Concierge medicine is really a new term for what Naturopathic medicine has been practicing for centuries. It’s based on the premise that each patient is unique and needs to be treated well… uniquely.

With the advent of current “evidenced based” medicine and cost-effectiveness as the key principles, we are quickly moving in the opposite direction. Remember that the moniker “evidenced based” is only as good and objective as those individuals and groups making the claim, and using their data.

Concierge medicine has two flavors. There is the pay as you go or the subscription model. The pay as you go is a set fee, typically based on time, whereas the subscription model has you pay a monthly or yearly fee, for a set amount of access to a physician. Each model has its strengths and weaknesses.

We are using the pay as you go model. This affords you the opportunity to make your own calculated use of medicine, as it fits your needs and desires. It typically is the most cost effective approach for both you as the patient and for us at the practice.

One of the most asked questions involves insurance. Most patients are unfamiliar with the back office of a practice and without going into detail, medicine has become a very secretarial/coding labor intensive affair, far in excess of what should be needed or even makes sense. The insurance companies are the predominant player in determining the success or failure of a practice. They essentially dictate how you interface and treat patients, which is not at all in line with our beliefs. Coupled with the government’s enforcement (read payment scheme) they are able to determine the extent of care as well as the type you will receive.

At the Center, we firmly believe that your health care should remain in your control. As an informed patient, you have the right and responsibility to determine what and how you want your health care provided. By offering you options and giving you the power to choose we can optimize your health efficiently.

If you request, we will provide you with a receipt that can be submitted to your insurance company for reimbursement, direct to you. Our experience with the new insurance system has shown some success with reimbursements, especially laboratory services and HSA policies.

We take your desire to have confidential conversations that allow us to fully appreciate your desires and health condition very seriously. Although we do use an electronic medical record to maintain your chart information we only release information when you give us permission or are court ordered. We maintain strict HIPAA (the government regulations) compliance and have your release forms and support information available to you at all times.

Should you want or need genetic testing we are more than willing to assign numerical information to the forms, that is not identifiable to you. As this area becomes more recognized and a potential issue for more of us—from getting insurance coverage to being identified for other purposes—we want you to feel comfortable and partake without prejudice in this area of care.

We work on an hourly basis for consultations and charge a set fee for many of our procedures. Please contact our office staff for details. As a note, when you consider the thousands of dollars of deductible, typically it’s less expensive to pay out of pocket and receive timely excellent services. Many of the services will accrue toward your deductible, if you submit our receipts. We also offer access to a complete set of laboratory services at substantially reduced cost. This includes many of the specialty lab tests for our ASD/PPD patients. Please ask us for details.

The overwhelming number of both the testing and therapies used in our Center have been scientifically validated, with years of excellent data and documentation. The natural treatments of many diseases have a millennium-long process of good clinical observations worldwide and now repeated with scientific methodologies. The Chinese have 5000 years of this approach with amazing responses, now oftentimes clearly documented scientifically.

Oftentimes consumer-driven actions, such as the observation that the use of yogurt when stomach upset occurs, results in the renewed interest in proving and perfecting many natural products. These products then explode into the conventional realms as science has the new necessary tools, such as DNA/RNA sequencers, to explore the science behind the observation.

One of the more common now accepted examples is that of the probiotics. Interestingly the use of lactobacillus and other gut bacteria was seen as unconventional and lacking science only 10–15 years ago. Now with the prescription probiotics available, it’s become common knowledge and accepted conventionally.

You might be interested to know that your tax dollars were being spent by the National Institute of Health (NIH) with their project called, “The NIH Common Fund Human Microbiome Project (HMP).” This project was established with the mission of generating research resources enabling comprehensive characterization of the human microbiota, gut flora, and analyzing their role in human health and disease. A bit late considering that Hippocrates was writing about his findings in this area… how long ago.

As many of you are aware, most natural remedies are not patentable. Hence manufacturers find little financial incentive in the costly scientific studies until consumer demand makes the case or research is published that makes an outstanding argument for funding scientific validation or the monetary return is substantial. A good example is the dairy industry’s conventions on integrating probiotics into their products.