Meet the team
Eric Mcdougle, physician assistant, owner
I was born and raised in West Virginia. After completing my Bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University, I moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL. There, I received my Master’s degree in Medical Sciences from Nova Southeastern University.
I have experience in family medicine, urgent care medicine, sports medicine, and orthopedic surgery.
In my off time, I am an avid kiteboarder and road cyclist. My wife and I live in the Old Southeast with our daughter and son. St. Pete has been our home for over a decade.
TANNELLE MCDOUGLE, PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT, OFFICE MANAGER
Tannelle was born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Port Saint Lucie, FL. She has both her Bachelor’s degree in Nutritional and Food Sciences and her Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Florida.
She has ten years of emergency medicine and urgent care experience. Since helping establish St Pete Direct Primary Care and then functioning as the office manager, she realized she enjoys managing primary care needs while keeping people healthy and out of the emergency department. Her love for medicine was revitalized through DPC!
Eric and Tannelle have a special partnership that flows well between work, caring for their two children, and traveling.
DR. BRETT LEVINE, D.O., MEDICAL DIRECTOR
Dr. Brett Levine is a Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician. He graduated with a degree in Osteopathic Medicine from Nova Southeastern University, and completed his internship in Family Medicine at Largo Medical Center. Dr. Levine completed his undergraduate degree at the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. After residency, Dr. Levine gained invaluable experience while practicing in Clearwater, Florida at a small, privately-owned clinic, and numerous inpatient rehab facilities, and nursing homes. Dr. Levine resides in St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and two cats. He is the owner of LevMed Health DPC.
BEING PART OF THE SOLUTION THROUGH DPC
During my years of practicing as a physician assistant, I have seen the quality of health care in the United States worsen. Health care facilities are being bought by corporations who focus on profit. Insurance companies are charging patients more money for less coverage and reimbursing health care providers less for their services. Providers are now required to see more patients in a shorter amount of time. It can take weeks to see your primary care provider or months to establish as a new patient. When the appointment finally happens, it seems rushed as the providers are overworked and stressed about volume overload.
I experienced this first hand working in busy urgent cares. Patients were often coming to see me at the urgent care because their primary care provider’s schedule was too busy or they were unable to establish with a primary. I was left trying to squeeze a 30-45 minute appointment into ten minutes. Often, I found myself coming home frustrated that I did not have the time to give my patients the care they needed and deserved. Last winter, as the patient load was over sixty per day, I thought to myself, “there has to be a better way.” Then, I discovered direct primary care.
Direct primary care is part of the solution for the broken U.S. health care model. Each provider has 300-500 patients. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars a month for insurance you can hardly use, every DPC member pays a small monthly fee directly to the provider. This allows the provider to decrease the volume of patients seen per day, thus ensuring access to the provider’s services with availability for longer appointments, which leads to higher quality of care.