LOS ANGELES — For busy people, time is money. And when you’ve got more money than time, the cost of an executive physical examination is kind of like the price of a yacht. If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

Tom Gilmore arrived at Good Samaritan Hospital here one Friday wearing a blue Nike warm-up suit the hospital had sent.

Priscilla Castillo, VIP patient service manager, was waiting at valet parking to escort him to a waiting room, where coffee, tea, juices, fresh fruit and yogurt were continually replenished.

But he didn’t have to wait long. Soon, he was escorted to an exam room, where the bathrobe he changed into was so plush and soft that he couldn’t resist saying, “Wow, feel this. What do you think? Some sort of microfiber?”

The slippers were just as comfortable, and they, along with the bathrobe and warm-up suit, were his to keep.

“For $2,000, it better be mine,” he says.

That’s the cost, not covered by health insurance, of the most extensive physical examination Gilmore has ever had.

It’s called an “executive physical,” and Gilmore, a downtown real estate developer, was patient No. 1 at Good Samaritan’s new program, which aims to market its preventive health services to busy corporate types. For years, such programs have quietly attracted those who can pay and want fast, excellent and comprehensive medical service.

“They cast a halo over the public image of the hospital and might attract more admissions from well-insured patients,” says Alan Sager, professor of health policy and management at Boston University School of Public Health.

Now, with high-income earners occupying renovated lofts in downtown Los Angeles, marketers for the hospital figured they needed a medical home, says Andy Leeka, the chief executive of Good Samaritan.

Similar programs are available in other area hospitals, including Scripps Center for Executive Health in San Diego’s La Jolla district, Cedars-Sinai Executive Medical Services in Los Angeles, and the Comprehensive Health Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Some “boutique” medical practices offer equally comprehensive physicals. Such practices charge a flat annual fee, do not accept insurance and promise their patients quick appointments and plenty of time with the doctor.

No-holds-barred exam

But the full complement of state-of-the-art testing and laboratory technology available at large hospitals isn’t available under one roof at a boutique, or “concierge,” medical practice. The emphasis with hospital-based executive exams is on a quick and painless in and out.

The granddaddy of the hospital-based executive physical is the Mayo Clinic program in Rochester, Minn., chronicled by James McManus in his book “Physical: An American Checkup.” The exams represent the Rolls Royce of physicals.

“We market specifically to affluent individuals who can pay the toll,” says Dr. Scott Carstens, medical director of the Scripps program. “We have corporations that provide it as a perk to their employees. But we have other individuals who are tired of being constrained by insurance companies and providers. They want an absolutely no-holds-barred review of how they’re doing physically.”

The exams emphasize thoroughness, efficiency, top-of-the-line technology and on-site laboratories to hurry results.

Gilmore, 55, had his blood drawn and his urine analyzed. He had an EKG to test for heart abnormalities; a chest X-ray for images of heart, lungs, airway and bones of the spine and chest; a carotid ultrasound to check for artery narrowing that could put him at risk for a stroke; a bone-density scan to check for early signs of osteoporosis; and a 64-slice CT scan to look for signs of calcium plaque on artery walls, early signs of heart disease.

By noon, Dr. William Howell was explaining the results and making recommendations.

“All of this is done in a VIP area,” Leeka says.

That means no coughing, hacking, contagious masses of people sharing the fruit plates and mineral water.

“That one-stop-shopping kind of exam brings all the results together in one place,” Sager says. “This is one way of integrating across the chaos that many of us see in our health care.”

The baseline costs range from $2,000 to about $2,700, possibly more depending on the tests deemed appropriate.

By the time patients arrive, a team of physicians will have gone over their medical histories, filled out beforehand in 20-plus-page detail. The battery of tests will be based on broad medical guidelines, with a sharp eye on the individual’s age, sex, family history, lifestyle and personal concerns.

Some people who sign up for executive physicals ask for more than they need, says Dr. Benjamin Ansell, the director of UCLA’s Comprehensive Health Program.

“We tailor the program for an individual’s needs, but also based on the results from their last exam,” he says. “If I have a 48-year-old man who’s been a couch potato for years, I have to assume the worst and look for plaque buildup.”

But if a man is already on medication to control blood pressure and cholesterol levels, he says, there would be no added benefit of having a coronary CT scan.

“There’s radiation involved that’s not trivial,” he says. “We actually end up talking patients out of certain expectations.”

Efficient health care

A good primary-care physician who knows a patient well can be just as thorough as a VIP exam. But the hospital-based programs carry the advantage of doing it all in one place, in a condensed time period. “The patient comes in and they don’t have to leave till it’s all done. This is an ideal way of delivering preventive health care,” Carstens says. “But, unfortunately, the costs involved are not for the masses.”

It was the office-hopping routine that turned off Gilmore’s 81-year-old father to preventive care. He recently moved to Los Angeles, and Gilmore wanted to make sure his medical care was under control.

“We spent the first four weeks he was here in and out of hospitals to get him up to speed,” Gilmore says.

By then, he says, his father was ready to bag the whole thing.

“He just didn’t want to go to any more appointments.”

That experience prodded Gilmore to find a better way to get a thorough exam. He’d had one a few years ago, but his doctor spent about five minutes with him, he says, and he waited a couple of weeks for test results.

Specifically, what Gilmore wanted was reassurance that 38 years of a vegetarian diet and consistent bike riding offset the damage of several decades of smoking and occasional heavy drinking.

“I don’t smoke anymore, but I wonder what those years have done,” he says.

Those were the same questions that sent McManus to the Mayo Clinic, as a journalist researching his book, in 2003.

Gilmore spent about four hours in the hospital, steered from one exam to the next by Castillo.

He peered over the shoulders of technicians reading his carotid ultrasound. He saw that his lungs were larger than normal but free of any consequences of cigarette smoking.

“It’s funny,” he says. “You look at this stuff, and you start rooting for yourself.”

He wrapped up his day by hearing that he should add walking or weight-bearing exercise to his biking routine to build bone strength.

He’ll go back for a follow-up cholesterol test because his level was borderline. But, basically, he found out that he’s in great shape.

Gilmore put his warm-up suit back on as Castillo packed up his fuzzy bathrobe and slippers. Then they walked to the front door to await the valet with his car.

What Is an ‘Executive Physical’?

LOS ANGELES — Any good physical examination is highly individual, whether it’s with the family doctor who’s known you since childhood or with a team at a hospital-based executive physical program.

Patients going for an executive physical can expect a packet of information to precede their visits. They’ll fill out head-to-toe medical information and answer questions about lifestyle and family medical history so that a team of physicians can design a physical for their unique needs.

When they arrive, they’ll be briefed on what tests to expect, and why they’re deemed necessary. In general, the first time they go through the exam will be the most extensive.

It will include an electrocardiogram, the gold standard for detecting cardiac arrhythmia, and perhaps a stress treadmill test. A chest X-ray, which looks for heart, lung or airway problems, could be part of the exam.

Bone-density scanning will provide a baseline of bone health, a point from which to accurately measure the rate of future bone loss and possible osteoporosis.

Women, depending on age, will get a mammogram to screen for breast cancer; men, also depending on age, will get a digital rectal exam and a test to screen for prostate cancer.

Blood tests to screen for heart-disease risk factors and thyroid problems, as well as fecal occult blood tests and urinalysis will be part of the laboratory testing. A pulmonary function test to check for lung capacity, as well as vision tests and hearing tests are usually part of the package.

A full-body exam by a dermatologist is important, especially in sunny climates.

Depending on the patient’s family history and colon cancer-screening age guidelines, a colonoscopy may be part of the package. But these are usually given every five years, not annually. At the end of the exam, patients get the full picture from a physician who has studied their histories and their test results, and consulted with other specialists, if necessary.

Some programs, such as Scripps Center for Executive Health in San Diego’s La Jolla district, provide consultations with a nutritionist to help patients design a better eating plan, and an exercise physiologist to design a personalized exercise plan.

Within a few days, patients receive a binder with all their information and test results.

Some programs, such as the one at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, also provide the information on a CD, as well as a computer memory stick — small enough to file with a passport, in case patients get sick in Beijing or Paris.

— Los Angeles Times