Hitchcock Family Medicine was founded with a simple idea: primary care should be personal, accessible, and built around the physician-patient relationship. Before opening our first physical office, Dr. Hitchcock began caring for patients through house calls, laying the foundation for what would become Tennessee’s first Direct Primary Care practice.

After beginning with house calls, Hitchcock Family Medicine celebrated the grand opening of its first office in November 2015. The new clinic gave patients a home for the same relationship-based, unhurried care that had shaped the practice from the beginning.

We welcomed Dr. Ashley Sanders, an Internal Medicine physician with a strong background in military medicine and a passion for patient-centered care. Her arrival strengthened our ability to deliver unhurried, relationship-based care.

Internal Medicine physician Dr. Todd Torbett joined Hitchcock Family Medicine, bringing additional experience and capacity to serve patients across the Chattanooga community. His arrival helped us continue growing without losing the personal care our patients value.

To meet increasing demand, we opened our Eastgate location. This expansion allowed us to care for more families while preserving the same values of direct, patient-focused care.

We welcomed Robby Eskridge, PharmD, to help lead medication access for our patients. His work laid the foundation for a more transparent, relationship-based pharmacy model built around affordability and personal service.

We moved into a larger, modern facility in Hixson. This new space provided room for additional physicians, an expanded pharmacy, and our own imaging center offering affordable x-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans. This move brought our vision of integrated, direct healthcare into one shared home.

Our imaging center officially opened to serve Hitchcock Family Medicine patients. This allowed us to provide convenient, affordable diagnostic care directly within our own clinic.

With patient growth continuing, we welcomed Dr. Michael Shepherd, an experienced Family Medicine physician, to our team. His addition helped us meet the needs of more families seeking accessible, relationship-based care.

Hitchcock Family Pharmacy became fully licensed to serve the broader community. What began as support for our own patients grew into a transparent, cash-priced pharmacy serving families, employers, and patients across Tennessee and beyond.

With approval from the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy, we launched our 24/7 prescription pick-up locker pilot program, giving patients a secure, convenient way to collect their prescriptions, even after hours and on weekends.

We secured a Certificate of Need (CON) for our imaging center, with unanimous approval from the state board. This milestone marked the start of the transition from an internal service to a fully licensed outpatient imaging center serving the broader community.

We welcomed Dr. Erik Ewing, an experienced Family Medicine physician. His arrival reflects our ongoing commitment to providing comprehensive, personal healthcare for families across Chattanooga.

Our 24/7 prescription pick-up locker pilot project, first launched in August 2024, was officially extended by the state Board of Pharmacy for two more years. This extension reflects the success of the program and our commitment to making medication access simple, convenient, and patient-focused.

Hitchcock Direct Imaging officially became licensed as an Outpatient Diagnostic Center. This milestone allowed us to open our imaging services to the entire community with transparent, affordable prices. It marks a new chapter in making high-quality diagnostic care more accessible in Chattanooga.

As our clinic grew beyond primary care alone, we introduced Hitchcock Medical Group as an umbrella for the broader vision taking shape. As our Direct Primary Care practice, Hitchcock Family Medicine remains the heart, while Hitchcock Medical Group better represents the full picture: primary care, pharmacy, imaging, and future services working together to restore trust, simplicity, and humanity to healthcare.

What began as one small clinic continues to grow into a more complete model of direct healthcare. Our vision is to make healthcare more personal and transparent by directly partnering with patients, families, employers, and communities. Growth matters because it allows us to restore trust, simplicity, and humanity to healthcare for generations to come.