07/14/2026
Most people don’t realize how much a board-certified family medicine physician can actually do.
Recently, a patient came in with a skin lesion that was concerning. We used SkinIO’s AI-assisted skin cancer screening, looked at the lesion with dermoscopy, and decided it needed a biopsy. So we did the biopsy right here in the office.
No referral to another office. No waiting weeks for another appointment. No starting over with a physician who doesn’t know the patient.
And skin biopsies are only one example.
Family physicians are trained to repair lacerations, manage many fractures without surgery, remove ingrown toenails, drain abscesses, inject joints, remove cysts, perform endometrial biopsies and colposcopies, place and remove IUDs and Nexplanons, and handle many other procedures that people often assume require a specialist.
Of course, there are times when a specialist is absolutely necessary. Part of being a good family physician is knowing when that is the case.
But primary care should not simply be a place where every problem gets referred somewhere else. Whenever it is appropriate, we should be able to evaluate the problem, explain the options, and take care of it for the patient.
That is one of the things I love most about family medicine. It is an incredibly broad specialty, and it allows me to care for people through nearly every stage of life in far more ways than most people realize.
