Integrative Medicine Consults

My Practice:

The bottom line in getting patients to make lifestyle change: it is a marathon and NOT a sprint. The current medical insurance model is based on multiple repeated quick sprints. I know a few older patients who spend most of the month keeping doctor visits (this is what happens if you treat symptoms and not root cause) Medical disease is so subtle that most will suddenly find themselves with multiple prescriptions, a few procedures and no tolerance for rewarding things from the past. Western medicine has boiled down to a pharmaceutical based practice that deploys a rescue algorithm based on general population. Everyone knows if you do not address the root cause of a problem, it will escalate and grow in complexity until end of life occurs.

The way I design patient “collaborations” is to assume everyone I meet will make it to centenarian age. I believe if you spend enough time with another human, ask the appropriate questions… any life can be improved with less suffering and a better chance for avoiding catastrophic disease. Note that a standard doctor appointment is 15 minutes versus my virtual visits lasting 60-90 minutes fully targeted at designing personal plans to be deployed until our next meeting. If you are heavier than ever, slower than younger years, need more time to recover BUT your annual doctor visit ended with “test results are all normal, just continue the same dose as before”…you are NOT optimizing on the miracle of healthy living.

Take this business owner of a landscaping company I saw in the immediate care. He came in for back pain and just wanted a muscle relaxer and a narcotic pain killer. (Had same issue the year before). When I engaged him to find out about core strength, sleep habit, and previous interventions, he said;

-“I eat clean”

-“I walk alot and lift weights”

-“I sleep well”

Upon further elaboration:

-he eats TOO MUCH clean food

-he does no exercises to prevent back spasm

-his sleep is fragmented from urinating 3x a night

Someone was enabling his bad behavior to continue. This is the fault with powerful prescriptions that DO reverse symptoms without the lesson of how to control disease for next time. Medicines are great short cuts but you can’t:

-out-exercise a bad diet

-apply what you did at age 20 and expect it to work at age 60

-cut out a cancer but still continue smoking.

Which brings me back to my practice. I love witnessing success in people. It can look like the expression of joy on a hikers face when we summit 14000 feet. It can be the discussion of your “we got your cholesterol down without a statin”. Or a fibromyalgia patient is suddenly exercising with NO trigger points!

General Patton: It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

I call my patient appointments a collaboration between the person who ‘follows’ and the person who ‘leads’. My time is best spent providing resources to achieve the victory over mental suffering and physical disease. Knowledge can provide you with a map but it must be created with waypoints specific to the map-reader. If your doctor visit lasts 15 minutes ….IT CANNOT BE PERSONALIZED!

The reason I charge an annual fee is to allow for more time with designing, applying and redesigning lifestyle change. Even after the 60-90 minute visit I am still contemplating and formulating ideas till the next collaboration in a few months. Whenever I prescribe a medicine, I am already thinking about how I will be getting you off said medicine (using nutrition, exercise, calming practice and sleep/recovery)

Membership Based Medicine TERMS:

The annual fee is paid when a new patient is ready to commit. Since some folks have never paid a retainer fee for medical care, I allow for a…

-Test Drive Visit

A non commitment investment in personalized primary care. The visit will entail a review of life achievements and setbacks, prior treatments, current baseline testing discussion and a…

-Narrative Report Post Visit

I put together after the meeting to be implemented until next collaboration with a timeline to count down. After the Test Drive a patient is offered an “Annual Membership” purchase within 30 days. If not satisfied with the “Test Drive”, we part ways. (One can also pay for full membership at any time to have me as their Integrative Medicine consultant) .  As my practice evolves, I expect to offer more in addition to joining other like-minded healers to increase impact to my community…

-Patient/Athlete Members

I don’t expect perfection from anyone that joins BUT I do expect implementation of the ideas I create.  If initial suggestions don’t work, then we re-design and re-apply. I believe the answer to a particular medical disease will always be in the individual…it just has to be revealed with the right questions. I also expect members to meet with me AT LEAST 3 x annually. In the event that a patient has trust in their current primary care docs and specialists (ie oncology or cardiology) I can add value with my experience in medical acupuncture, yoga, exercise, mindful practice and nutrition.

-Billing for Virtual Consults:

With each 60-90 minute virtual visit, I will use a medical insurance billing company to request reimbursement from medicare or personal insurance. The reimbursement the office receives from insurance companies varies widely and this is the biggest reason for the Membership Fee - to make sure we receive fair payment for the services I provide over and above “standard care”. My patient families deserve the best chance to live long and healthy lives together.I honestly feel if I can change the course of a single person’s suffering, we not only save A life but we course correct all the generations to follow.

-Annual Retainer Fee for Virtual Consults:

Payment guarantees access to Dr Saguil’s schedule on the GetHealthie App. Some HSA and FSA cards will cover membership payment (but please check with your financial advisor). New patients can join either by paying for a Test Drive visit once to experience how Integrative Medical consults are different than the usual doctor visit followed by applying the fee paid toward the Annual Membership Fee

OR

Those patients who have experienced other forms of Consierge/Direct Primary Care fees can purchase the Annual Membership full payment to get started.

Membership will include:

-access to the clinic schedule for Dr Saguil.

-text capability using the gethealthie chat or clinic phone or email (preference must be indicated at time of sign-up)

-access to Peptides or Supplements endorsed by Dr Saguil

-typical orders for blood tests, imaging tests, consults or therapy

-lifestyle plans created with Integrative Medicine, Primary Care Sports Medicine, Medical Acupuncture, Yoga and Personal Training Expertise in one fee/one clinic

-virtual contact using either GetHealthie Electronic Medical Record/App or Google Meet or Skype or Iphone FaceTime.

-Annual Wellness done Virtually (DrRic can give more advise and lifestyle planning with a 60-90 minute virtual visit than most primary care docs can perform in-person for the standard 20-30minutes)

Membership does NOT include:

-pre-op clearance

-in person meetings

-acupuncture

-refunds after first visit otherwise payments will be billed annually automatically until stated. (last minute refund request after renewal will be charged the GetHealthie service fee for reimbursement)

-corrdination of care with multiple specialists (that is the job of a primary care office front desk administrator)

I am altruistic with my top priority to improve outcome of the individual BUT I will not invest in you if you don’t invest in yourself.

DrRic

12 17 2024