Dr. Gregory J. Facemyer, MD, FAAFP, is a distinguished board-certified family physician with over 25 years of experience, dedicated to preventative care and comprehensive family medicine in Northeast Ohio. As the owner and president of Austin Square Medical Group in Youngstown, Ohio—a thriving independent primary care practice he founded in 2007—Dr. Facemyer has built a “one-stop shopping” model that emphasizes on-site services like labs, ultrasounds, EKGs, home sleep studies, dermatologic procedures, and telehealth to provide convenient, cost-effective care. This approach allows him to manage acute and chronic conditions, conduct well-child visits, annual physicals, and Medicare exams while prioritizing early detection and lifestyle interventions to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart conditions.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
My typical day begins early, often around 5:30–6:00 AM. Before the office opens, I make hospital rounds on my own patients at one or two local hospitals. Depending on patient needs, I may return during the midday break or even after office hours if necessary. This continuity—from hospital to office—has always been a core part of my approach as a Board-Certified Family Physician focused on preventative care, chronic disease management, and comprehensive family medicine.
Once at the office, I begin reviewing charts in MEDENT, my preferred EMR for its speed, efficiency, and straightforward coding. I use Epic for hospital care because it integrates with MyChart and links directly to surrounding hospitals.
During the day, I typically see 35–40 patients, handling everything from preventative screenings, well-child checks, adult and Medicare physicals, work/school/sports physicals, and transition-of-care visits, to managing chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. I often have NEOMED, LECOM, OU, or NP students from multiple universities working with me, which adds a teaching component to the daily schedule.
Mid-afternoons, evenings, and weekends often include Zoom or Teams meetings with billing teams, accounting, ACOs, and other business-related vendors. I stay productive by maintaining a structured schedule, emphasizing preventative care, and balancing clinical work with leadership responsibilities.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Through collaboration, data, and practical implementation. As the immediate past former Lead Physician at NEOMED Health Care, I supervised nurse practitioners, medical students, and pharmacy students while implementing new workflows, protocols, and procedures. During this time, the clinic experienced 30–40% growth in new patients, clinic renovations, and—importantly—achieved first-time profitability since its inception, all while I met both quality care targets and RVU goals.
My approach is iterative:
- Assess the need
- Test small changes
- Gather feedback from staff and students
- Refine
- Scale
I frequently use Microsoft tools to build presentations for staff, students, or business associates. This systematic method allowed me to expand my private practice and previously contributed to the evolution of our four-physician, non-hospital-owned group at Ohio Family Health Care Associates, Inc., where I served as partner.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I’m excited about the advancement of preventative, personalized family medicine, especially in the management and early detection of conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. As tools become more precise through genomics and AI, family physicians can tailor treatment and lifestyle plans with greater accuracy and preventative impact.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Starting each day with a run or brief workout. It resets my focus, gives me the stamina I need for hospital rounds, full clinic days, and teaching, and reflects habits I developed during my competitive track and cross-country years.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Trust your instincts about independence earlier. My time as a partner in the four-physician group taught me a lot, but becoming independent allowed for the personalized, one-on-one care and onsite services I always envisioned. I’d also remind myself that medicine requires pacing—balance is vital.
Tell us something you believe that almost nobody agrees with you on.
I believe independent primary-care practices—without hospital ownership—are the most patient-focused, cost-effective model. Many think hospital employment guarantees stability, but independence allows for more personable care, greater flexibility in services, and reduced costs for families.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Stay committed to preventative care:
- Annual physicals
- Routine screenings
- Lifestyle reviews (diet, activity, stress, sleep)
Small yearly evaluations can prevent major complications later, especially with chronic conditions.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I reset by working in the yard or garden, watching a baseball or football game, or studying colonial architecture and English gardens. These activities help me slow down, clear my mind, and regain balance before returning to clinical or academic work.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Building practices around personalized, one-on-one care and onsite services while staying independent. As my patient base grew, it became clear that my older office was outgrowing the needs of both new and longstanding patients—leading to expansions in services and space. Academically, my long-term involvement at NEOMED—as a Peer/Faculty Advisor, student ambassador (during training), and Alumni Board of Trustee member until reaching term limits—also elevated my leadership and teaching roles.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
Early in my career, expanding too rapidly in group practice created operational challenges. I corrected course by prioritizing sustainable growth with Austin Square Medical Group, focusing on quality and service rather than volume. The lesson: grow intentionally, and always align expansion with patient needs.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
A preventative health mobile platform that integrates with EMRs to send personalized reminders for screenings, vaccinations, and chronic disease check-ins. Independent practices could use it to enhance access, especially in rural or underserved areas.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
MEDENT and Epic both play essential roles:
- MEDENT is my preferred office EMR due to its speed, efficiency, and simpler coding features.
- Epic is crucial for hospital care because it connects to MyChart and integrates with multiple local hospitals, ensuring continuity when patients transition between inpatient and outpatient settings.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
A fitness tracker. It motivates me to stay active and manage my own preventative health, which parallels the lifestyle habits I encourage for my patients.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
Favorite book: The Checklist Manifesto. It reinforces the importance of systematic processes for improving preventative care and diagnostic accuracy.
Favorite podcast: The American Family Physician (AFP) Podcast—it keeps me updated with evidence-based guidance in family medicine.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
“Severance” on Apple TV+. Its commentary on work-life boundaries and identity resonates with me as someone who balances clinical responsibilities, teaching, leadership roles, and personal life.
Key learnings
- Preventive care, personalized family medicine, and chronic disease management are foundational to high-quality primary care.
- Independence allows practices to grow with flexibility, improved access, and greater patient satisfaction.
- Hospital rounding, daily structure, and efficient EMR usage enable continuity of care for complex patient needs.
- Longstanding mentorship roles strengthen the next generation of physicians and enrich clinical environments.
- Sustainable growth—rather than rapid expansion—produces stronger, patient-centered outcomes.