A note from Dr. Kevin
My name is Kevin Brandstetter. I'm a board-certified emergency physician, licensed in California, Florida, Texas, and Delaware, with more states coming.
Twenty years in the ER
I started residency in 2004, so I've spent more than twenty years working in emergency departments. I went to medical school at Washington University in St. Louis and trained in emergency medicine in Chicago. Since then I've worked ERs in St. Louis and the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm board-certified by ABEM (American Board of Emergency Medicine).
In two decades of shifts, I've treated almost every complaint you can name and plenty you can't. One thing became impossible to ignore. A huge share of the sickest patients I see is downstream of the same root: metabolic dysfunction.
The heart attack, the stroke, the kidney failure, the runaway blood pressure, the new diabetes, the sleep apnea. Over and over, the same thing underneath. By the time someone reaches my resuscitation bay, we're not treating the problem anymore. We're treating what the problem did. It feels like meeting a tidal wave with an umbrella.
Why GLP-1 got my attention
That changed how I think about weight. For years we called obesity a risk factor. I've come to see BMI as a symptom, a number that points at something deeper, not the disease itself. That's why GLP-1 medications got my attention. Their benefits often show up independently of how much weight someone loses, which tells me they're acting on the underlying process, not just the scale.
Why I practice telemedicine
I'll be honest about telemedicine. It's nothing like the raw humanity of an ER, and I was skeptical of it. I have always valued in-person conversations. So much trust is built on those interactions, and that trust is critical to quality medical care. What won me over was timing. In the ER I meet people years too late. This kind of care lets me reach the twenty-five-year-old with early diabetes now, before he's spending three afternoons a week on dialysis at forty-five. If I can help someone avoid that road, I'll do it every time.
That's why I practice through Temi's platform. I see my own patients through my medical practice; Temi is the technology that connects us. The model is built so your time isn't burned on the waiting-room rituals of traditional care. If you have a question, you deserve an answer in hours, not weeks. You'll trade some face-to-face visits for a faster line to me, and most of the time that's the better deal.
You'll also have the same doctor. Me. I keep your chart, I know your history, and I'm the one you'll hear from every visit.
I say no when no is the right answer
Here's the part you may not love. I say no when no is the right answer. I am not a doctor who will rubber-stamp any prescription requested. What I am is someone who has seen exactly what untreated metabolic disease costs people and their families, and that makes me motivated but careful.
These medications, including compounded ones, aren't candy. They can hurt people who don't meet the criteria for them. So I look hard at every patient: your history, your labs, your contraindications, your red flags. Wanting to drop a few pounds for the mirror, with no sign of metabolic dysfunction and a normal BMI, is not a reason to prescribe one. You won't always agree with me. I'd rather be safe than agreeable.
How I treat — and what happens at 2 a.m.
When treatment does make sense, I start low and titrate to how your body actually responds, not to a fixed schedule. If side effects show up, we adjust or pause. Stopping is always on the table, and if that's what you want, we'll plan the off-ramp together.
A fair question: what happens at 2 a.m.? I can't examine you in person. But you have a direct channel to me and the Temi team. Send a message through the platform and I'll get back to you as fast as I can, definitely within a day and usually much sooner. We have escalation steps: phone, text, video, and a referral to local urgent or emergency care when that's what you need. If something feels off, reach out. That's the whole point.
That's how I practice. If it sounds like what you're looking for, head to the sign-up page. I’m ready to help.