Patient Information for The Fork Functional Medicine Clinic

Patient Portal

patient forms And Telemedicine

Welcome to The Fork! We're so excited to partner with you in your health journey.

Please note we have a Functional Medicine Program and a Peptide Program. These are different.

If you are a new patient in the community clinic you will need to fill out AND return a few forms; to save time and streamline your experience it is required that you do this prior to us scheduling your first visit. The team member who schedules you will set you up in the patient portal (and provide you with log in information) where you can find the forms and submit them.

If you are a new functional medicine patient, you will need to fill out forms and also follow the link to your Living Matrix functional intake site and complete that as well. You will need to do this, in advance of us scheduling your first visit... Our patient navigator you will set you up as a patient in the patient portal (and provide you with your log in information) where you will find all the required forms and a link to the Living Matrix site. Functional medicine as you probably know by now is not your typical provider experience or relationship. We are partnering to achieve incredible things together.

Additionally you will need to bring to your initial visit:

List of all medications and supplements that you are currently taking in both your Living Matrix questionnaire and on your patient portal page.
Also list allergies in both places.

Copies of any recent or significant labs or imaging you may have had done in the past year.
PLEASE ENTER YOUR INSURANCE INFORMATION INTO THE PORTAL BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT SO THAT WE CAN ORDER LABS FOR YOU.

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Telemedicine

Telemedicine visits are available to patients in the State of Tennessee. Providers licensed in the State of Tennessee can provide Telemedicine to patients who are present in the state of Tennessee at the time of the telemedicine appointment. Currently our providers are only licensed in Tennessee so they are only available for telemedicine in state, however, we are working on licensing in other states and may be available in other areas in the future. We will update that information here at that time.

fees + billing policy

Functional Medicine patients visiting The Fork for the first time will go through a series of steps.

The first being the completion of the paperwork and scheduling referenced above.

Next you will have a Discovery consultation with a staff member to explain the functional testing and conventional labs recommended by the provider for the initial Strategy visit and to review the providers recommendations.

The provider will spend time prior to the strategy appointment studying your medical history and current concerns to determine the best labs to further explore your health challenges and achieve your wellness goals. When these results come in your provider will then review these labs and create a treatment strategy in preparation for your initial visit. We have this in-depth process in place so that you can begin to address and treat your health issues at the very first appointment into our clinic. There are initial intake process fees and this is in addition the cost of your functional lab kits. Lab kits vary and range from $285-700+ depending on the test. The intake fee includes time that is spent reviewing your history, lab work, paperwork and intake forms and ordering appropriate testing and/or diagnostic studies. The cost of becoming established as a patient starts at $1500 and varies depending upon the level of service you choose. This includes the above described services.

Follow up visits are between 15 minutes and 1 hour depending on the complexity and time required to review your labs prior to the appointment- Fees range from $125 - 500 for these appointments.

We have had a price increase for the first time since we opened for business in 2019. All patients should have received notification of this price increase via email, (unless you opted out of emails). Patients who were established with us prior to February 01, 2023 will receive a loyalty discount through the end of 2023.

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For further information on our pricing and packages please follow this link and call our office to speak to our patient navigator.

financial policy

The Fork Functional Medicine is a functional medicine practice. While we do not bill insurance directly, we will be happy to provide you with a superbill that you can submit to your insurance company yourself. Functional medicine services may or may not be covered under your insurance plan however you are seeing a Licensed Nurse Practioner and you may be eligible for out-of-network coverage. Because all plans vary, you will need to check with your insurance directly prior to your visit. We also are not a participating provider in Medicaid or Medicare. We are not responsible for filing your claim and we do not make any guarantees stated or implied that our services or labs ordered will be covered.
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We are a cash pay practice and payment is expected at the time of your visit. Before booking the initial Discovery Appointment, a deposit is required to add you to our system and deliver paperwork to you. Remember your paperwork must be complete before you will be scheduled.

more on our financial policy

At The Fork we are passionate about what we do and we feel that we have a calling to provide the highest quality health care to as many people as possible. We feel that our services are unique and our financial policies also set us apart from the mainstream health care model. Below you will find an explanation of our policies, if after reading this you still have questions please feel free to call and speak with a member of our team.

Why we do not accept Insurance assignment:

Some patients have inquired as to why we do not bill insurance directly. First off I empathize with the financial challenge this presents, however, we have elected not to bill insurance directly for the following reasons:

When a provider bills the insurance company directly they are required to become a participating provider in that companies program and to sign a contract that allows the insurance company to determine what services they will and will not provide and how much the provider can charge for these services. As a general rule insurance companies are not concerned with prevention, wellness, underlying causes, nutritional or lifestyle medicine… and we are. The insurance companies are invested in the conventional model of medicine and health care that leans upon surgeries and pharmaceuticals. The participating providers in these situations are contractually bound to accept the fees the insurance company dictates, regardless of if those fees are relevant for the situation in that patient/provider relationship. The conventional model focuses on brief visits and quantity not quality. This is in opposition to our values and goals as a practice. We hear patients complain about how their provider hardly had time to hear their concerns and they felt pushed out the door, yet, they are frustrated with the cost of appointments that cover their concerns. We understand and we have made a decision that we cannot be part of the insurance network and provide the level of care we value here at The Fork Functional Medicine. Our fees support the cost of operating the clinic, our staff, and expensive professional continuing education. Or providers and staff do this because they are passionate about their patients health and wellbeing.

cancellation and late policy

We have held a space for you and when you cancel another patient who may be on a waiting list may be able to take your time if we have enough notice, otherwise we have experienced a loss of revenue and the opportunity to help someone else who is in need.

PLEASE NOTE: We require 48 hours notice for appointment cancellations. All patients that do not show up for their scheduled appointment or do not provide adequate notice when cancelling will be charged for their visit regardless. Please understand that when you cancel with little notice we are unable to fill those appointment slots and that is lost revenue therefore we have to charge for the appointment.

We make it a priority to stay on schedule because we highly value your time, we make the utmost effort to stay on schedule, and we ask the same respect and consideration for ours and the other patients who are scheduled. We understand that things happen, however, in the spirit of respecting our other patients time If you are late for your appointment then you will lose the time that you are late as we can not run your appointment over into another patient's time slot.

Patients who are late by more than 15 minutes may have to be rescheduled.

Individuals who are late or no show for more than once will only be allowed to schedule with prepayment for the visit. No shows or those who are too late for their visit to be completed will be charged for the visit and rescheduled as this is time lost. Please call us if you are running late so that we are able to accommodate others who need to be seen.

If you fail to show up for the second appointment you may not be seen in the future. Please be considerate and provide at a minimum 48 hours notice for all cancellations.

Cell phone policy

We ask as a courtesy for others that you turn off your cell phone when in the office. If you have to take a call we ask that you make it brief or step outside.

prescription refills

We desire to provide you with prescription refills as quickly as possible. However, due to the abundance of calls we get daily we ask that you please call your pharmacy first for refills. The pharmacy will be able to identify your prescription number, and this helps us ensure that you are taking what we have prescribed and will clarify dosages and decrease the chances for medical errors. PLEASE DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE A FEW DAYS FROM RUNNING OUT OF YOUR PRESCRIPTION TO CALL FOR A REFILL. IT TYPICALLY TAKES US A WEEK TO PROCESS REFILL REQUESTS. WE RECOMMEND YOU REQUEST REFILLS TWO WEEKS BEFORE YOU EXPECT TO RUN OUT.

‍Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

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If you have not been seen for over four months, you will most likely need to schedule an appointment prior to getting your refill. As always, please let us know how we can serve you better!

supplements

Why We Sell Them and Our Pricing:

Supplements are a complementary to lifestyle modifications, this is an evidence and science based practice that is well researched and part of our functional medicine model of practice. We have carefully chosen therapeutic grade nutritional supplements to provide and recommend to our patients. As a general rule the supplements we sell are of a much higher quality than those typically available over the counter. We have purchased and set up relationships with companies that provide high quality products from the top nutritional research laboratories in North America and we have priced our products to cover our cost for providing them and with the most minimal mark-up possible.

We have links under the APOTHECARY tab to Fullscript (a nutritional supplement pharmacy) at a discount to the suggested retail prices. There is no requirement that you order from us directly, this is provided for your convenience.

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Additionally we have a supplement store in house for your convenience.

Occasionally patients will tell us they have found a cheaper source for the same supplement. If it’s a comparable brand to what we recommend, please make sure their products are fresh, not expired and have not sat in hot warehouses and been compromised. If the product is of the same quality then by all means we encourage you to make the most economical purchases possible; we realize our protocols are sometimes challenging financially. If you have found an affordable high quality source of the supplements we recommend, please share with us so that we can share that information with our other patients.

Parking

There are many parking spaces reserved for patients in the back of the clinic. Additionally there is public parking scattered about throughout the community… everything is a short walk.

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