What Is an Executive Physical? How a Concierge Approach Goes Beyond the Standard Checkup

A standard physical is designed to catch red flags. An executive physical at AnswersMD is designed for people who want a much closer look at their health, and a doctor who keeps looking year after year.

What is an executive physical?

Most annual physicals follow minimum screening guidelines. You get your blood pressure checked, a basic set of labs, the screenings recommended for your age, and a quick conversation. That approach does an important job. It catches obvious problems. But it was built as a floor, not a ceiling.

An executive physical is built for people who want more than the minimum. The name comes from the in-depth checkups companies once offered their senior leaders, but today it simply means a thorough, personalized preventive evaluation. At AnswersMD, we go beyond standard screening guidelines. Each workup is shaped around the patient in front of us: their history, their family history, their risk factors and what they want out of their health over the next 10, 20 and 30 years.

How is an executive physical different from a standard annual physical?

The difference is less about a longer test list and more about how the whole evaluation is approached.

A typical annual physical:

• Is often a short visit with limited time for questions
• Uses the same basic checklist for most people of a given age
• Rarely includes a careful look back through your older records
• Focuses on finding problems that are already there

An AnswersMD executive physical:

• Starts before you arrive, with a deep review of your medical history
• Uses testing chosen for your personal risk and goals, not a one-size template
• Looks for early signs of disease, when there is the most room to act
• Ends with a plan, and the same physician following your numbers over time

We don’t publish a fixed menu of tests, because there isn’t one. Two patients of the same age can have very different workups, and that is the point.

How we approach an executive physical

From Douglas Shapiro, DO, DABFM, founder of AnswersMD and ChildMD

In my practice, the work starts well before the first appointment. We spend hours reviewing a new patient’s previous medical records to piece together their full history. We don’t let that history bias us, though. We still do a thorough, independent workup and then bring everything together.

We try to complete most of the testing before the appointment, because our patients are busy and we want to respect their time. That way the visit itself is about results, questions and a plan, not about waiting for labs. The visit lasts as long as you need.

Many patients tell us it’s the most in-depth look at their health they’ve ever had, and it often uncovers issues that hadn’t been caught before.

If you’d like to see how this works in person, we invite you to a complimentary meet & greet and office tour at any of our offices. You can book at answersmd.com.

What heart tests are included?

Heart disease often develops quietly for years, so it is one of the areas where we look most closely.

Every new patient gets a baseline EKG, unless they already see a cardiologist and have several on file. After that, we repeat it case by case, when there’s a reason to.

For most patients over 40 with high cholesterol, depending on their family history, we order a coronary CT angiogram (CCTA), a detailed scan of the heart arteries, along with other testing. We don’t start with a coronary calcium score. A calcium score only shows hardened, calcified plaque, and it can miss soft plaque. We want to see the whole picture.

Depending on your age, risk factors, family history, symptoms and goals, we may also order other heart, blood vessel, lung and fitness tests:

• Carotid artery ultrasound, which looks at the arteries in your neck that carry blood to the brain, checking for plaque and narrowing
• Echocardiogram, an ultrasound of the heart that shows how well it pumps and how the valves are working
• Ankle-brachial index (ABI), a quick, painless comparison of blood pressure in your ankles and arms that can point to narrowed arteries in the legs
• Holter monitor, a small wearable device that records your heart rhythm around the clock, usually for a day or two, to catch rhythm problems a short EKG can miss
• Spirometry, a simple breathing test that measures how much air your lungs move and how quickly
• VO2 max testing, which measures how well your heart, lungs and muscles use oxygen during exercise, one of the strongest markers of fitness and long-term health

None of these is automatic. We go through what each test can tell you and decide together which ones make sense for you.

Is a full-body MRI worth it?

It can be, for the right person. We bring up a full-body MRI with every patient, but we don’t recommend it for everyone. Whether it makes sense depends on the person.

An older patient who has recently had chest, abdominal and pelvic imaging may not need one, because we can review those scans together. If it has been several years since that kind of imaging, a full-body MRI may make more sense.

How you feel about uncertainty matters too. These scans commonly find incidental results that aren’t clinically relevant and won’t hurt you. Some patients know that waiting on answers about a harmless spot would cause them real stress, so they choose not to have one. I completely respect that. It’s a shared decision. When a scan does find something harmless, my colleagues and I decide on the next steps, and often that means telling the patient that nothing needs to be done.

A full-body MRI is billed separately and isn’t included in membership.

How deep can a preventive and longevity workup go?

As deep as you want. We go very deep on blood work and imaging for prevention and longevity when a patient wants that level of detail. Other patients simply want excellent concierge primary care, and that’s exactly what they get. Everything is decided patient by patient.

More than any single test or scan, the most important thing for staying healthy is to keep moving: daily activity, plus strength training at least three days a week. My grandparents both lived to 99, and they exercised every day of their lives. In their late 90s, it was only about 10 minutes a day on an exercise bike, plus simple floor exercises like hip raises, but they kept at it until the very end.

Why the doctor who reads your results matters

More testing gives you more information, and more information needs a skilled interpreter. Whole-body MRI is a good example. In a 2019 review of 12 studies of people without symptoms, about 32% had an incidental finding that was flagged as critical or uncertain ¹. A 2025 analysis of more than 9,000 people found a confirmed cancer in about 1.6% of those scanned ². Those scans find real problems, and they also find many things that turn out to be nothing. The difference between a useful result and a stressful one is often the physician who knows your history, puts the finding in context and keeps follow-up sensible. That is why we think in-depth testing belongs inside an ongoing relationship with one doctor, not in a one-day report you read on your own.

Questions to ask before you book an executive physical

1. Will anyone review my past records before I come in?
2. Is the testing personalized to my risk, or is it the same package for everyone?
3. Who goes over my results with me, and is it in person?
4. If something abnormal shows up, who coordinates the next steps and the specialists?
5. Will the same doctor follow my results year to year, or is this a one-time visit?
6. Can I reach my doctor between visits if I have a question?
7. Is anything, such as imaging, billed separately?

Executive physicals in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Boca Raton

At AnswersMD, a comprehensive preventive workup is part of membership, not a one-day event. Each physician cares for an intentionally small panel, so there is time to go through every result together. The same physician then follows your numbers over time and coordinates specialists when something needs a closer look.

We have offices in Tampa (2330 W Horatio St), St. Petersburg (1201 5th Ave N, Ste 408) and Boca Raton (1801 S Federal Hwy), so you can be seen wherever is most convenient.

To see whether AnswersMD is the right fit, book a complimentary meet & greet and office tour at answersmd.com, or call 813-333-8888 for Tampa or St. Petersburg, or 561-933-3333 for Boca Raton.

If you’re not quite ready to join, we also offer a standalone preventive and longevity assessment. Call either number to ask about it.