Primary Care

At Piñero Preventive Medical Care, your primary care provider is your partner in long-term health. Our focus is on prevention, early detection, and comprehensive support—helping you stay healthy, informed, and confident in your care.
Annual physical exams play a central role in maintaining your overall health. Even if you feel well, these visits allow us to evaluate changes over time, identify early signs of disease, and address risk factors before they become more serious. Preventive Care is one of the most effective ways to protect your long-term well-being.
Vaccinations are also an essential part of adult preventive health. Immunity from childhood vaccines can diminish over time, and adults face new risks as they age. For this reason, vaccination updates are completed during your annual exam, offering one of the safest and most convenient ways to stay protected.
At Piñero Preventive Medical Care, you will have a dedicated medical provider available to address questions, urgent concerns, or ongoing health needs. Our team is accessible through the patient portal or by direct phone extensions during office hours, ensuring you receive timely guidance and support.
For urgent medical needs outside of regular hours, we provide 24/7 on-call medical coverage, including holidays, so you can feel confident knowing a provider is always available. Additionally, you may schedule appointments online at any time—making it easier to avoid unnecessary emergency room or urgent care visits and ensuring you are seen by a provider who knows your medical history and needs.
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Frequently Asked Questions & Answers

Primary Care

Patients often go straight to a specialist when they are experiencing problems in one particular area. This way of thinking doesn’t always render the best results. Picture this: you have been experiencing occasional chest pain recently, so you make yourself an appointment with a cardiologist. After your exam and an array of tests, your cardiologist still can’t find the source of your pain. That’s where your PCP comes into play.

As soon as your primary care doctor looks you over, they determine that your pain is coming from acid reflux. In this case, you needed to see a gastroenterologist instead. In the end, you would have saved an unnecessary trip — and expense — to the cardiologist, if you would’ve visited your primary care doctor in the first place.

Your primary care physician is responsible for keeping tabs on your overall health. He or she can even offer additional screenings, diagnostic tools, treatments, and disease management options. Even if you do need a specialist, your doctor’s office will coordinate everything for you and keep track of your records to ensure you receive thorough care.

The whole point of a routine exam is to find any hidden red flags that could turn into more serious health problems. Depending on your age, gender, health status, and how long it’s been since your last exam, you might need the following:

  • Skin check
  • Pap smear or pelvic exam
  • Blood work
  • Prostate exam
  • Cardiovascular screening  
  • Vision and hearing testing
  • Urinalysis
  • STD screening
  • Nutrition counseling
  • Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
  • Immunizations
  • A lymph node exam
  • Ultrasounds, echocardiograms, or X-rays

Absolutely! And you should. The physicians and nurse practitioners at Piñero Preventive Medical Care understand the health struggles of patients in the LGBTQ+ community. They’re here for you if you need:

STD testing
Counseling services
Routine exams
Sexual disease prevention options
PrEP or HIV treatments
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

These exams, offered at Piñero Preventive Medical Care, are important for staying on top of your health.

Physical Exam

You have a little homework to do before coming in for your first appointment at Piñero Preventive Medical Care. This gives your new primary care physician more background information about your health. You should bring in a list of every medication you’re taking, even if it’s an over-the-counter supplement. For some, it’s helpful just to bring the bottles in.

If you know your family history, this will help the check-in process. If you aren’t sure of your background, do your best to find out if there are any chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, or cancer in your family. Bring any previous lab reports, medical evaluations, or imaging reports to your appointment.

Once you gather your background information, make sure you write down a list of any current problems or concerns. Do not try to memorize all of this information. Instead, write it down, and you will be fully prepared for your first appointment.

During your physical exam, your practitioner will ask you questions about your lifestyle including your sexual habits, hobbies, and what you do for work. They need to know your eating habits as well. This information helps your dedicated physician find out if you’re at risk of developing any health problems or if you need any special screening during the exam.

Healthy lifestyle management includes you and your practitioner working together to:

  • Schedule regular exams
  • Catch up on vaccinations
  • Quit smoking
  • Prevent or treat STDs
  • Get started on PrEP for HIV prevention
  • Discuss and treat addiction
  • Talk about mental health
  • Discuss nutritional concerns

Yes! Your doctor wants to know that you’re in good health, even if you feel just fine. Many chronic health issues develop over an extended period. So even though you might feel great now, something critical could be happening under the surface.

Unless you’re monitoring your health regularly, you are probably unaware of subtle, yet crucial, changes like a spike in blood pressure. This is where your primary care physician (PCP) comes into play. It’s his or her job to check on your health, run lab tests, and conduct any additional screening you may need.

Patient Testimonials

Excellent practice/primary care physicians. Always attentive and accommodating. Have used this office for the past five years and am satisfied in every capacity.
Shawn P
I have Dr. Rafael Pinero as my PCP for many years. I value his service. He sets an extraordinary precedent so you can be assured of excellent service from everyone.
Listine B
Doctors Velez and Piñero run such a loving and professional practice. It’s a place for everyone and the respect and attention to detail by the staff can be experienced at every visit. As a Transgender Woman, I couldn’t imagine going ANYWHERE else for my care.
Natalie L
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