integrative complementary and alternative

Transcription

1 Our office is a Functional & Lifestyle Medicine Practice, which is founded on promoting health and wellness through a focus on the fundamental underlying factors that influence eery patient s experience of health & disease. We are an integratie medical practice with an emphasis on a complementary and alternatie approach to health management. Functional Medicine is a holistic patient-centered approach to healthcare, that iews the body not as indiidual organ systems independent of one another, but rather as intricately interconnected. It is an approach to medicine that focuses on identifying the abnormal physiology, the root cause, and addressing this to ameliorate the symptoms and progression of disease. This is accomplished by engaging both the patient and the practitioner in a therapeutic partnership to attempt to elicit these underlying causes, and then determine appropriate interentions for the preention and/or treatment of these chronic conditions. It reflects a personalized lifestyle medicine approach that incorporates Dietary changes Nutrition Exercise/Physical Actiity Supplementation Stress Management Reduction of Body-Wide Toxic Burden Functional Laboratory assessment, when need or requested We iew each indiidual as unique. The standard one-size-fits-all approach has proen to be an ineffectie means of addressing the chronic conditions that many of us now face, such as: Obesity, Diabetes, Coronary Artery Disease, Stroke, Hypertension, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Depression, Anxiety, Autoimmune Disorders, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Asthma and many others. Een conditions such as autism and ADHD can be addressed and improed through relatiely simple measures that can hae a large impact on quality of life. Our ealuation is premised on this and is comprised of the totality of your personal history, family history, enironment and lifestyle factors, physical presentation, genetic background, and your total mind/body/spirit. Treatments are tailored to each patient and adjusted based on indiidualized response. This is a patient-centered, not a disease-centered, approach. Our goal is to help you feel well again. This often inoles addressing years, sometimes decades, of disease progression. By the time that symptoms deelop there has already been a steady disruption of the body s normal physiology and function. Only through addressing these root causes can healing eer truly be anticipated. While not all conditions can be reersed, not all medications can be discontinued and irreersibly damaged organs can not be repaired, there is no reason to accept that improement is not within reach with the hope of remission or cure. Sometimes, and not least importantly, simply halting a disease in its tracks or preenting future disease is an optimal goal. We offer a consultation serice for lifestyle counseling that addresses each of the factors listed aboe. It is not our goal to take you away from your Primary Care Proider or Specialist. They sere an important role in your health. We aim to complement their care by addressing these things that can offer a natural approach to healing, focusing upstream to where disease begins. Through this we aim to get you feeling better, looking better, and taking less or no medications. We are not a Naturopathic or Homeopathic practice and do not prescribe herbal or homeopathic remedies for treatment of specific conditions.

2 Billing We do not accept insurance of any kind, including Medicare or Medicaid. We realize that this may be inconenient for many but there are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that we could not afford to offer what we do if we relied on insurers to compensate us. Our rates are reasonable and we offer a comprehensie ealuation that includes follow up to answer questions that may arise in between appointments. We do accept: MC/VISA Check HSA Card/Check and Cash For indiiduals with Medicare/Medicaid: We will be happy to see you and proide you with the guidance and direction that you seek but no bill may be submitted to Medicare on your behalf. If you wish to be seen you are doing so of your own free will and with this understanding. We beliee that no one should be restricted from seeking the care that they desire but we must inform you of this in adance. Labs We offer lab interpretation (een those which may hae been ordered through another physician) and will discuss them with you and reiew the significance of the findings. We also offer labs through Quest Diagnostics and arious other Functional Laboratories). Performance of labs through Quest Diagnostics may be obtained through us at discounted rates if you elect to utilize the "Client Pay" option. There are no denials and no need for inolement of your insurance carrier. We make suggestions, you select the labs that you wish to hae performed and we proide you with the cost. You pay us and there are no hidden fees or additional charges to follow. This is a priate transaction between you & Optimal Healthcare. The only people that know the results of these labs is us, you and whomeer you share them with. We encourage this option. If you prefer to use your insurance for payment of the labs, we cannot assure that there will be no additional charges. We are not responsible for insurance denials for payment and the lab will subsequently bill you for the remainder due. This is a transaction between you, the lab and your insurance carrier. It is important to reiew your carrier s policies to understand what you are coered for beforehand. Functional Labs offer arious payment options, including payment by insurance carriers, and this can be reiewed with you at the time of ordering. These labs often accept some leel of insurance payment with a co-pay and do not seek additional payment afterward. Our recommendation is that you contact the lab directly, with your insurance information, and inquire about the best option for payment. We can proide you with the lab contact info at that time. We do perform phlebotomy in the office, scheduled in adance. Additionally, Quest Diagnostics offers patient centers in Hickory, Asheille and Gastonia, or elsewhere. There is a $20 administratie charge for labs. To learn more about the functional medicine testing kits and the companies that perform these analyses, please isit the manufacturers websites below. Cyrex Labs Doctors Data Genoa Diagnostics Meridian Valley Lab Consultation Fees Initial, Comprehensie Visit Please Inquire at time of scheduling (anticipated 2 to 3 hours) Initial Wellness Visit $150 Follow Up Visits $100 per hour Laboratory Assessment Consult $75 (performed either through our office or by an outside office, with full reiew, interpretation and recommendations based on results) Focused Visit (brief) $50 (brief assessment for specific complaint) Wellness Nurse $45 per hour Prices may change in the future without notice. Please inquire prior to your isit.

3 Prescriptions/Medications We do not offer refill prescriptions written for you by other physicians We encourage that you maintain your relationship with your primary care proider or specialist. We are a consultatie serice only and do not perform traditional primary care serices. Our office does not maintain any medications or supplements on the premises. Our office will not, under any circumstances, proide a prescription for any controlled substance. We are not designed, nor equipped, to proide Acute Care Serices. o There is no aailable diagnostic testing in the office (flu/strep swabs, x-rays, urine dipsticks or pregnancy tests). We do not administer immunizations. If any of these are desired then we encourage you seek care at one of the seeral primary care offices, Urgent Care, Walk-In Clinics or the Emergency Department. We can only practice within the scope that our office and serices are designed. Due to our limited schedule aailability, it would be a disserice to you if you could not obtain timely treatment or prescriptions when needed. We make eery effort to be aailable to you once you hae become an established patient but we cannot exceed our own limitations. How we Measure Success: You should need us only as long as it takes to find your personal path to wellness. No one should be perpetually bound to the healthcare system. Concierge Serices We offer seeral serices outside of our Functional Medicine / Lifestyle Counseling that you may hae an interest if pursuing A guided educational tour of Your Supermarket: ($100) o A trip to your local supermarket, with education proided on best and worst foods to choose; learning to read and understand labels; getting past the hype adertisements on the box; and figuring out how best to accomplish these dietary changes on your budget. A Pantry & Fridge Assessment in Your Home: ($100) o Consultation proided at your home to reiew the items that are in your refrigerator and pantry. Oeriew of other potentially health-damaging effects that may be present in your home enironment. Suggestions on improements that can be effected to optimize your health, and that of your family. A Comprehensie Visit to the Gym: ($100) o Personal training session to assist you in establishing a training program incorporating cardio, strength training, and aerobics classes. Education proided on proper form and use of weight machines, free weights and cardio equipment. Determining appropriate exertion leels for you to start with. This does not seek to replace the need for a personal trainer for motiation and continued progress. This is designed for those that need a re-introduction to the Gym, and familiarity with the equipment. o I maintain memberships at Body Tech, Phifer Wellness, YMCA of Western NC, and Planet Fitness, and can offer this serice at any one of these facilities Wellness Nurse Consultation: (See fee schedule aboe) o A comprehensie reiew of your diet, nutrition, and food choices. Suggestions may be offered with regards to alternatie food items and recipes, and proide you with resources that are aailable on this topic. This serice is often most useful when you find yourself challenged with knowing which foods to eat, or how to mix things up a little. Consultation will also include reinforcement of other lifestyle factors, including exercise, stress reduction, sleep hygiene. We focus on the issues that are most pertinent to you at the present time. Group Sessions & Eents: o We offer group meetings to discuss and address specific conditions, dietary modifications, stress management techniques (e.g. meditation, biofeedback, etc.) and hope to be offering cooking sessions in the near future. We also look forward to organizing group sessions for yoga, walking, running, and/or cycling. Small Group Lectures/Discussion: o Discussion offered on specific topics and diseases, as well as diet and lifestyle. An ideal enue for question and answer sessions. An opportunity to learn more about yourself and how best to address your conditions. If you hae a group of people that you would like to inite for this type of setting, we can arrange and schedule such an eent to discuss a specific topic of interest. This would be done for a fee of $10 per attendee.

4 Cancellation of Appointments We request that Notice of Cancellation of an appointment be made within 48 hours of the scheduled appointment time. Repeated Missed Appointments may result in termination of serices, and further care ceased immediately. In this circumstance, re-establishment of isits will initiate a new contract (initial consultation fee). We understand, of course, that emergencies and unexpected circumstances do occur. We will work with you under these circumstances, so as to minimize added stress, and will make attempts to re-schedule your appointment to the earliest aailable time. We ask that you please be respectful of this policy as a courtesy to us, as we will always strie to be courteous to you. A $50 cancellation fee may be applied if cancellation is made within the 48 hour time window. Our Philosophy We incorporate the best of contemporary & eolutionary science with ancestral heritage and archaeological history to find the ideal path for you, the indiidual that is seated before us. Ultimately, eerything you do inoles a choice, including your decision to come see us. We impart to you the knowledge that you need to make the best choices for yourself. Some of it may seem controersial and against the mainstream (we know how well mainstream has worked out thus far) and some of it may seem simply common sense. We cannot ignore our history as humans on this planet and how our lies hae changed oer the centuries, some for the better and some for the worse. We proide an integrated approach that offers the best of modern medicine as well as our ancestral & genetic heritage and adaptations. Disease is not a state of being caused by a single eent or trigger, but rather a disruption of our underlying physiologic functioning, often from many different eents oer time, which leads to the symptoms and lab abnormalities that we then recognize as this entity we label as a disease. It is our body s attempts to keep us alie, adapting to the enironment that we proide it with. Disease is often the result of years, een decades, of dysfunction. By addressing these abnormalities through lifestyle modifications, you will allow your body to start to heal and your physiology to return toward healthy functioning. Our bodies hae an enormous capacity to adapt but there is always a breaking point. This is where chronic diseases begin. Treatment can begin at any stage along this spectrum, long before a disease is eer identified. We can assess and monitor markers of inflammation and symptoms that indicate a problem is deeloping long before a disease deelops. We recognize that not all conditions are curable and we offer no miracles nor magic concoctions from our office. There are conditions that are congenital or the result of genetic mutations for which there may be no cure from a natural perspectie. These do not lessen the need for proper nutrition and, to the contrary, often need a more focused nutritional & lifestyle support. Each person on this planet is unique from the next, een identical twins. We all share a biochemical indiiduality, which means that what is taking place inside of one person s body is different from eery other. Treatment options need to be tailored to the indiidual and there is no one size fits all that will resole eerything. While most can start their journey from the same starting line it will not be long before adjustments must be made to address their indiidual needs and bodily requirements. "The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease." ~Voltaire We strie to make each appointment an educational, informatie and therapeutic encounter for you. Our goal is to offer you the tools by which you can then proceed on your path toward optimal health and wellness. We make ourseles aailable to you for guidance, support, encouragement and education. We are happy to work with your other proiders and share information with them (with your permission, and upon your request) as necessary. Our recommendations are our own and may be discordant with those offered by your other proiders. We will always discuss your options and be open to the alternaties. Dr. Gomes practices integratie medicine, incorporating aspects of both functional and conentional medical approaches. The right answer is always what is best for you.

5 Directions We are located at 113 Dais Street in Morganton, NC (Glen Alpine). This map shows you the location of the office (red drop-pin). Drie down Dais Street (to the arrow) and turn left down the grael drie. At the end of the drieway, turn right heading up toward the small cabin and park anywhere in front of the office. It may appear that you are driing on a lawn. The drieway is lined by tree logs..