Palos Verdes Medical Group
Verified listingAbout Palos Verdes Medical Group
Palos Verdes Medical Group is a multi-specialty medical practice at 550 Deep Valley Drive, Suite 319, Rolling Hills Estates, and its weight management service is built around insurance rather than cash. The site says so repeatedly: it accepts most PPO plans and employs authorization specialists to pursue coverage for weight-loss medications. No self-pay price of any kind is published.
## How does the weight management service work?
The service is described as a clinical work-up rather than a monthly drug subscription. Published components are a "Comprehensive Examination", nutritional counseling, an exercise program referral, a personalized weight loss plan and medication assistance. On timing, the FAQ states the first visit is approximately 45 minutes and that it takes several visits to complete the entire work-up. No medication is named anywhere on the pages read. The site says only "Medication Assistance", so we cannot tell you which drugs are prescribed. The practice's other listed services are ADHD, aesthetics, allergy, asthma and immunology, family practice, food allergy and pediatrics.
## Does insurance apply, and what will you pay?
Insurance is the point here. The new-patients page states "We accept most PPO plans. Please call or email us for information specific to your insurance company and plan." Two further published statements say the practice accepts most PPO insurance plans and recommends checking coverage with your insurer, and that a team of authorization specialists will work with your insurance company to obtain authorization, while noting that not all plans cover weight-loss medications. The practice takes checks, cash or credit cards and offers a flexible payment plan, but that is a list of payment methods, not a self-pay pricing model. No program price, per-visit price, membership, consultation fee or self-pay rate appears anywhere on the site. If you are shopping for a cash-pay clinic, this listing is a poor match, and it should not be read as one.
## Who works there, and when are they open?
Four clinicians are named on the providers page: Lawrence D. Sher, M.D., FAAP, FAAAA, FACAAI, and three family nurse practitioners, Leigh Ann Schmidt, FNP, Kia Brown, FNP, and Elainne Sher, FNP. Credential strings are reproduced exactly as printed. None of the four is connected to weight management on any page, and the weight management page names nobody, so who prescribes is genuinely unclear. The FAQ describes the providers as leaders in obesity research and mentions work with several named pharmaceutical companies; those are research-partner names in context, not a list of medications on offer. Hours are Monday through Thursday 8AM to 5:30PM and Friday 8AM to 5PM. Same-day appointments are stated to be available.
## What we could not confirm
Any cost. Which weight-loss medications are prescribed. Which provider prescribes them. Whether telehealth is offered, and in which states. Any service area or list of cities served, beyond the shopping centre the office sits in. Any eligibility statement describing who the program is for. How long the practice has been operating. All of this was checked on 22 September 2026.
**Sources:** https://pvmedgroup.com/weight_management/ · https://pvmedgroup.com/weight-management-faqs/ · https://pvmedgroup.com/new-patients/ · https://pvmedgroup.com/doctors/ · https://pvmedgroup.com/request-an-appointment/