The Clinicians Primary & Urgent Care Treats New Tampa’s Medical Needs

By Anu Panchal

Two New Tampa physicians are bringing a new concept to our area — a combination primary medical and urgent care office located at the corner of Morris Bridge Rd. and Cross Creek Blvd. At The Clinicians Primary & Urgent Care, patients can be seen for a wide range of medical needs — from routine medical examinations to setting bones after an auto accident — and they can be seen as late as 9 p.m. every day but Sunday!

Owner and physician Dr. Masood Ansari, M.D., FACP (Fellow of the American College of Physicians), has been practicing emergency medicine for more than 20 years (see below), and decided to open an emergency clinic close to his home. 

“There was an urge to help, to serve the community,” says Dr. Ansari, who has lived in New Tampa for 13 years and spends four days a week at his local clinic and the other three days at the Leesburg Regional Medical Center Emergency Room an hour away from our area. 

“Emergency medicine is appealing because [you get to] do something for the patient and get results right away,” Dr. Ansari says. “It’s hectic, but fruitful; gratifying to treat someone and see the results right there. With the same incentives, I started the clinic here.”

Since The Clinicians Primary & Urgent Care opened nine months ago, he says the office already has seen about 2,500 patients — many of whom are even local physicians and their families. And, some patients come from as far away as Lakeland and Spring Hill. Dr. Ansari also says that his clinic is the only one in Tampa Bay that offers primary care on weekends and evenings, and adds the convenience of on-site X-rays and laboratory facilities.

Patients can see Dr. Ansari or primary care physician Dr. Irshad Siddiqui, M.D., Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. and from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Sundays, and he says the Sunday hours will be extended to 8 p.m. beginning in November. 

Urgent care services include treatment for a variety of injuries (lacerations, sprains, dislocations and fractures); ear, nose & throat (ENT) and eye care (fever, flu, toothache, earache, oxygen and nebulizer therapy, sinus infections); stomach pains (heartburn, gastritis, vomiting and colic), as well as lung and urinary tract infections and pregnancy tests; skin care (for burns, rashes, insect bites, etc.); and intravenous antibiotics (fluid therapy and IV and IM injections).

Primary care patients can be seen for all medical complaints, from hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart disease to post-menopausal symptoms, skin diseases and allergies, as well as STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). In addition, the clinic offers chronic wound care, a medical weight loss program, pain management for various conditions, travel medicine (inoculations for international travel), drug testing, immigration physicals, employment exams, sports and school physicals and worker’s compensation evaluations. 

With digital X-Rays, EKGs (electrocardiograms) and a laboratory all in-house, The Clinicians Primary & Urgent Care can usually offer immediate lab results and diagnoses without having to leave the facility, Dr. Ansari says. The office offers affordable rates for the uninsured and accepts almost all major health insurance carriers, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, Humana, Cigna, United, Amerigroup, Tricare and Multiplan.

Another perk is that between them, the staff can converse with you in English, Spanish, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Arabic.

Decades Of Service

The Clinicians office has only been open since January of this year, but the medical professionals at the practice have decades of combined experience.

Dr. Ansari graduated with his medical degree in 1985 from the Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi, Pakistan. He moved to the U.S. in 1992 and completed his residency in internal medicine at Mount Vernon Hospital and at the Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla, NY, both of which are affiliated with the New York Medical College. He is Board-certified in both emergency and internal medicine. He then worked in emergency care in Utica, NY, and Pensacola, FL, until he moved to Tampa in 2002. Dr. Ansari also has been awarded a complimentary fellowship by the American College of Physicians (ACP) and is an active member of the American Association of Physician Specialists (AAPS), Florida Medical Association (FMA) and Hillsborough County Medical Association (HCMA).

Dr. Siddiqui graduated with his medical degree from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Mysore, India. He practiced emergency room medicine in India for four years, before moving to the U.S. in 2007. He completed his residency in family medicine at the Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL, where he also served as chief resident, leading his team to become a Certified Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH).

“This is a new form of primary care,” Dr. Siddiqui explains about The Clinicians. “You have an actual team supporting the patient. It’s coordinated care between a hospital, primary care, nursing home —across a continuum of care. I think it’s really needed.”

Dr. Siddiqui also has two additional specialties — information technology and physician executive certification — and has been consulting in clinical transformation at seven hospitals in Tampa Bay since he moved here in 2013.

The pair of physicians is joined by a staff of six, including nurse practitioner Hanean Sarsour, ARNP; registered nurse Sharon Rice, RN; and physician assistants (PAs) Kenneth Rice and Melissa Bailey. Dr. Ansari says that office manager Mark Wroblewski keeps the place together and running smoothly.

“We practice patient-centered care,” says Sarsour, who points out how the front desk greets customers by name and follows up with urgent care patients the next day after they are seen. She says they enjoy seeing entire families of patients. “I just love taking care of people,” she says. “I love being there for people in need.”

Dr. Siddiqui says that, as a primary care physician, his focus rarely is only the ailment for which his patient has come in. He is interested in the whole patient and his or her health history, and that of his or her family. A patient may come in with a sore throat or pain, but in addition to treating those problems, Dr. Siddiqui will inquire about vaccinations. Or, if the patient is over age 50, he will ask whether they’ve had a colonoscopy, which is recommended for that age. 

“The nature of medicine has changed so much,” he says. “Previously, physician visits were for illnesses. Now, they’re for maintaining your health. Patients are becoming more aware. Prevention is always better than the cure.”

The Clinicians Primary & Urgent Care has what the doctors describe as a “symbiotic relationship” with 10 to 10 Urgent Care on S.R. 54 in Lutz, and some of the staff (including Dr. Ansari) see patients at both offices. 

When Dr. Ansari asked Wroblewski to work as the office manager at The Clinicians, Mark says that accepting was a no-brainer.

“The bottom line is, you will not find a more compassionate physician in this area than Dr. Ansari, and I’m proud to work for him,” Wroblewski says. “You can tell when a physician is here because they want to make money, and when they’re here to serve the community. We’re here to serve the community, and we mean that from the bottom of our hearts. We’re here to serve, and we all have the same philosophy.”

The Clinicians Primary & Urgent Care is located at 10970 Cross Creek Blvd., with an entrance on Morris Bridge Rd. To make an appointment, call 369-5969 or visit CliniciansUrgentCare.com. The clinic and urgent care center are open Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m.-9 p.m., and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sun.