Common questions, honest answers.

No. Empower Med is a physician practice that delivers care virtually. The difference is that a platform runs template protocols with rotating providers; Empower Med is one named, board-certified physician (Dr. Scott Everson, DO, MPH) who personally designs every protocol, reads every lab, and answers every message.

Dr. Everson is based in Potomac Shores / Dumfries, Virginia and licensed in Virginia. Care is delivered entirely through virtual consultations. Patients must be located in Virginia at the time of care.

No. Empower Med is a 100% virtual practice. Physical presence in a waiting room isn’t what defines the care — the physician-direct relationship is. Virtual is how patients reach Dr. Everson.

If you want weight-management and metabolic optimization (GLP-1 therapy, nutrition planning, metabolic lab monitoring): Metabolic Optimization.

If you’re a man with declining energy, libido, recovery, or body composition: Male Hormone (TRT).

If you’re a woman in perimenopause, menopause, or beyond: Female Hormone (HRT).

If you’re interested in growth hormone support, tissue repair after injury, skin and collagen optimization, or cellular energy support: Peptide Therapy.

If you just want labs with physician interpretation before committing to anything: Open-Access Labs.

For Metabolic Optimization, no — it’s à la carte per order ($89/order after $100 first order). An optional $79/mo Care Partnership exists for engaged patients but is never required.

For TRT and HRT, yes — both require mandatory clinical membership because these medications require monitoring infrastructure that can’t be delivered responsibly à la carte. TRT is $149/mo, HRT is $129/mo. Cancel anytime.

For Peptide Therapy, no membership required — pricing is determined per consultation based on your goals and the peptides that fit your protocol. You pay for the initial consultation ($125), baseline labs, ongoing physician oversight, and the peptide compound itself. Cancel your peptide protocol anytime.

For Open-Access Labs, no — it’s a one-time diagnostic, no enrollment required.

Yes — and often it’s clinically appropriate. Many male patients run Metabolic and TRT in parallel so that weight loss doesn’t come at the cost of muscle mass. Peptide protocols can also be combined with Metabolic, TRT, or HRT depending on your goals. Dr. Everson manages the combined protocol as one clinical picture.

Peptide therapy works best for patients seeking targeted optimization in four areas: (1) growth hormone support for energy, sleep, and recovery; (2) tissue repair after injury or overtraining; (3) skin, collagen, and longevity optimization; or (4) cellular energy support. Peptides signal your body’s own systems to work more efficiently — they’re not injections of synthetic hormones. A consultation with Dr. Everson will clarify whether peptide therapy aligns with your specific goals.

Yes. Every peptide protocol begins with baseline labs tailored to the compounds you’re using. These labs establish your starting point and guide the protocol design. For example, growth hormone support protocols require IGF-1 and fasting glucose; recovery protocols require inflammatory markers. Labs are ordered during your consultation and billed at Quest cost + 50% professional-service markup.

Peptide therapy has four line items: (1) Initial consultation ($125) — your intake with Dr. Everson, history review, and protocol design; (2) Baseline labs (varies) — category-specific panels billed at Quest cost + 50%; (3) Monthly physician oversight (determined per consultation) — ongoing monitoring, dose adjustments, and unlimited messaging; (4) Peptide compound (varies by compound) — ordered through your pharmacy and billed directly to you. Empower Med keeps zero margin on the peptide compounds themselves.

It depends on the program. GLP-1 medications (Metabolic) are billed by the compounding pharmacy direct to you at pharmacy cost. Empower Med keeps zero margin on GLP-1.

Hormone medications (TRT, HRT) are procured by the practice at compounding pharmacy client rates and billed through the practice with a professional-service markup that covers medication management — procurement, titration, clinical oversight. It is not pharmaceutical retail.

Labs are ordered through Empower Med and billed at Quest client cost + 50% professional-service markup. The markup covers physician interpretation, panel selection, and critical-result notification infrastructure — it is not embedded in a membership fee.

Yes, for Metabolic and TRT. Prior Open-Access Lab customers receive a $100 credit toward their first Metabolic order (net $0 physician fee on enrollment) or a $165 credit toward their first TRT month (covers the $149 membership in full, with $16 rolling to cycle 2).

There is no lab credit for HRT by design — HRT entry is symptom-driven and cardiovascular-risk-driven, not lab-driven.

Yes. Existing patients receive a $50 credit toward a future order, lab purchase, or membership month after a new patient they referred completes their first paid service. Credit expires 12 months after issuance. No cap on referrals.

Every Empower Med charge appears as EMPOWER MED MEDICAL / DUMFRIES VA — a physician practice line, not a pharmacy line. Pharmacy charges (for GLP-1) appear under the pharmacy’s own descriptor, separately.

Yes, anytime. No early-termination fee. No refund of membership fees already paid. No further medication is authorized after membership ends. Continuity of care for ongoing TRT, HRT, or metabolic treatment should be arranged with another physician before discontinuation.

This policy reflects clinical reality: Dr. Everson cannot ethically continue authorizing controlled or hormonally sensitive medications for patients no longer enrolled in the monitoring framework those medications require.

Your clinical records are retained per applicable Virginia medical-records retention requirements. See the Notice of Privacy Practices for details on how your PHI is handled.

Testosterone is a DEA Schedule III controlled substance. Safe delivery requires baseline labs (Total T, Free T, Bioavailable T, SHBG, CBC, HbA1c, LH, PSA, TSH, Lipid Panel), ongoing hematocrit and PSA monitoring, and protocol titration based on how your body responds. Any clinic prescribing TRT without this infrastructure is cutting corners that matter clinically.

Endocrine society guidance and the recent perimenopause literature are clear: FSH and estradiol levels in women 45+ are too volatile to reliably rule in or rule out the transition. Protocols that hinge on these single values miss the patient entirely. Empower Med’s HRT labs focus on what actually drives the protocol — cardiovascular risk (BMP, Lipid Panel, HbA1c) and VTE history.

Every patient at Empower Med begins with a documented physician evaluation — a virtual consultation with Dr. Everson — before any medication is authorized. No script-mill dispensing, no template protocols, no medication without clinical evaluation.