Preparing for My First Functional Medicine Appointment

In preparation for today’s appointment…

I had to complete several forms and an extensive questionnaire. It was more in-depth than any intake I’ve done before, which already made this experience feel different from traditional medical visits.

The Intake Process

The forms included:

• Authorization to release medical records

• Metabolic assessment

• HIPAA privacy authorization

• Family history

• Functional medicine informed consent

• Health journey questionnaire

• Patient policy agreement

• Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) consent

• Female bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) consent

• Privacy practices acknowledgment

• Photo of my driver’s license

• Insurance card (front and back)

In addition to the forms, I also uploaded recent test results that I thought would help give a clearer picture of my health, including thyroid antibody numbers and results from my most recent annual physical blood work.

The Patient Portal Experience

The functional medicine practice set me up with an online portal where I was able to upload all of my paperwork. The portal also serves as a communication tool between me and the practitioner.

Inside the portal, I can:

• Review lab results

• See summaries of past appointments

• Access recommended treatment plans

Before each visit, a good-faith estimate of the cost is posted, which I appreciated, it helped reduce some of the uncertainty going into the appointment.

I’m feeling both excited and nervous about this appointment. I expect there may be changes to the way I eat, and I assume additional tests will be ordered.

Excited… and Nervous

The cost of testing does make me nervous. I was told that in many cases, these tests can be run through insurance, and if a deductible hasn’t been met, they may still count toward it. Of course, insurance coverage varies, and I can only speak to how mine works.

Why I’m Choosing to Move Forward Anyway

Ultimately, my goal is to feel a lot better. In the bigger picture, I believe that investing upfront to get to the root cause of my health issues may help prevent future urgent care or hospital visits — which could end up costing far more than these functional medicine appointments and tests.

For now, I’m taking this one step at a time and seeing where it leads.

If you’ve worked with a functional medicine practitioner or gone through a similar process, I’d love to hear what stood out to you.