Men's Health

New Package and Services Options

We have designed a number of new approaches to pricing and packaging of our services to give you more flexibility in working with your particular budget and medical insurance plan. Please review these to see which approach works best for you.

Just as there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to solving the complex hormone issues many women and men face, we have found there is no simple "one-price-fits all" pricing plan either. Dr. Vliet will tailor the types of laboratory tests she feels will be needed to give a complete and integrated picture of your current hormone and other health issues, as well as provide guidance for the types of treatment approaches that will be most medically appropriate for you.

Dr. Vliet does not use the unreliable saliva tests to evaluate something as critical to your health as your hormones. Dr. Vliet uses only the gold standard serum tests, as used by fertility specialists and menopause reserachers worldwide, are the most medically sound method to evaluate these complex health measures.

Remember, doing all the labs as an integrated approach at the same time helps get you the best information as to what's wrong and what to do about it. While it may seem "expensive," our patients have consisently told us “I was amazed at all you uncovered by doing all of these tests at the beginning! It has been expensive to keep going to doctor after doctor after doctor and still not getting answers or help to feel better."

Our philosophy is that it is more time and cost-effective for you if Dr. Vliet does an integrated history, physical and lab evaluation at the beginning to help you identify potential multiple causes of the same symptoms.

Most patients get some insurance coverage for our services, keep in mind that insurance plans vary in the amount that they will reimburse when you submit the documentation that we provide at your appointment.

 

NEW Pricing and Options

We are as concerned as our patients are with the continuing problems with the economy. Consequently, Dr. Vliet has decided to do everything possible to reduce the fees for her consultations to help more people be able to access our services. We cannot lower the lab fees for our comprehensive evaluations, as these costs are from outside vendors. Our practice is very time intensive, individualized, and focused on one person at a time, but we have done everything possible to make Dr. Vliet’s fees as reasonable as possible, given the much longer time she spends with each patient. For new patients, we have rolled back consult prices to 2009 levels. For Second Opinion Consults we have rolled back to 2010 prices, when we introduced this service.

We do accept Mastercard and Visa to allow you to make use the credit care to spread out payments in the way that best fits your particular budget.

Consult Only: (Patients will obtain all labs on their own from insurance plan physicians, based on information provided on our website for the tests Dr. Vliet recommends). Consult includes medicals records review, detailed history (and P.E. in AZ), discussion of all lab results, individualized treatment plan tailored to each patient’s health goals, and health information notebook. Call us for Package Options and Pricing

Men’s In-Depth Consult with our lab package - .Call us for Package Options and Pricing

Men’s Consult ONLY - Patient provides current lab results from another physician - Call us for Package Options and Pricing

Couples or Family Members Consult: (husband/wife, mother/daughter, or father/son seen together). Lab packages and prices are outlined above for those wishing to use our laboratory services, OR patients may obtain all labs on their own from outside physician. - Call us for Package Options and Pricing

Second Opinion Consults:

One Hour – now priced same as 2010 - Call us for Package Options and Pricing

90 minute –now priced same as 2010 - Call us for Package Options and Pricing

 

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Q. What services does Hormone Health Strategies offer?

A. We offer a Comprehensive Hormone Evaluation as well as individual services, such as nutritional consultations. You may ask your doctor for a referral but this is not required. A physician consult must be scheduled in conjunction with all laboratory tests to review and interpret the results and then provide treatment recommendations.

Q. What is the Comprehensive Hormone Evaluation?

A. This evaluation provides new patients with an in-depth consultation, evaluation and treatment recommendations. This process is designed to provide you with a detailed review of your overall health status. Each component contributes crucial information to help us identify causes of your symptoms and determine a medically sound health enhancement plan. If syou wish to work with us on managing the “hormone health journey”, we will prescibe the medications and monitor your progress. The comprehensive evaluation includes the following:

◘ Comprehensive Labwork - To know what you need, we must know where you are now. We check your current androgen, adrenal, and thyroid hormone levels as well as many other health measures including a PSA, lipid studies and homocysteine levels. We correlate these test results with your symptoms to then work to optimize the appropriate hormone levels to improve your well-being.

◘ Health Risk Assessment – Health risks will be identified from the information you provide us in your initial history forms, from your consultation, and from your test results. Future appointments will assist you in reducing these identified health risks. Examples include risk factors for heart disease and cancer, as well as helping you learn to eat for optimal energy, helping you learn to manage stress, or how to lose weight in a safe, healthy way.

◘ Comprehensive Consult - You will meet with Dr. Vliet for approximately 2 hours to discuss your symptoms and concerns, review your medical history and discuss in depth your lab results and what they mean, answer your questions and review various treatment options to help you feel better. We work with your individual needs and preferences to determine together the best treatment plan for you. We will review your individualized health enhancement plan in detail, and provide appropriate prescriptions if you want to work with us to monitor your progress and oversee treatment. Or, you may take our recommendations back to your primary care physician to implement if you prefer.

Q. How does a consultative medical visit differ from a routine doctor’s visit?

A. Our consultative practice does not replace your primary care physician for ongoing, routine health problems. We require all our patients to have a primary care physician for routine health needs. The Hormone Health Strategies consultative model of medical practice is designed to give you an integrated picture of how all the pieces of your “health puzzle” fit together, and then give you our suggestions on best to meet

your goals, even if we will not necessarily be the ones to provide all the services you may need. Most medical offices today schedule a number of patients in the same hour so that doctors have very little time to spend with individual patients. Our health care appointments are also much longer than the average doctor’s visit so that we are better able to determine what your needs are and how to meet them. At your initial visit, Dr. Vliet will have an in-depth time dedicated just to you, to discuss your health needs, laboratory results, personal concerns and to develop therapeutic options.

Q. How are Follow Up Appointments handled, and what are the charges?

A. Please understand that achieving balance of your hormones and other health needs is a complex process that takes time. Our philosophy is to go slowly with adding or increasing any medications in order to avoid the adverse effects of high dosages and multiple medications. If you want us to provide medication prescriptions, you need to be prepared to invest time in follow up evaluation, adjustments in your medications, etc. This is a journey you are about to embark upon. It is not possible to achieve everything in one visit.

You may decide to do your follow up with our clinicial team, or you may take our recommendations back to your own primary care physician. If you continue with us to implement your treatment plan, we will recommend follow up lab tests at appropriate intervals to monitor the effectiveness of the medicatios we prescribed. If you wish us to prescribe medications for you,we require follow up appointments every 3 to 6 months, as well as current labs to monitor your progress. This is usually 1-2 months after your initial visit.

Follow up appointments are billed separately, and are not included in the initial evaluation price. The fee charged will depend upon the length of your appointment. Fees are listed at the end of this packet. You may schedule your follow up appointments with any of our clinical staff as appropriate.

Q. How are lab tests handled?

A. We have designed our program to collect as much health information as possible to provide a thorough consultation and to develop treatment recommendations for implementation by the end of your appointments. If you live in a state where we are licensed, it is possible to do your labs prior to your appointment to make it more time efficient and cost effective for you. If you chose the comprehensive hormone evaluation, you will be paying for your lab tests through our discounted lab program, and receive a prepaid lab requisition to use.

If you live in a state which does not allow us to order labs ahead of time (CA, PA, NY, NJ, & RI), your labs will have to be done in a lab near our office a day before your appointment. That way we will have a majority of the results back by the time of your appointment.

Q. May I see the physician without doing the suggested labwork or additional tests?

A. No. We have found that our patients achieve the best results when we are able to correlate objective laboratory values with their subjective symptoms. Since many different health problems cause similar symptoms, we cannot fully answer your questions about what is causing your symptoms if we do not have appropriate, current lab results. It isn’t possible to make a correct diagnosis based on symptoms alone.

Q. What other services do you provide?

A. We offer or can make recommendations regarding the following services:

◘ Nutritional Analysis. Have your food intake analyzed by our staff, who employ our sophisticated nutrition software program to check the nutritional content of your meals over three days. Are you really eating as much protein as you should be? Are you eating too much fat, or the wrong types of fat? Do you know how many carbohydrates and fats you are getting? Are your calories adequate for you to be able to lose weight? Is your diet helping you meet your health goal and give you enough energy to get through the day? Not sure? Keep a detailed food diary for three days and fill out a simple food intake questionnaire and we will give you a detailed report analyzing the precentage of protein, fat and carbohydrates you are consuming, as well as tell you if you are getting enough essential vitamins and minerals. Your intake will be compared to Dr. Vliet’s nutritional recommendations.

◘ Individual Nutritional Consult. Dietary evaluation and planning are an important part of your health routine. We will discuss positive changes in your eating habits to achieve your health goals, whether you need a specific diet, are trying to lose weight or desire to stabilize your blood sugar for optimal energy or develop balanced meal plans to deal with allergies.

Q. Are all services covered by insurance and will your office file for me?

A. Coverage of specific services varies by insurance company and health care plan. Because each plan and insurance company has a different policy, we cannot tell you which will be covered. We suggest that you call and verify which services they will cover and how to submit your claim. We will provide you with a receipt itemizing our services and your payments at your appointment. Then you file your own claim for possible reimbursement according to the terms of your insurance plan.

We do not provide claim filing services. We feel strongly that, as your health professionals, our focus and loyalty should be with you and not directed by your insurance company. We will provide one “medical necessity” letter at no charge for you to submit to your insurance or prescription plan if needed. There will be a charge for subsequent “medical necessity” letters if required by insurance plans.

Q. What do I need to do to make an appointment?

A. 1) Simply fill out the Hormone Health Strategies Personal Information Sheet and Self Test Questionnaire and mark on the Health Action Sheet the service(s) you are interested in. We can help you finalize your decisions.

1. Read the information on the enclosed form about terms of payment, insurance reimbursement and terms of cancellation.
   
   
2. Sign the Terms of Payment form acknowledging you understand our policies.
   
   
3. Sign the Credit Card Authorization form, neccessary to reserve your appointment.
   
   
4. Return all of these blue sheets, along with the self-questionnaires, to our centralized scheduling office by mail: P.O. Box 64507, Tucson, Arizona 85728. We need the originals of the forms. Fax copies are not legible.
   
   
5. When we receive the above forms, we will call to schedule your appointment(s).
   
   
6. At that time, we will send you the “New Patient Registration Package” containing registration and medical history forms that you need to complete and send to us at least two weeks prior to your first appointment. If we do not receive these forms prior to your appointment, cancellation policies will be enforced.