1.) What is Bridges In Medicine Healthcare Incorporated?

Bridges In Medicine Healthcare, Incorporated is a multidimensional approach to comprehensive healthcare for today's world. The very premise of Bridges In Medicine is to integrate traditional and complementary medicine for a individualized health plan. We believe that healing and wellness best occur when patients have open communication with their practitioners. The emphasis of our approach is on proper healthcare education, informed decisions and a deeper responsibility on the part of the patients and the practitioners. This direction opens the door to a personal healing journey.

2.) What is an integrative medicine consultation?

An integrative medical consultation involves an evaluation by Jeffrey S. Sollins, M.D., a general internist or Family Practitioners L. Russell Canfield, M.D. or Angela Barnett, M.D.. Specifically, internal medicine is a branch of Western medicine that deals with adult medical care and the non-surgical treatment of internal organs and functions of the body. Internists serve as diagnosticians, personal physicians and health educators who are often untilized by other branches od medicine. The internists' approach mirrors that of many Eastern, diagnosis of your past medical history and present condition. Depending upon your specific needs and previous affiliation with your other physicians, it may be necessary to perform a thorough physical examination along with the comprehensive historical evaluation. Once it has been determined that all aspects of your medical care from a Western medicine perspective have been evaluated, an integrative T.E.A.M. will be established, with your input, to evaluate other complementary modalities that may be of benefit to your care. The T.E.A.M. will be created specifically to meet the complexity of your medical issues.

3.) What is the Bridges In Medicine T.E.A.M.?

The T.E.A.M. Approach: Trained Experts in the Art of Medicine. The T.E.A.M. is comprised of experienced practitioners in both traditional Western medicine and various complementary medicine modalities. The cornerstone of Bridges In Medicine, which makes us unique, is the intent of your T.E.A.M. From its inception, the vision, goal or mission is to create a model for healthcare in which the "whole" person is the focus of intention/attention. That attention is amplified by having a T.E.A.M. of practitioners specifically create an environment of safety and comfort wherein patients can also participate, proactively, in their own healing journey.

4.) How am I involved with the T.E.A.M. and what are my responsibilities toward my own healing?

Your involvement with the T.E.A.M. requires your commitment to proactively participate in your own healthcare. This participation begins before your integrative medicine consultation. You will be expected to complete an in-depth health questionnaire, which has been compiled from Western medicine, Oriental medicine, chiropractic medicine, botanical medicine, and behavioral medicine. Of equal, if not greater, importance is your time and effort in compiling Your Personal Story. What does this mean? Your story requires you to review and document your personal medical history from your own perspective. This may include a review of your physician/hospital experiences, but most importantly involves your interaction and perceived consequence to these events. An example from our past case studies: a patient had a normal healthy lifestyle until age 33, at which time various family members contracted what appeared to be a viral syndrome from which everyone recovered except the patient. From that time forward, there was a progressive loss of energy and interest in previous activities, difficulty in concentration, and perhaps a craving or repulsion from certain foods, smells or temperatures. This information is especially helpful to an integrated T.E.A.M. as clues not readily accessible in Western medicine.

Your involvement with the T.E.A.M. goes beyond being a thorough and prepared historian. Although a treatment program will only be initiated with your consent, once agreed upon, you must be willing to participate for a minimum of 90 days. It has been our combined experience that a 90-day program is the minimal required amount of time to elicit physical, emotional, mechanical and/or spiritual responses. Obviously, you are free to stop treatment at any time; however, since you are the only person who can ultimately create a change in your own healing, we suggest that you do not unilaterally stop treatment without the consultation of your T.E.A.M.

5.) Who are the practitioners involved with my care?

Your T.E.A.M. is comprised of licensed practitioners who have mature practices, and who have been recognized in their professional communities as providing high-quality care.

6.) How much does it cost?

The integrative medical consultation with Dr. Sollins will cost $175.00. Your T.E.A.M. consultation will cost $300.00 per hour; it has been our experience that most initial T.E.A.M. meetings can be completed in an hour. You will be monitored by Dr. Sollins throughout your T.E.A.M. treatment in order to assimilate written and verbal feedback from your T.E.A.M. Each follow-up appointment with Dr. Sollins will last about ½ hour, and will cost $90.00. Your individual treatments with individual practitioners will vary in cost.

Please understand that not spending time on insurance paperwork enables us focus on our patients and your T.E.A.M. consultations.

If finances preclude you from this fee schedule, please contact us. Our mission is to "do the right thing for the right reasons." We will make every effort to accommodate your needs.

7.) Is this covered by my insurance?

If you are a Medicare beneficiary, Bridges in Medicine™ is covered by the Lovelace Senior Plan. Other insurances may or may not cover your integrated medicine consultation; you will need to check with your insurance plan administrator. We will provide you with a superbill at the time of service for submission to your health plan. A referral by your primary care physician to Bridges in Medicine™ may assist the likelihood of you being reimbursed.

8.) Will I get better?

We promise to help you create a personal healing program. Bridges In Medicine® provides integration between conventional and complementary treatments. This is accomplished by providing communication and coordination among the conventional and complementary practitioners.

Bridges In Medicine™ was initially created to return a sense of balance and wholeness to the healing community. For too long we have been fragmented in Western medicine, with little communication occurring with the complementary community. Everyone had their own turf to protect. Bridges In Medicine™ reinforces balance and wholeness by creating a format in which all the practitioners sit together with you from the beginning. As a patient, you may relate the same story, but we are all trained to hear that story from different perspectives. By having all the practitioners available at your first T.E.A.M. consultation, we have the opportunity to interact with you as well as with each other to more clearly develop a specific treatment protocol for your needs.

It may be decided that you require a practitioner or modality that was not part of your original T.E.A.M. Or perhaps an original member of your T.E.A.M. will not be required for your program. In these cases, the intention is to create a program for you. We are an advocate for your health, and will teach you to become an advocate for yourself.

You are a unique individual with unique needs. We cannot promise to cure you, but we can promise to listen, educate, and create a wellness program that may help accelerate your healing journey. It is our hope at Bridges In Medicine™ that you develop a sense of balance and wholeness whether in illness or in health.