What You Should Expect With Initial Functional Medicine Consultation

Part One of Your Initial Consultation

The first part is to speak with our doctor to ensure that functional medicine and this clinic are right for you. You can use the contact form to send an email or set up a free 15-minute phone consultation.

Please read the terms and policy located at the bottom of the page.

Our clinic and our doctor will not replace your primary care physician. If you have significant medical diagnoses, then you will be required to have a primary care physician or specialist who will be there for emergencies and when needed.

Once you have completed the 15-minute consultation and decide to work with our clinic, you will schedule an appointment through email or phone. A link will be given to you that will allow you to register on our patient portal. Our patient portal is an electronic medical records site that is HIPAA secure. You will need to create a login and password.

Your first appointment will last around 3 hours and will cost $1500.

Our clinic does not accept any insurance, and all payments will be at the time of your appointment through cash, check, or credit card. However, you may ask for a superbill, which can be submitted to your insurance company to get reimbursement. Please keep in mind that not all insurance companies will reimburse for this particular medical practice area. You may also receive reimbursement from your Health Savings Account.

For our clinic to hold your appointment, a 50% deposit is required. That will get put towards your initial consultation. If there is a cancelation with 48 hours of your appointment, you will not receive a refund for your deposit.

Once you have scheduled your appointment, you need to go to the patient portal and complete the questionnaires and consent forms that may get filled out there. A button will take you to the Matrix site, HIPPA compliant to set up an account. Here, will complete more questionnaires that get directed towards functional medicine.

The questionnaires can take several hours to complete, so ensure that you have time to fill them out. We recommend at least three days. Your dietary intake needs you to track three meals and three snacks. Do not change your diet at all to impress the clinic. An honest assessment is needed to help our clinic improve your health. It would be best if you had all of these forms completed at least seven days before your appointment so that they can get reviewed. It is best if you have at least 10 to 14 days to complete these forms. You can work on the forms a little each day so that you can come back to them later.

You will need to upload any recent lab test results into our patient portal. You may also bring these lab test results with you to your appointment, but it is best to allow our doctors to look at them before your appointment.

Before the day of your appointment, make sure that you drink plenty of water and on the day of your appointment.

During your appointment, our doctor will spend time finding out about your health history and health challenges. An in-depth physical exam will also get performed along with a bioimpedance analysis. Please do not have excessive caffeine drinks before your appointment, and that includes coffee.

You will be given a functional medicine lab kit for you to take home at your appointment, which will require you to provide Salva, bloodspot, and urine samples. Some kits will need to be mailed "outside" of the state. You will be provided instructions on how the test should be performed and where you should send them. All the other tests will be mailed directly to you.

After your appointment, you will get emailed instructions about having blood drawn by Labcorp or Quest for conventional testing based on your medical issues. Your insurance should cover these tests. Any additional tests will be based on your history, symptoms, and conditions.

Costs of specialized lab testing for functional medicine: A minimum lab testing for functional medicine will require exams of your Salva, urine, stool, and blood. The purpose of these tests is to help analyze your hormonal status, intestinal dysbiosis, energy generation, metabolism, nutritional deficiencies, absorption, and digestion. The cost of these tests can range between $1500 to $2500. Some of the tests may be billed to your insurance, but most insurance companies will not cover this testing. Any additional testing based on your history and symptoms could include in-depth panels that could cost an additional $1500 to $2500. Most of the testing kits may be gotten to you to take home, and some can get mailed directly to you. You are to pay the laboratory companies directly for the testing when they get done.

Laboratory Testing

You will complete the needed stool, breath, Salva, urine, and blood testing for your testing. There are multiple options:

Part Two of Your Initial Consultation

You will return for part two of your initial consultation after all lab results are received and reviewed. When important results get received before other labs, the consultation will get split into multiple sessions. That is for the doctor to review your results and start your treatment in a timely fashion.

During your two-hour consultation, the doctor will review all lab results and explain your health timeline and how you ended up where you are. A systems approach will get used to map out imbalances, and there is a lot of education during this step.

You and the doctor will develop a plan together that will use your preferences, lifestyle, personalty, physiology, biochemistry, and genetics. A roadmap for your lifestyle, diet, and nutraceutical supplementation will get developed.

As of 2020, the cost is $1500 due to the extra time needed for all the laboratory reviews and therapeutic plan development.

Some recommended supplements you may purchase while you are in the office, and others may get purchased online to get provided link. It has gotten recommended that you purchase these supplements from reputable companies that all test their products for toxins and impurities, and active ingredients. You are not required to do so. Purchasing your supplements online from Amazon or other vitamin and health food stores may not be replaceable. You will get a 10% discount on FullScript.

You must be compliant with the supplements for six months for you to see any results. Nutritional supplementation can cost between $500 to $1500 per month during the beginning.

If you require prescription medications, then they will be provided during this time. The main prescription medications prescribed are bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, such as thyroid hormone, testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen. We also use antimicrobial for gastrointestinal infections like parasites, fungus, SIBO, and dysbiosis. These antimicrobial may also get prescribed for coinfections and Lyme disease.

You will get referred to a nutritionist who will help you to implement your diet with nutrient density, recipes, and menu planning at this point. These consultations are done over the phone and can cost $300 per hour.

We also will recommend you for health coaching.