Appointment Request:

 

All infertility and hormone-related cases require the consultation FIRST. Why?

All Insurance policies covers acupuncture visits are typically limited to up to 45 minutes of treatment (15 min as one unit x 3 units max). Without understanding your labs, hormones, and history first, acupuncture alone becomes guesswork. I do not want to waste your precious cycle !!! The consultation (NOT a billable according to the billing service for acupuncturists I use) allows me to design a targeted treatment plan and usually shortens the time to results.

Please bring:

  • lab results (any recent labs from your PCP)

  • supplements, medications currently you are taking

I will email questionnaires (email attachments – cater to your fertility case) for you to complete beforehand. This is the time for you to ask me as many as questions possible and for me, as a FM practitioner, this is the time for me to find out the best fit treatment plan for you. If you are the patient would like to get only acupuncture treatment, please find other acupuncturist fits your need.

Active IVF / FET Cycle Exception

When you are in the middle of an active egg retrieval or frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle, timing is everything—you just need immediate, stress-reducing, protocol-aligned acupuncture without the delay or extra expense of an extensive initial intake. However, if the current cycle isn’t successful, stepping back to do a full Functional Medicine assessment to look at underlying factors (like gut health, inflammation, hormone metabolism, or egg/sperm quality) before the next attempt adds immense value. Does it make any sense to you?

 

Functional Medicine Fee & Communication Policy

Functional Medicine services are separate from acupuncture services and are billed independently. Please review the following policy before scheduling a Functional Medicine consultation or ordering laboratory testing.

Functional Medicine Consultation (1 hour) — $360 either in person or by Telehealth.

The $360 fee reflects the professional time and expertise required to review and interpret your health information (you will fill out various forms and questionnaires ahead of the time). The amount of laboratory testing performed does not change the consultation fee.

Insurance Information (for acupuncture) I need from you are:

Please include the following Information!!!

  1. Name
  2. Date of Birth
  3. Address + Zip Code
  4. Phone Number
  5. Insurance name & policy number (if using insurance)

In-Network

  • BCBS

  • MGBHP

  • Harvard Pilgrim

Out-of-Network (benefits vary)

  • Aetna

  • United Healthcare

Not accepted

  • Medicare related BCBS or other Supplemental Insurance

  • MassHealth

  • Tufts

  • Cigna

Follow-Up Consultation for Functional Testing Labs & Time-Based Billing

For patients who do not require a comprehensive $360 consultation, follow-up visits may be billed according to the time required.

This consultation is appropriate for patients who would like a comprehensive review of their health history and functional medicine laboratory testing. The consultation may include:

  • Review and interpretation of functional medicine laboratory results
  • Correlation of findings across multiple laboratory tests
  • Discussion of symptoms and relevant health history
  • Answers to questions regarding your results
  • Discussion of individualized recommendations and treatment options

The rate is $60 per 10 minutes, billed in 10-minute increments.

The time required varies considerably from patient to patient. A review of one set of results may require only a short consultation, while patients with multiple tests, complex histories, or numerous questions may require substantially more time. For patients with 4–5 tests, previous treatment failures, extensive history, multiple questions, etc. I just want you to know the fact a complicated patient can consume 2-3 hours of preparation to make the report + 1 hour one on one consultation time. That’s takes a lot of my time. Time-based billing applies to the professional consultation time used to discuss and interpret your results and answer clinical questions.

Functional medicine lab testing is an additional cost and is not covered by insurance.

 

Email & Text Communication

I often receive email request for receiving the test result before the follow-up review visit. I prefer not to send the result back to the patient unless the patient does not need any treatment direction from me (no follow-up visit). The reason I do not send the result back to the patient is email, text messages, sometimes phone call from the patient about questions. For that reason, I do not send the test result back to the patient ahead of time.

Brief communication by email or text is available for administrative questions, such as scheduling, laboratory logistics, or clarifying information that does not require clinical review.

Clinical questions that require review of laboratory results, assessment of symptoms, interpretation of findings, or individualized recommendations are considered part of a Functional Medicine consultation.

Examples include:

  • “What does this abnormal laboratory result mean?”
  • “Should I change my supplements?”
  • “Should I increase or stop this supplement?”
  • “What should I do about this new symptom?”
  • “Can you review these additional laboratory results?”
  • “I have several questions about my treatment plan.”

These questions are best addressed during a scheduled consultation so that sufficient time can be devoted to reviewing the information and providing appropriate recommendations.

A series of clinical questions sent by email or text does not constitute an unlimited consultation by messaging.

Why We Use This Policy

Functional Medicine laboratory interpretation can require substantial professional preparation, particularly when multiple tests are involved. Careful interpretation often requires reviewing individual markers, looking for patterns across different tests, considering the patient’s symptoms and history, and determining which findings are clinically relevant.

This policy allows adequate time for thoughtful, individualized care while maintaining clear and consistent fees for all patients.

Thank you for understanding that you are paying not only for the laboratory testing itself, but also for the professional expertise, time, interpretation, and individualized clinical guidance involved in Functional Medicine care.