Jeffrey Milks, MD, has more than 25 years’ experience in private practice and is board certified in Family Practice, Geriatrics and Hospice and Palliative Care.
FEBRUARY 17, 2015 - Dr. Jeffrey Milks said he has practiced medicine for 33 years because caring for others is more than a job.
“I love what I do and if you love what you do, you don’t have to work,” Milks said.
Milks, who opened Personal MD in 2008 in New Albany, practices “concierge medicine,” which he describes as direct patient care that requires him to be available to his patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
He said 40 percent of his patients are affluent and want the availability he provides.
The other 60 percent are people with complicated health issues who want one person to diagnose and treat them.
It requires patients to pay him an annual retainer, but it “makes life easier for them,” Milks said.
“We will go where our patients are,” he said.
Now located in a medical facility at 5121 Forest Drive in New Albany, he is within a stone’s throw of the Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital.
Milks, 62, said he started the practice with 60 patients and now cares for 325.
“I’ll do this as long as I can,” he said.
Milks was recognized by Columbus CEO magazine with its 2015 Healthcare Lifetime Achievement Award.
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His nomination was supported by testimonials from his patients, many of whom called him “experienced, knowledgeable and compassionate.”
“I didn’t go into medicine to be able to play golf,” he said. “I went into medicine because I really like to take care of people.”
Milks is a native of New York whose family moved to Cleveland when he was 5 years old. He said he knew he wanted to become a doctor when he was in the fourth grade.
“I liked my family doctor,” Milks said. “He was a great person and when I told him I wanted to be a doctor, he fostered that.”
Milks said the doctor, Walter Pete Wagner, helped him get into the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Milks then started his own family practice after college in 1981.
“I started a family practice in Circleville and was taking care of my patients like I was taught,” he said.
That meant if one of his patients was in the hospital, he supervised their care and reviewed treatments, tests and any prescribed medications.
Milks eventually sold the practice to a Columbus hospital and moved into an urgent-care facility on North Hamilton Road near New Albany in 2000.
In 2006, he realized he wanted to get back into a family practice, but one that would allow sufficient time with each patient.
“I wanted to give really good care and give time to each patient, and I wanted to be available so when they need to be seen, I can get them in,” Milks said.
Milks said he has nothing but respect for doctors who can see four patients an hour. But that’s not what he wants to do and it’s not how he designed Personal MD.
He also continues to serve as a board member of the central Ohio chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, as the medical director of the Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services Hospice and as a member of the New Albany Rotary Club.
“It does me well to have several different jobs,” he said. “It keeps me busy and it’s good for my mind.”
