Healing Path Integrative Medicine, PLLC

Practice Procedures and Policies

1. Access and Communication:

There are two ways to communicate with me outside of office visits: email via the online contact form and phone. Email is the preferred route and will get priority over phone messages.

Email is most appropriate for:

• Your intial contact with me;
• Follow-up questions within 2-4 weeks of a visit;
• Scheduling issues that cannot be handled by the online scheduler.

Email is not appropriate for:

• Any emergency -- call 911 and /or go to the Emergency Room !!
• Seeking detailed advice for a new or old problem;
• Seeking any email medical advice if I have not seen you within one year;

Ordinarily there is no charge for brief emails. However, I reserve the right to charge for frequent or lengthy e-mail messages. For multiple responses and/or for lengthy emails that require a lot of time to compose or research, I will charge $55 per 15 minutes of time.

Confidential Email
Regular e-mail is convenient for communication but is not private or confidential.
When you register to be a patient at Healing Path Integrative Medicine, you will be asked to sign a consent if you agree to communicate by regular, non-encrypted email.
 

2. Scheduling Appointments:

I am accepting new patients at this time. I see patients by appointment only, but if my schedule permits (see online scheduler), I often see patients at times other than these regular hours:

I also do phone consults for your convenience if you are an established patient. They are billed at the same rate as an office visit and require a credit card over the phone at the time of scheduling.  Be aware that most insurance companies do not reimburse for phone consultations.

Consults that are 15 minutes will be phone consults only.

HOW to SCHEDULE:
New patients: Please first contact me and include the gist of what you want to address at your visit. Please also include your telephone number for a call back, and time frames to call you (example: not before 9am, not after 10pm, Monday thru Sunday). I find it best to talk first to be sure we are a good fit. This is a free call, and is typically < 10 minutes. I appreciate your consideration that this free call is not an avenue for medical advice.

Established patients: Please use the online scheduler to make an appointment.
Contact me if you need assistance.

I am asking all my former patients from AIM, to make a 60 minute appointment for your first visit at my new practice and have AIM send me your AIM records (to include: your first visit notes; the three most recent AIM office visits; the AIM “Problem List”; the last two years of labs; the first page of specialty labs).

Please make a 90 minute visit if you desire a longer consult.

REQUIRED FORMS: Please print and complete these forms BEFORE your visit, and bring them with you to your visit.
All patients, please complete:

1. Patient Registration Form (download PDF)
2. Patient Intake Form (download PDF)       
3. HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices Form (download PDF)
4. Consent to Communicate with Others (download PDF)
5. Consent to Communicate NonSecure Modalities (download PDF)
6. Medical Records Release Consent (download PDF)

All Medicare or Medicaid patients must also complete:

1. Medicare Private Contract (download PDF)

All lyme or potential lyme patients please complete these forms:

1. Antibiotic Consent form (download PDF)
2. Lyme Consent to treat from (download PDF)
3. Please read this article before completeing the Lyme and Antibiotic consent, "Lyme Disease, Two Standards of Care" (download pdf)
4. Also, bring the name and phone/fax info of your primary care provider.

3. Fees

Established patients:  
After your initial visit, if you choose to continue with me, most people will require a follow-up appointment within 2-4 weeks to review labs (if ordered), and to further refine our treatment direction.

Deposit:  Due to the time allotted for initial visits, a deposit is required to reserve a new-patient slot for a first appointment.  This deposit will be credited toward the charges of your first visit.  If you must change or cancel your appointment, your deposit will be refunded provided a one-week notice is given.  The deposit is $150.

For other fees, see below.

4. Cancellation / Missed Appointments/Late appointments:

• Your commitment to an appointment time is necessary to serve you.  If you need to cancel or reschedule a new-patient appointment, advance notice by either email or live, voice contact with me, one week prior to your visit is required; if not cancelled one week prior, you will forfeit your deposit of $150.  [this deposit is being waived for the time being]

• For an intial visit, I may chose to consider the visit “missed” if you have not arrived within 30 minutes of our agreed time—particularly if you have not contacted me.

• For follow-up appointments, advance notice of one business day is required.  Two missed appointment will necessitate pre-payment for all appointments thereafter.

5. Payment of HPIM fees

• I do not take any insurance, nor Medicare, or Medicaid. This means that HPIM consult fees will be cash, “out-of-pocket”, rendered at or before time of service.

• Your insurance may reimburse you for “out-of-network” expenses incurred here.  I will provide the necessary cpt and ICD codes so you may file your private insurance; however, HPIM is not responsible for non-payment by your insurance company.

• You can securely pay for any charges here [link to paypal] using your bank account or credit card, or you can pay at your office visit with exact cash, check (preferred) or credit cards.

6. Labs

• HPIM has accounts with traditional labs such as LabCorp and Quest. If you do not have insurance you can obtain labs through my account; if you do have insurance you should check before our visit to see if labs at LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics are covered by your insurance.

• My office does not do blood draws for labs but I will direct you to nearby facilities that can draw your blood, including LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics, or AnyLabTestNow

• HPIM also has account with functional medicine laboratories – some of which traditional insurance will cover [that is your responsibility to check out].

• Lab fees are separate from professional fees.  At our consults we will decide together which labs -- if any -- we should order.

• Lab results from the initial visit will be reviewed at the follow-up appointment unless there is an urgent finding that needs to be discussed sooner.

• If your insurance carrier denies payment for you labs and requires more information from me, I charge for my time in responding to them according to my consult fees. 

7.  Prescription Refills

• Bring refill requests to your appointments to avoid a charge for refills between visits.  If you do not request your prescription refill at your appointment, there will be a handling charge of $15 to process your refill request between appointments.
• If you are requesting a prescription that I have not written for you before, you must schedule an appointment.  
• If I have not seen you within the past year, I will ask you to schedule an appointment with me in order to continue getting medication refills.

A) For a prescription that I wrote for you: Contact the pharmacy first. They will either fill the prescription (no charges from HPIM) or contact my office to request an authorization.

B)  For a prescription another practitioner wrote for you: Contact the pharmacy first, as above. Or, contact the person who wrote the prescription in the first place. For me to refill that prescription, I will need to do it in the context of a visit.

If you contact me by email regarding a prescription refill, please provide the following information:

• Your legal name
• Your date of birth
• The pharmacy phone and fax number
• The prescription reference #
• The name of the medication, the dose, the amount/number you need.

8. Medical Records

• You will receive a complimentary digital copy of all your HPIM consult notes as well as any labs that are ordered.
• Any additional copies will incur a fee to cover the costs incurred in searching, handling, copying, and mailing medical records to the patient or the patient's designated representative. The fee for each request shall be seventy five cents (75¢) per page for the first 25 pages, fifty cents (50¢) per page for pages 26 through 100, and twenty five cents (25¢) for each page in excess of 100 pages, with a minimum fee of $15.
• Beyond your complimentary copies, records sent digitally will only incur a cost based on time, with a minimal fee of $15. A complimentary digital copy will be sent to whichever practitioners you desire –please provide their fax number.

9. Your Letters, Forms, and PreAuthorizations

• Forms must be supplied by the patient with insurance information and fax/phone numbers provided in order for our office to complete these forms.  Since we are “out-of-network” we do not have access to forms or insurance information.
• Time spent completing patient-generated paperwork and forms will be billed at corresponding office visit rates. You might be asked to be present for the form completion.
• Disability Forms: The patient’s medical record at HPIM is tailored to assist in improving patient outcomes, not to document levels of disability. It is best not to become a patient at HPIM with the intention of obtaining documentation for filing disability.

It has been my experience that although I offer therapies that are widely used and accepted amongst integrative practitioners, these therapies may not be considered mainstream therapies amongst conventional physician and insurers. Since I cannot provide appropriate documentation to withstand scrutiny in disability cases, and so as to not invite a challenge regarding HPIM therapies, I regret that I will not complete Physical Assessment type forms for insurance or disability claims.