Dr. Payam Zamani still remembers the moment he had the idea for MY DR NOW.
He was a resident at Phoenix Baptist Hospital, exhausted and overworked, watching the healthcare system evolve quickly.
“The world is moving in a direction of ease and simplicity and user‑friendly services and products, and I just thought that healthcare wasn’t keeping pace,” Dr. Zamani said.
He founded MY DR NOW in April 2007 while still in residency, and admitted it was a nerve-wracking move. “I felt nervous, but I was extremely confident about it, maybe too confident, maybe foolishly confident,” he said with a laugh. “But I really believed in it at the time.”
That theory has helped Dr. Zamani grow MY DR NOW across Arizona and Texas, with 60 clinics.
“Our goal when we started was to have a clinic within 90% of a 6‑mile drive of anywhere within Maricopa County,” Dr. Zamani said. “We want them to always be close to a MY DR NOW facility and always have access to healthcare.”
MY DR NOW offers everything a traditional family medicine office provides, but without the traditional barriers. They’re open seven days a week, with early-morning, late-evening, weekend and holiday hours. Patients can walk in, schedule ahead or connect virtually. They can even request house calls.
Services include primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, urgent care, labs and bloodwork, health screening, minor surgical care, wound care, biopsies and ECGs. House calls and telehealth are also available.
“If it’s easier for the healthcare provider to come to your door, they can do that,” Dr. Zamani said. “If it’s easier to connect on your device, you can do it that way.”
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The goal is empowerment. “If you want to see your doctor today, you can see them today,” he said. “It’s on your time. It’s on your schedule.”
“They’re all made available to you on your terms,” Dr. Zamani said.
That breadth of care is intentional. Dr. Zamani wanted to eliminate the need for urgent care visits, which he says often lead to fragmented treatment. “If you get sick, you don’t have to go to an urgent care anymore,” he said. “Whether it’s a UTI or a sinus infection, it voids the need for an urgent care facility.”
Dr. Zamani prefers not to call MY DR NOW a “chain.” He described it as a lifestyle brand that integrates seamlessly daily life.
“Healthcare needs to be a part of your lifestyle,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to take time off work to be able to go see your doctor. You shouldn’t have to schedule weeks or months in advance.”
He pointed to the conveniences people now take for granted: Amazon deliveries, ride‑sharing, food apps and streaming services.
“We’ve all gotten accustomed to having things delivered to us and provided for us in a way that’s simpler, easier, more accessible,” he said. “Healthcare needs to be the same.”
Dr. Zamani’s passion for accessibility is rooted in his childhood. “I was raised by a single mom with two kids. She brought us up by herself. She worked two full‑time jobs,” he said. “So, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is for individuals and working families.”
He sees the same struggle reflected in patients today — especially men, who often skip preventive care because of scheduling barriers. “Many men haven’t had their physicals. They don’t get preventive care. It’s hard for them,” he said. “So we see a lot of men come in after work, on weekends, after the game is over.”
The same rings true for single parents, couples juggling careers and families with unpredictable schedules. “People want to get on with their lives,” he said. “They’re not always in a position where they can plan weeks or months in advance.”
When healthcare becomes easier, he says, outcomes improve. “The easier we make healthcare, the better the results get, the more engaged people are,” he said. “It really makes a difference in everyone’s life.”
For Dr. Zamani, the most meaningful part of MY DR NOW’s evolution isn’t the scale — it’s the stories.
“We see all the hundreds of thousands of patients that we help every year,” he said. “We hear the stories. We read the letters about how it’s been a lifesaver and a life changer.”
That feedback fuels him. “We’re honored to do what we do,” he said. “We want to make a difference for each individual, for every family, for every community that we serve. If you make healthcare simple and easy and accessible and convenient, you make it simple and easy for people to be healthy.”
