After more than 10 years of work in the field of obstetric and gynecological care, Florida gynecologist Dr. Suny Caminero left her practice, frustrated with the hurried and lackluster care she was forced to offer her patients in a traditional care model.
Two years later, in 2024, Caminero decided to set out on her own—this time, outside the traditional medical model that not only degraded the quality of care she was able to provide, but also threatened to sever her relationships with her patients entirely due to required non-compete agreements.
Going independent was daunting, she said, but it did have the added benefit of letting Dr. Caminero see her patients outside of the constraints of the insurance model.
“Before, I really tried my best to give my patients all the time that I could, but in the traditional insurance-based model, you are very limited,” Dr. Caminero said.
“You’re limited not only in how much time you give to the patient. You’re also limited as to what therapies you can give to the patient and what you can provide because you’re limited as to what the insurance covers and what it doesn’t cover. And so for that reason, I decided, ‘Well, if I’m going to start over, I’m going to do it a different way.’ And that’s where the non-insurance-based practice emerged.”
This unique method of offering care sets Dr. Caminero apart from other gynecologists. Her practice is successful because women who are experiencing a myriad of health issues are finally receiving more than a 10- or 15-minute appointment where they are dismissed or, at best, referred to yet another medical professional with little hope of actual relief from the problems they face.
Dr. Caminero can even offer specific therapies to women that are not offered in traditional OBGYN care because they are not covered by insurance.
“Many physicians actually don’t even know these therapies exist because they’re not covered by insurance, but I’m able to do those therapies and make a huge difference,” Dr. Caminero said. “So as an example, one of the therapies that we do is vaginal CO2 laser… for sexual health, for vaginal dryness, for menopause, for bladder health.
“It’s the same therapy I do for breast cancer survivors. It is a huge problem for breast cancer survivors because they have really no choice. It’s almost like, ‘Well, you had cancer. You survived cancer. Now you should just be happy that you survived cancer, right?’ As opposed to saying, ‘Let’s see how we make this better.’”
Unlike in traditional OBGYN care, Dr. Caminero’s patients know exactly the cost of her care before going in. Instead of receiving surprise bills in the mail after hospitals and insurance decide on a price, Dr. Caminero’s website contains a thorough list of almost every treatment or consultation a patient could receive.
“The reason why I put the cost on the website is because I never want people to feel like they’re being upcharged. I always want people to know this is what it costs, and then they can make a decision,” she explained.
Dr. Caminero argued that her out-of-the-box method of treatment will ultimately save her patients time and money despite not being able to bill insurance for her care. Because she is able to spend an hour or two with each patient, Dr. Caminero says they generally fix the patient’s problem at that first visit, or at the very least set up a treatment that will fix the problem for the next visit.
However, there are some kinds of OBGYN care that Dr. Caminero believes would be nearly impossible to offer outside of a traditional insurance model. Late pregnancy and delivery care, for instance, would have to be priced so high that a “very small percentage of the population …could afford that.”
In addition, the 24/7 aspect of working in the labor and delivery space would preclude Dr. Caminero from offering such unhurried care to her other patients.
Regardless, Dr. Caminero’s practice is providing women with the kind of service many have been looking for. And yet, despite its success, Dr. Caminero’s care model is still a rarity in gynecological care.
“I’m the only person in my area that I know is doing it,” she said.
