I have truly enjoyed the privilege of developing meaningful relationships with each of you throughout years. The patient-physician relationship provides the most fulfilling aspect of my work, and it is the impetus for my current practice model. I am thrilled to tell you about my practice, Allergy & Asthma Texas Health, which opened Fall, 2019 at 21727 IH-10 West, Suite 104, San Antonio, Texas 78257.

My modern clinic model gives me the space and time to practice a higher level of individualized care. This will include a heightened focus on wellness, prevention and efficiency.

Let me explain.

Why make a change?

The healthcare landscape is changing in ways that make it difficult for medical offices to provide customized care for patients. With greater demands on physicians from insurance and regulatory forces, face-to-face time between patients and their physician is being eroded. My new clinic model was born as a desire to wrestle control back from these outside forces. I will be able to once again put the utmost focus on the patient-physician relationship, which I believe is paramount to providing fantastic medical care.

Partnering to Make Wellness a Priority

Being a patient of my much smaller practice will allow you to enjoy significant benefits not typically found in a medical practice today — which should translate into better health and vitality for you. You will always see me. Each visit. Every time. There will be no nurse practitioners or physician assistants. I will provide medical care with an emphasis on prevention, wellness and streamlining medication use. 

Essentially, all of us want to be treated with respect by a caring physician who is committed to our individual health. My practice is taking this a step further. We not only provide state-of-art medical care, but also offer optional Direct Allergy Care programs for a limited number of patients via a membership fee for additional services not covered by insurance. 

Membership is open to everyone, and highly recommended for individuals with moderate to severe disease. You don’t have to become a member to be seen in our practice, but consider joining to benefit from our extended services.

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Optional

Direct Allergy Care Programs

Should you choose to become a member of one of our Direct Allergy Care programs, As a member, I will teach you and your family, with an amplified level of detail, how to adopt and sustain behaviors that can help manage your allergies, asthma or complex primary immunodeficiency disorder. We will focus on education, literature review, lifestyle behaviors, including allergen avoidance, skin care, healthy cooking and eating, physical activity, emotional health, stress and sleep management; and more. If you have a complex primary disease, I will provide extended services as a health advocate. You may benefit from services such as:

• Annual comprehensive evaluation incorporating a Lifestyle Medicine Assessment
• Highly personalized guidance and close support
• Teaching Kitchen
• Food Oral Immunotherapy

By using a membership model, it has been shown patients have fewer hospitalizations, fewer specialist referrals and fewer overall medicines, while also gaining a sense of control of their health. This model eliminates the rush of an overbooked schedule; I can take more time to understand your history and know your goals for the future, as well as foster a greater connectivity with you to meet those goals.

Our membership programs start with an individualized comprehensive evaluation incorporating a Lifestyle Medicine Assessment. This exam goes beyond what insurance covers, and allows me to gather more in-depth information about your health and lifestyle factors.

Membership is not an insurance plan, so you will use your health insurance coverage just as you always have.

We encourage those of you who wish to join any of our membership programs to inform us as soon as possible. Additional discounts are available. Our programs are designed to be eligible for HSA, HRA or FSA funds; we advise you to confirm with your tax advisor.

To join you may:

1) Enroll online or

2) Call our office at 210-899-6856

For more information about our Direct Allergy Care programs, I invite you to attend one of our information sessions. Reserve your spot by signing up on our website or simply calling us at 210-899-6856. We are always happy to talk with you.

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In summary, for every one of my patients, our new practice model will allow time with me to focus on wellness and disease prevention, a cornerstone of medicine. Regardless of your health status, I will be directly involved in every level of your care. I am confident my new practice will redefine your expectations for allergy, asthma and immunology care.

Again, it is a privilege to be your physician. I am very passionate about the change I am making. It will allow me a better venue to practice medicine at my utmost skill, which should lead to a healthier and happier you.

With warm regards,

Dr. Araceli Elizalde

Pediatric & Adult Allergist and Immunologist