Primary Care

Primary care providers offer comprehensive services that meet virtually all of your health needs. Richard Hilburn, MD, FACP, and his team at Goals of Care, PLLC, in Herndon, Virginia, offer acute care, chronic disease management, preventive medicine, and other primary care services. Call Goals of Care, PLLC, to learn more about benefiting from first-class primary care, or schedule a consultation by completing the online booking form today.

What is primary care?

Primary care provides most of your physical and mental health care needs. Primary care is your first point of contact for everything except life-threatening emergencies such as heart attack or stroke symptoms, severe fractures, and loss of consciousness. In these situations, call 911 or get to your nearest hospital emergency room immediately.

Goals of Care, PLLC, offers a safe, welcoming environment where everyone receives patient-centered, personalized primary care. The team takes a holistic approach to health, looking at all aspects of your well-being rather than focusing solely on specific symptoms.

Which conditions do primary care providers treat?

Goals of Care, PLLC, provides urgent care for acute (sudden-onset) health conditions and ongoing chronic disease management for patients with long-term illnesses. The team commonly treats such conditions as:

• Colds and flu
• Strep throat and tonsillitis
• Urinary tract infections
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease
• Chronic pain
• Thyroid disease
• Diabetes
• Depression and anxiety
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• High cholesterol
• Asthma
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Arthritis
• Cerebrovascular diseases

Geriatric and end-of-life care is also a specialty at Goals of Care, PLLC.

When should I visit my primary care provider?

You should contact Goals of Care, PLLC, if you develop any distressing, painful, or unusual symptoms, such as:

• Severe sore throat
• Abdominal pain
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Repeated nausea and vomiting
• Fatigue
• Swollen legs
• Severe headaches or migraines   
• Shortness of breath
• Joint pain
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Skin rashes
• Excessive daytime sleepiness

Using a holistic approach, your provider identifies the root cause of your symptoms and designs a suitable treatment plan.

You should also visit your primary care provider regularly if you have a long-term health problem. Chronic disease management ensures you keep your symptoms under control, take the most effective medications, and reduce the condition’s progress.

Another invaluable primary care service is preventive medicine.

How does preventive medicine improve my health?

Preventive medicine aims to help you avoid ill health. Your provider offers healthy living advice, including weight loss management, nutrition counseling, sleep hygiene advice, spiritual and psycho-emotional support, stress management, and help to quit smoking and other bad habits.

You can also benefit from an annual physical, a routine yearly checkup with screening procedures that identify diseases in their early development. Immunizations against many potentially deadly conditions are also available.

To learn more about the primary care services Goals of Care, PLLC, offers, call the office or book an appointment online today.