Dr. Taylor Cushman and his wife, physician assistant Rachel Cushman, had grown weary of watching physicians sprint through appointments. Too often, primary‑care doctors sent patients straight to specialists, leaving behind a trail of referrals and paperwork.
“You wait three to six months to see a doctor,” Taylor said. “You have all this information you want to give them, and they give you 5 minutes. People stop going — at the detriment of their own health.”
So, about nine months ago, the couple opened Paragon Total Wellness at 7500 N. Dobson Road, Suite 101, Scottsdale. Taylor said the practice, which does not take insurance, takes a whole-body approach. Paragon isn’t about convenience; it’s about root‑cause care.
“Any one piece of information is just that — a piece,” he said. “If you’re not looking at the whole picture, how can you really say you’re helping people? For example, if your sleep is bad and you’re in pain and you’re not able to move your body, let’s start there. That’s the single best way to improve your health.”
THINGS TO DO: 10 quirky restaurants you have to visit in Arizona
Taylor and Rachel pride themselves on delving into each patient’s records. They comb over records like detectives.
“It’s a treasure trove, trying to dig through what’s been left behind, neglected, undiagnosed, inaccurately explained and forgotten about,” said Taylor, who is board-certified in internal medicine with an MSc in exercise and wellness.
Sometimes the gaps are staggering.
“We have people plugged into the Mayo system doing the Mayo Executive Physical Exam,” he said. “There’s a year or two wait list. We get their records — and there’s a lot that’s missed.”
He doesn’t blame patients. “That’s not their job. But if you do 100 tests and nobody puts it all together, it’s kind of meaningless.”
Taylor’s background explains the intensity. Before medical school, he studied molecular biology and thought he’d go into exercise physiology. He earned a master’s in exercise and wellness — “mostly exercise physiology, some nutrition, some public health” — then realized the job market was thin. Medical school seemed like the next step.
But once he got there, he noticed the disconnect.
“All the exercise and nutrition stuff was an afterthought,” he said. “The most common reason for primary care visits is musculoskeletal pain, and we learn nothing about rehab.”
Residency only sharpened the edges.
“It’s more of the whack‑a‑mole,” he said. “The hospital is a revolving door.”
He shared a wellness lecture from the head of family medicine’s residency program.
“He said, ‘Telling a resident to meditate and do yoga to be well through residency is like telling a canary in a poison coal mine to hold its breath.’” Taylor still thinks about it almost every day.
That line planted the seed: if the system is broken, maybe the fix must happen outside it.
Paragon is their attempt. They advocate for patients relentlessly, even when the system pushes back.
“We requested someone’s records, and the office wanted money from us,” Taylor said. “I thought, ‘What are you talking about? This is a mutual patient. People don’t know that’s not legal. I’m sure they pay it all the time.’”
Paragon Total Wellness is an unexpected turn for the Cushmans. They didn’t plan to become entrepreneurs. In fact, Taylor said they resisted it for as long as they could.
“We didn’t want to start a business,” he admitted. “But we looked around for alternatives, and our healthcare system is broken for many reasons. We wanted to find a place where we could give people the kind of care we want for our own family — and we just couldn’t find it.”
Paragon Total Wellness was born from those late‑night conversations about what real care should look like.
The work is humbling, he said, but meaningful. “Being able to advocate for people in that way — it’s fulfilling.”
