Q + A: Holistic Medicine FAQ @ Bio Energy Medical Center

How does BEMC differ from a conventional medical practice? How long is the wait for an appointment? Do you accept insurance? How much do consultations cost? What type of testing does do you do? All these answers and more are below! These are just a couple of common questions we get asked often - if you're curious about anything else, please let us know!

Still have questions after reading this post? Check out our FAQ page for more details, or give us at call 734-995-3200. 

How is Bio Energy Medical Center different from a conventional medical practice?

Bio Energy Medical Center is a holistic center focusing on total physical and mental health. We treat "illness at its source". Our ultimate goal is to facilitate your innate healing capacity and lead you to true wellness with an individually tailored therapeutic program that’s specific to your health needs. Bio Energy Medical Center's services include Acupuncture, Classical Homeopathy, Detoxification, IV-Therapy, Bio Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy, Children's Health, Weight Loss and Infertility. We use a variety of specialty lab tests, energy tests, and live blood cell analysis to identify the core clinical imbalances that are contributing to your health problems. We assess your nutritional status and vitamin levels, digestive health and detoxification capacity, mitochondrial function, adrenal stress and more.

At Bio Energy Medical Center we spend the time needed to understand you and discover the root cause(s) of your health concerns. We offer longer visit times than a conventional practice. We never double book patients and set aside time specifically for you. Many conventional offices have a high patient volume with office visits often scheduled for only 5-10 minutes seeing 6-12 patients per hour. We schedule new patient visits for one to two hours and follow up visits for 30-60 minutes. We run our business with respect for your time and do not leave you sitting in the waiting room for long periods of time only to move you to an exam room to wait again.

How do Bio Energy Medical Center's treatments succeed when others don’t?

Most physicians are trained to diagnose disease and treat the symptoms of that disease rather than treat its cause. At Bio Energy Medical Center, we look underneath the symptoms to find the root cause. We believe that symptoms are a warning sign of an underlying problem in the body. Frequently, medicine treats conditions by suppressing the symptoms. We treat the source of the problem in the body, not just the symptoms. Bio Energy Medical Center has had great success in dealing with problems other health practitioners have given up on. This is the level at which we treat. In essence, we help the body detoxify itself of poisons that cause symptoms instead of just building up the immunity to handle the most current stressor. We look at health from the holistic view point. As well as your physical symptoms, we take into account your mental and emotional states.

Why should I use Bio Energy Medical Center?

If you are totally satisfied with your current treatment progress and your practitioners, we advise you to stay with them. However, if you have been told your condition is untreatable, psychosomatic, age related, you can’t stand the side effects or you’re looking for more natural healing—we invite you to consider Bio Energy Medical Center.

What kind of conditions do you treat?

We treat acute and chronic illnesses and conditions—heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, pain, low back or abdominal pain, neuropathy, vertigo, tinnitus, infertility, hypertension, depression or anxiety, hormone imbalances, injuries, medication side effects, childhood epidemics of Autism, learning disorders, A-D-H-D, asthma, eczema, obesity, reflux, allergies and many other medical conditions. Bio Energy Medical Center identifies the underlying issues beneath each patient’s diagnosis, and then designs a treatment plan to address the specific causes.

Do I need to be seen by the doctor or nurse practitioner to use any of your services?

Many of our services, clients can simply schedule an appointment and come in for the service— Far Infrared Sauna, Bio-Cleanse Foot Baths, Darkfield Testing, E-Map Testing—can be done without a medical practitioner. Some of our services do require that you be seen and medical necessity or supervision is required—IV Therapy, Medication Therapy and services that are billed to insurance companies.

How long is the wait to get an appointment?

The wait to see Dr. Neuenschwander generally runs four to five months; however, he does have a cancellation list that allows many patients to get in earlier to consult with him. We quite often suggest that you schedule your initial appointment with one of our nurse practitioners who work closely with Dr. Neu and are able to order any specialized testing that may be needed. We do unique investigations into your health using testing such as Darkfields, E-maps and Specialty Lab Work. Some of the complex blood testing that we may suggest will take a few weeks for results and by seeing a nurse practitioner first, it will allow Dr. Neu a more detailed look at your consultation.

What can I expect at my first visit?

We believe that the time spent with our patients is one of the most important aspects of our care. We spend the time necessary to understand your unique physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual needs. Treatment plans are carefully devised to meet your unique needs, and thorough follow-up is ensured through office visits or telephone consultations. Treatment plans are guided by a thorough and comprehensive history, and review of pertinent blood, urine, stool, or other testing. Please allow at least 90 minutes for your first appointment.

If you are coming for a consultation for a particular health concern(s), your provider will carefully review your new patient questionnaire and any past medical records which you have provided. It is very important that you fill out your questionnaire thoroughly as this will maximize the time that you have with your provider. After assessing your health needs, your provider may recommend dietary modifications, nutritional supplements, or additional testing.

How often do I need to be seen?

The first follow-up visit is generally scheduled for 4-6 weeks after the initial visit to review any lab work that has been performed, to assess your progress on your current therapeutic plan, and make adjustments as necessary. Subsequent follow-ups will be determined by your provider based on individual care needed. If you are taking any prescription medications or have blood work done, you will need to be seen at least every six months for follow up in our office.

How much do consultations cost?

Our fees are very reasonable for the care you desire and deserve. The fee is determined on complexity, length of time, and severity of the condition. Our office visit fees range from $97.00 to $525.00. In general, the fees are on average $225.00-$350.00 per hour. We have an obligation to be profitable in order to remain open. We intentionally set our fees at a reasonable level to make this office affordable. We may need to eventually run this practice in the way similar practices are run: not accept insurance and significantly increase our fees. We have fought this, because we want to try and help the most people and not have a practice that only serves the wealthy. We will continue to do this until it becomes impossible to run our business in a profitable manner. We encourage you to contact other offices to inquire what they charge for 30-60 minutes of time.

Part of our fee schedule is a no show fee/late cancellation fee. We do charge if an appointment is cancelled in less than one complete business day or if a person does not show up.

Do you accept insurance?

Many of our services are able to be submitted for insurance coverage if medically necessary and/or covered by your policy. Some policies may provide benefits for Lab Testing, Acupuncture, and Consultations/Office visits. All of our nurse practitioners are contracted with Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan traditional plans. We will submit to other insurance plans that allow you to go out of their network, however, we do not accept their fee schedule. Dr. Neuenschwander does not accept insurance. We do not accept any HMO plans.

What type of testing do you do and what is the cost?

Bio Energy Medical Center's testing is used to identify core clinical imbalances that are contributing to your health problems. Testing may be used to assess nutritional status, digestive health, amino acids, fatty acids, organic acids, oxidative stress, vitamin levels, hormones, detoxification capacity, mitochondrial function, food sensitivities, neurotransmitter levels, adrenal stress, cholesterol and heavy metal toxicity. Tests may be run on urine, stool, blood, or hair. Your therapeutic plan and nutritional supplementation will be customized based on your test results.

Your provider will determine which tests may be most appropriate for you. Taking into account how much testing you would like to do and your financial resources - an individualized testing plan will be devised. The cost of tests varies significantly. Some tests can be run through a standard lab that is likely to be covered through your insurance company. Other testing may need to be run through specialized labs, some of which may be covered or partially covered by your insurance. Costs for individual tests range between $62 and $850. Testing can provide a more complete picture of your health status and help determine appropriate therapies. Please understand that effective care may be initiated without testing and testing can be done gradually over time.

Do you use nutritional supplementation? Where can I purchase recommended supplements?

Based on a thorough history of your health concerns, physical examination, and appropriate lab testing, your provider will determine a customized therapeutic plan for you. This may include nutritional supplements, herbal medicines, therapeutic diets, lifestyle modification, and drugs when appropriate. Nutritional supplementation, customized to the individual needs of each patient, is often an important part of your treatment plan. Our providers continually research nutritional supplements to be able to provide our patients guidance about the highest quality supplementation available. Some of these supplements are available in local stores or on the web, while some are only available through practitioner offices. As a convenience to our patients, we offer for sale many of the most common supplements recommended. They are of high quality and offered at the standard retail price. We are not able to compete with large companies and websites who can buy in large bulk at deeper discounts. We encourage you to do your research on the quality of the products you purchase outside our recommendations.

If you are running low on supplements you have purchased at Bio Energy Medical Center, you may come by the office during normal business hours to pick them up—or we would be happy to ship them to you.

Can Dr. Neuenschwander be my primary care doctor?

In general, we encourage people to keep a relationship with a primary care doctor for the following reasons—Dr. Neuenschwander does not have a hospital practice/admitting privileges, is not available for urgent appointments, is an out of network provider for all insurances, and is not set up to do routine screenings or specialty referrals often found in the traditional world of medicine. Some patients—who are willing to see the nurse practitioner for acute visits, find referrals on their own or through their insurance company, are willing to be admitted to a hospital using an on call doctor if needed, and pay the higher out of network fees—we will provide primary care.

Does Allopathic medicine differ from Homeopathic medicine?

Yes—Allopathic medicine is medicine in high concentration designed to suppress symptoms and is noted for its fast response in emergency situations. Repeated use can build up toxins and cause side effects. Homeopathic medicines are ultra-low dilutions and assist in detoxing the body of root causes of illness. They typically are slower acting because they help rebuild tissue systems.

Still have questions? Please give us a call at 734-995-3200!

Author

Bethany Wojnar, EMT-B Bethany has been working with Bio Energy Medical Center since 2017. With a background in advertising and social media, she handles all things marketing along with administrative tasks. She graduated from Central Michigan University in 2014 and is certified by National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians.