Frequently Asked Questions
Membership
Our functional medicine packages are personalized, root-cause-focused medicine. They include:
- Extended time visits with your functional medicine practitioner
- The number of visits depends on the package you select.
- Our core functional medicine program provides for an initial two-part deep dive assessment and personalized healthcare planning process, followed by quarterly appointments (one every three months/four per year)
- If you find that in a given quarter, you need more support, you can purchase an additional visit for a discounted price. (Ask your care team for details).
- Other packages may have different terms
- Health coaching visits to help keep you on track
- Under our core functional medicine program, you are entitled to one health coaching visit every six months
- (Note: health coaching is not included in the Seek package)
- Unlimited messaging with your care team via secure patient portal
- 20% discount on supplements purchased through our Fullscript partner website
- Assessment of your personal risk profiles across many domains (brain health, cardiometabolic health, hormonal health, mental health, etc.)
- Personal comprehensive care plan
- Specialty laboratory testing and interpretation
- Prescriptions and refills (medications and/or supplements, as appropriate)
- Standard administrative paperwork -- for our active members, staff will honor reasonable requests for administrative work, such as completing prior authorization paperwork, FMLA forms, and medical referral notes at no additional charge.
- Curated recommendations on wellness products
- No copays
- Convenient online appointment scheduling
- In person (Denver, Colorado) and virtual visits
- Unlimited free access to Reimbursify to ease superbill submission to your insurance
Your fees cover Tendwell’s professional services. While we may prescribe medications or order laboratory tests, diagnostic imaging and other services, the fees for those services are not included in your package price. Instead, you must arrange directly with the third-party laboratories and other providers to pay their fees, usually by using your health insurance. We can sometimes help you keep these costs down. Talk to us and we’d be happy to help.
Likewise, your fees do not cover durable medical equipment, supplements, medications, care provided by non-affiliated providers, or any services not expressly included in your membership agreement. Again, many of these third party services and products may be covered by your insurance.
Tendwell is a functional and holistic medicine practice that focuses on the deep structure of your health and root causes of dysfunction. We emphasize natural interventions, but also prescribe medications and other standard treatments when they are the best tools for a particular job. Your functional medicine plan gives you access to extended-time visits with a trained functional health medical practitioner as outlined in our membership page as well as visits with a health coach (some plans excluded) and other perks listed there.
Tendwell is not like a standard medical practice. We are not optimized to maximize insurance billing by seeing large numbers of patients over short periods of time. We think the traditional model does a disservice to patients which is why we started Tendwell.
That said, we do many of the best things traditional medicine does and are often asked to act as members’ primary care providers. So, if you need to see your provider for an illness or to coordinate care as a PCP, you are more than welcome to use one or more of your visits to attend to these kinds of issues. We can also handle referrals to specialists who we trust and otherwise play quarterback to your overall healthcare.
While we do not provide urgent or emergency care (you should go to an urgent care clinic or call 911 for those things), we also do our best to accommodate texts and brief phone calls for quick problem-related consultations, medication refill requests and similar items. Please keep calls and texts to normal business hours unless you need urgent advice (prescription refills are not urgent).
Some patients choose to use Tendwell as something separate and apart from their primary care provider and some choose to use Tendwell for both its deep structure functional medicine approach as well as more routine issues as a PCP. The choice is up to you.
Please note, however, that if you have health insurance, it is possible there are constraints on your ability to use an out of network primary care provider (Tendwell is not in network with any insurance). You are responsible to determine whether your insurance imposes any rules and whether Tendwell is your best choice to be a PCP within the framework of your particular insurance situation.
Tendwell members have unlimited access to messaging through their patient portals. This service is for brief questions and other consultations. Messaging is not generally appropriate for complex issues, which require an appointment. That said, we want the functional medicine program to work for you and are happy to support you and meet you where you are, so do not hesitate to message us.
This service is NOT FOR EMERGENCIES; call 911 for emergency situations.
Tendwell's core functional medicine program has two phases: (1) an initial two-part deep dive assessment and development of a personalized care plan; (2) ongoing maintenance and support.
The first part is paid in advance (currently $750) and, once underway, cannot be canceled. Our care team invests a large amount of time developing a personalized care strategy just for you.
The second part is an on-going month to month membership (currently $175 per month). You may cancel your month-to-month membership at any time with 30 days' written notice. Provide notice to info@tendwellhealth.com. During the 30 days you will continue to be charged regular membership fees.
Also, it is important to note that if you have quickly used an unusually large number of visits before you have been a member long enough to pay for them, you may be obliged to reimburse Tendwell for the excess value of services received, but not paid for. The details are in the membership agreement.
All participants in the Tendwell community have access to high-quality, personalized health care to address the root causes of dysfunction and to improve overall health. Those patients in one of our functional medicine membership plans also have access to secure messaging with their healthcare team for quick consultations, reasonable administrative services between clinical visits, and other great benefits such as discounted supplements. All of these benefits are included at no extra cost for current, active members.
For non-members (such as program graduates purchasing visits on an ad hoc basis, or individuals who opted for our 2-visit introductory package), we also offer administrative services outside of clinical visits based on the pricing schedule below.
Prior Authorizations: $75
Medical Referrals: $75
FMLA Paperwork: $100
Non-Standard Administrative Work: $150/hour
Prescription Refills: $60*
*This is the refill fee without an appointment. In some cases, it may be necessary to schedule an appointment as clinically appropriate. In such cases, the appointment fee will cover all costs and there will be no separate refill fee.
If you have had a paid appointment within the previous two weeks, follow-up questions and prescription adjustments related to that visit are included, and no additional refill fee will apply during that time.
Conditions
Tendwell takes a functional approach to medicine that delves deep into the basic structure of your health. This kind of medicine has better outcomes for all patients, be they in prime health, concerned about cognitive and other declines as they age, or suffering from a specific medical problem.
Although effective for anyone, Tendwell’s approach truly shines with respect to the treatment of chronic conditions — often ones for which our members have repeatedly sought treatment from standard medical practitioners, to no avail. Among other chronic conditions, we focus on:
- Digestive and Gut Issues including SIBO & IBS
- Cognitive Health (Alzheimer’s Prevention, Brain Health)
- Migraines
- Perimenopause, Menopause, Fertility Optimization
- Autoimmune and Inflammatory Conditions
- Mental Wellbeing and Health
- Women’s Health
- Hormonal Health
- Metabolism and Weight Management
- Diabetes
- Cardiometabolic Health
Tendwell Professionals
A Nurse Practitioner is an advanced practice clinician with a Master’s Degree in Nursing, NP’s can diagnose, prescribe and treat patients. They can prescribe the same medications, imaging, lab tests and treatments that doctors can.
Susannah is a board certified NP with specialty degrees in Adult Health & Holistic Medicine. She is also certified by the Institute for Functional Medicine, the leading professional standards organization for MD’s, NPs, DOs and other practitioners.
Supplements
It is likely that your comprehensive care plan will include recommendations for supplements. There are several supplement vendors out there, and we encourage you to find the best source for you. To make it easier, we have partnered with Fullscript to provide a curated list of pre-approved, high-quality supplements for purchase. Members get a 20% discount when purchasing through Fullscript.
Appointments
Members can self-schedule appointments through their member dashboards, accessible here.
We understand that there are times when patients must miss appointments due to emergencies or other obligations. Unfortunately, other patients sometimes pay the price of last-minute cancellations if they are unable to get the care they need because the calendar is full. We ask that if you need to cancel an appointment, you let us know as soon as possible. Appointments canceled less than 48 hours in advance will incur a $50 fee.
Insurance
The quick answer: insurance may cover some or all of the cost of your visits if you have out of network benefits; and we can help make it easier for you to get the reimbursement you deserve.
Let us explain: To offer the very best in care without the compromises often required by insurance companies, our practice is out-of-network, direct pay only. Patients are encouraged to know their insurance benefits and to understand their deductibles. We are happy to assist you apply for out-of-network coverage by generating detailed billing statements called “superbills” required by insurance companies. Just ask us and we will prepare a "superbill" for you. We have also partnered with Reimbursify, a company that helps make out-of-network reimbursement easy. Some patients report getting reimbursed up to 70% of their visit fees depending on their plan. Because Tendwell is a Reimbursify “Practice Pro” provider, their services come at no cost to you.
Members have access to superbills and Reimbursify through the Member Dashboard (superbills are available on the patient portal & Reimbursify is accessible from the Dashboard directly).
In the healthcare industry, laboratories charge fees that are separate from the costs of a medical visit. Payment for lab fees is arranged directly between you and the labs processing your tests, but we work hard to help you understand the process and minimize the amount you will need to pay out of pocket.
Wherever possible, we order standard tests from labs that are in-network for a wide variety of medical insurance plans. Generally speaking, these tests should be covered by insurance. However, a number of the specialized tests that are among the most useful in getting to the root causes of dysfunction are performed by only one or a handful of laboratories nationwide. Some of these labs may not take insurance and some of the tests may not be covered under certain plans.
Whether or not you have insurance coverage for a particular test, you may use FSA/HSA dollars to pay for any amounts you are responsible for out of pocket.
Tax Advantaged Accounts (FSA/HSA)
Many of our members use their FSA/HSA to pay for specialty tests, lab work, supplements, and other charges. However, we recommend checking with your FSA/HSA company/carrier for more information and details as to how you can use these funds for any functional medicine related fees.
We are more than happy to help get you any paperwork that your HSA/FSA administrator may require.
Medicare & Medicaid
Tendwell’s practitioners are all opted out of Medicare. Accordingly, you must agree not to submit any claims to Medicare related to Tendwell services and must sign an informed consent establishing your knowledge that Medicare will not pay for your Tendwell services. You must inform us immediately if you have Medicare or if you become eligible for Medicare during the course of your membership. We will provide you with additional forms that are required for you to be a Tendwell member. Tendwell cannot provide services to any Medicare beneficiary who does not sign our agreements.
Note that although our clinicians have opted out of Medicare, they have retained order and refer privileges, which means that third parties such as labs or referred specialists who accept Medicare may be able to provide some covered services.
Tendwell does not participate in Medicaid. Accordingly, no reimbursement may be sought from Medicad for any Tendwell service. Moreover, in some states, a practitioner that does not participate in Medicaid may not treat a recipient even if the recipient is willing to pay out of pocket for the services. Tendwell will not serve any Medicaid recipients in Oregon or Colorado. If you are in New York and have Medicaid, you may receive services, but must acknowledge that all services will be paid for by you without any option to be reimbursed from Medicaid. If you have questions about your specific circumstances, get in touch!
Electronic Health Record
Members get access to Tendwell’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) through CharmHealth. There is an extensive online help library available here: https://www.charmhealth.com/resources/ehr-user-guide.html
