Tia Kostas, MD
Tia Kostas, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Specialties
- Geriatric Medicine
- Internal Medicine
Locations
- Chicago - South Shore
- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
[MUSIC PLAYING] My name is Tia Kostas. I am a geriatrician, so I specialize in geriatric medicine, which is the care of people over 65. So when I was growing up in South Bend, Indiana, many of my family members worked at a nursing facility. And I used to volunteer at this facility.
So I would help feed the patients who lived there. I would help do arts and crafts, and come up with activities to do with them. And as I went through my education, I realized that really, the best way I could try to help people was through becoming a physician, and help people live as healthy as they could. And I felt like if I did that, I could really help patients such as those at the nursing facility that I helped care for.
When I was looking to move to Chicago, I really wanted to be in a place that really put the patients first. And I also wanted to participate in teaching new physicians. And so what I really love about University of Chicago Medicine is that here, I feel like everyone I work with really cares about the patients. I feel like we put the patients first.
And I also have the opportunity to work with medical students, residents, fellows. I feel like UChicago Medicine really prioritizes education of new medical professionals as well.
As a geriatrician, I'm the primary care physician for the majority of my patients. And so I really feel like I am my patients quarterback. So I'm the person who will talk to their specialists, coordinate with other members of their health care team, you know, whether that's physicians from other specialties, or like a physical therapist, a pharmacist, social worker, you know, I really think inter-professional health care is the best way to give patients the care that they need. And so I really feel like as someone's primary care physician, I'm the person who should be sort of coordinating with that team to make sure everything happens.
One of the things that I offer for my patients is, I am very interested in medication safety. And so for all of my patients, I will do a medication review. And this will happen the first time I meet someone, and then at all of our follow ups thereafter.
So in a medication review, I will really go over with a fine tooth comb someone's medications, figure out what might be potentially inappropriate, what might be unnecessary, what could be simplified. Is there one medicine we could use instead of two that they're on? And try to really come up with a list of medicines that is everything that's really necessary for someone to be on, and nothing that is likely to cause harm.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Specialties
Areas of Expertise
- Polypharmacy
- Dementia
Board Certifications
- Internal Medicine
- Geriatric Medicine
Practicing Since
- 2011
Languages Spoken
- English
Medical Education
- Mayo Clinic School of Medicine
Residency
- Brigham and Women's Hospital
Fellowship
- VA Boston Healthcare System; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Memberships & Medical Societies
- American Geriatrics Society
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.