

When to skip primary care and go straight to emergency care

• Chest pain or pressure, especially with shortness of breath, sweating, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw.
• Sudden weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, or facial drooping, possible signs of stroke.
• Difficulty breathing, severe bleeding, or a serious injury.

For any of these, call 911 or go to the nearest ER. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988 anytime. Primary care is the right front door for everything else.

• U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, A and B Recommendations
• American Heart Association, Understanding Blood Pressure Readings
• American Diabetes Association, Standards of Care and Health & Wellness
• American Thyroid Association, Hypothyroidism
• American Osteopathic Association, What Is Osteopathic Medicine?

Last updated 2026-07-06.

This page is educational and does not replace an individualized clinical evaluation. New-patient availability and coverage can change; we confirm both when you call.

Tell us a bit about what you need and a patient coordinator gets you scheduled with Dr. Saylor. New patients can be seen in person in Tampa-Carrollwood or by Florida telehealth, and the coordinator offers the next opening.

Medical emergency? Call 911. Mental health crisis? Call or text 988 anytime. Primary care is not an emergency service.