In 2014 we made the decision to offer insurance billing to our patients. Everything was going well for several years. Over the last 2-3 years we have had our compensation begin to decline, often quite a lot. Insurance plans do NOT cover all the claims we file on your behalf.
We sincerely want to help as many people as we possibly can with the huge benefits of functional medicine, but we simply cannot afford to continue to accept insurance. We fully understand the financial challenge this presents to some of our patients.
You may not realize that when we bill insurance companies directly, our providers are required to become participating providers. Dr. Bedinghaus must sign a contract that allows the insurance company to determine which services they will and will not cover…and how much we can charge for these services. Unfortunately, insurance companies are not usually focused on any preventative or wellness services that we want to provide for you. Insurance companies are very invested in the conventional medicine model that often relies on drugs and surgery. At Healing Unleashed we are committed to the functional medicine model that addresses the underlying root causes of your symptoms by doing appropriate functional medicine tests, lifestyle recommendations, and specific nutritional supplements.
As a participating provider, Dr. Bedinghaus must agree to accept the fees the insurance company establishes, regardless of whether the fees are reasonable or applicable to our time intensive approach to your health. Insurance companies usually only agree to cover the brief 10–15-minute visits most doctors spend with patients. We are required to write off the difference, often as much as 50% of Dr. B’s fee for service.
Our office costs to provide the highest quality care has increased dramatically over time. The actual cost for doctors to provide services continues to rise, while the percentage of reasonable fees that insurance payments cover is declining.
Some of our patients complain about their very brief office visits in other medical practices, while at the same time expressing frustration that they still owe us money because their insurance plan doesn’t cover the time we must spend with them to study, research, and create an individualized health program for them.
About the charges for our providers services
We are very conscious of the amount of money our patients pay for the services we provide. If you do your research, you will find our fees are in line (and maybe a little less) with what other functional medicine providers charge for similar, time-intensive services. Most of our fees support the overall mission of providing high quality natural health care, not the providers’ salaries. Dr. Bedinghaus and Dr. Joan Sloss have chosen this work because it is their passion and their calling, and certainly not a way to make a lucrative income. Most doctors who choose this special functional medicine approach realize that their income will be substantially lower than it would be if they were practicing conventional medicine.
We are excited to begin a wellness educational program here at Healing Unleashed. We are committed and dedicated to offering our patients the very best, high quality services available anywhere. We will be launching our Masterclasses in-office this summer. We have also created a membership program that will offer all or most of our services for a very reasonable cost. We also have payment plans through Care Credit.
If you have questions, please call us at 303-986-0492 (ask to speak with Tom) so we can discuss your concerns and assist you in the realization that you will continue to receive all that we offer at fees you can afford. We will also provide you with superbills to submit to your insurance on your own. We believe this will be a win-win situation for everyone
Here’s our Mission Statement for our Group Visits Education Program (Masterclasses)
At Healing Unleashed we provide valuable information to our community on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. In our education program we envision a series of informative, science-based lectures, community involvement, and support systems to assist our patients in achieving the highest level of wellness. We are committed to elevating the overall health of our community.
Working together for your health!
Wanda J. Bedinghaus, MD IFMCP
Joan N. Sloss, EdD LMT CST
