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INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE CENTER WELLNESS GROUP

Newsletter
Feed your hunger for health and happiness! - Joshua Rosenthal

OCTOBER 2013 VOL.1 NO.7

OBAMACARE and The WELLNESS GROUP


PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE VERY CAREFULLY - it outlines the important decisions that the INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE CENTER(IMC) has made AFFECTING ALL IMC PATIENTS in the wake of the new Obamacare laws. As a preface to this vital information please click on this eye-opening expose: (Wall Street Journal article - http://on.wsj.com/19ZsLhw). The new Insurance rates under Obamacare are out! Insurance costs it turns out are greater overall in 45 states than people were paying before - 50% increases or more for millions... often for coverage that is inferior to their current plan. While the BIG Business Health Care Model continues on an unsustainable path, the Integrative Medicine Center has transformed itself over the past year into a unique, sustainable concierge style Practice we proudly call the WELLNESS GROUP. How did health care become so costly? The current crisis is not surprising when the interlocking forces of BIG Medicine - highly interventional, pharmaceutically driven, crisis based, treat-the-symptom-not-the-cause medicine - BIG Government and BIG Lobby law-making and FDA regulation - BIG Food - BIG Insurance - have all combined to use our wellness as a ransom to drive profit and taxes. How did so many become chronically ill, requiring enormously expensive treatments or going untreated? Many were treated merely for the symptoms of their illness - not to eliminate the cause - when they became mildly ill. Here - get this prescription filled and take these pills to make you feel better. Untreated, these relatively minor conditions became worse and worse until they moved from the acute stage to chronic illness. Now the cost of treatment rapidly rises, opening the doors to the huge bills that make the medical industry, and those who ride its coattails, highly profitable. This is definitely not a Sustainable Medical Model.
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THE MEDICINE CENTER FOCUSES ON LYME DISEASE


A Rapidly Growing and Serious Health Problem in the Santa Barbara Area

The Integrative Medicine Center WELLNESS GROUP is focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. Dr. Jennifer Salcido, our Naturopath, along with Dr. Saunders, our MD and Medical Director, recently participated in a Conference sponsored by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) in San Diego. Here are excerpts from their report:

Happy Halloween!
Stay safe and brush your

Dr. Saunders: The symposium was an intense four days studying teeth after you Trick-OrTreat! the very latest research and clinical testing on Lyme and related tick borne pathogens. The most interesting information to me was about the use of the GcMAF (Gc protein macrophage activating factor - in the vitamin D - binding factor) that can dramatically improve the Autoimmune systems response - a treatment I am very familiar with - to treat Lyme patients. This could be very important for all of these types of intracellular infections. We are beginning trials in our office with this European- developed treatment.
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533 E. Micheltorena St., Suite 101, Santa Barbara, CA 93103 Phone: (805) 963-1824 Fax: (805) 963-1826 E-mail: info@imedsb.com WELLNESS GROUP Membership Phone: (805) 845-3220 www.Imedsb.com

INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE CENTER WELLNESS GROUP OBAMA continued from page 1


This politicized, hugely expensive way to run a health care system, is driving the most cost efficient Providers of high quality, personalized care - the Primary Care Physicians - out of business. In Santa Barbara and all across the country, many Primary Care Physicians are closing their Practices. The insurance industry, in lock step with Big Government (Medicare, etc.) has reduced the time of treatment and the coverage they will pay for, and made it almost prohibitively expensive to jump through insurance claims hurdles to get paid. The result: between 25% and 50% of legitimate insurance claims go unpaid. This is only a part of the hidden costs of running a Primary Care Practice today - but it is enough of a barrier that many physicians simply will no longer accept insurance for services rendered. The Key to an affordable, sustainable Wellness model begins with each and every one of us. We make this happen by embracing a mindset about Wellness that recognizes our health is OUR Responsibility - not the medical profession, not the insurance industry, not the government, etc. That means focusing on the very best Medicine on the planet - Green leafy vegetables and natures other nutrient dense, low glycemic foods, together with strong and healthy relationships and other lifestyle choices. This is not rocket science, just simple yet incredibly powerful choices that come with little if any price tag. This responsibility falls squarely on each of us. When we accept this we are already on the path. Next we need to practice listening to our own mind/body/spirit to discover what our natural state of WELLNESS is. Listening carefully to our SELF is a vital tool for WELLNESS. Locating a Health Care practitioner or group who embraces the notion that each of us are the center of our own WELLNESS, and supports us as we move up our unique WELLNESS learning curve, is another very important step along our WELLNESS path. This support can take the form like that used in the Integrative Medicine Center WELLNESS GROUP. Our approach is to use the very best 21st Century diagnostic tools and treatments focused on identifying the CAUSE of disease and its elimination or mitigation. We use the latest scientific, evidenced based treatments, sideby-side with centuries old holistic healing practices. We have to step back and re-examine our use of health insurance. For example we may choose to buy a very

OCTOBER 2013 VOL.1 NO.7

high deductible policy to reduce our cost of coverage, and use this policy only for catastrophic coverage, or, we may even decide health insurance is simply unaffordable at this time. In any event, focusing on preventatives and a healthier life style - in short, getting and staying WELL - is fundamentally wise. We have to remember also that insurance is one of the few things in life that we pay for and hope we rarely if ever get a benefit from! The Integrative Medicine Center WELLNESS GROUP Solution Like other Primary Care Practices, the Integrative Medicine Center has had to confront the many Health Care challenges facing medical Practitioners. Dr. Saunders had to decide if he would continue to accept insurance from patients, and, if so, what to do about the tremendous squeeze play the insurance industry and the government is putting on the quality of care the Practice could provide, and even on the very survival of his practice from a business point of view. He was being forced to limit the time spent with the Patients to only 7 - 10 minutes each because that was all the insurance companies would pay him for! And he had to treat only ONE ISSUE per visit! - again, because that was what insurance companies would reimburse him for. That was simply not enough time and attention to share with his Patients. Even then he had many claims denied or slow-payed. Multiple claims had to be filed in many cases to make the insurance companies pay, thereby raising the administrative cost so high to get paid for his services that it was becoming simply too expensive to accept insurance. Yet so many of his Patients were insured (almost 99%) that he would be doing them a disservice if he decided to stop accepting their insurance. He decided to form a select, limited membership community, called the WELLNESS GROUP, comprised of Patients who pay a small monthly fee - typically less than the Patients monthly cell phone bill - in order to be in the Practice and have unlimited appointment access to see the doctors, along with a whole host of benefits and access to substantially discounted services. This had been done at one time or another in a few Practices in town known as medical concierge service providers but with a high price tag - in some cases $10,000 or more a year. The IMC WELLNESS GROUP model was designed to be much more affordable than these concierge models yet provide a comparable or Higher Standard of Care. Under this new WELLNESS GROUP model, our

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INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE CENTER WELLNESS GROUP


practitioners and staff work for YOU - not your insurance company. We have an extra incentive to help you stay well - not to get you on an endless treadmill of sickness, prescribing expensive drugs with dreadful side affects, or convincing you of the need for surgery and other highly invasive, extremely expensive, sickness regimens which doom you to a lifetime of treating symptoms. We are dedicated instead to finding the cause and eliminating or mitigating disease. NOW THATS A SUSTAINABLE MEDICAL MODEL!

OCTOBER 2013 VOL.1 NO.7

tients must first pay off any balance on their account. D) able All at Services are due and paythe time they are rendered.

E) We will submit Patients claims for services rendered to their insurance carrier. Any payments received from those claims will be posted to your account. We will automatically charge any balance due to your credit card each month. For this purpose all Patients must keep on file with us a valid Credit/Debit card, or, a valid Bank Account #/Routing ACH Account, or, an active HSA credit card. We do not send out statements. F) For 3rd Party payments, Patients need to bring a check or credit card or ACH card from the 3rd Party Payer with them to the office, or bring a phone number for the staff to call for the credit card/HSA information. G) Due to her following in areas such as Bio-Identical Hormone Balancing, and Lyme and Associated Diseases, Dr. Salcido has a very busy schedule, and is already only seeing Patients who are WELLNESS GROUP Members or who are having their initial consult to decide whether to join the WELLNESS GROUP Practice. H) Gold and Platinum WELLNESS GROUP Members have NO COPAYS and NO DEDUCTIBLES. I) There is a three month minimum for all plans. Plans may be upgraded at any time; downgrades can be made after three months in any plan. J) There is a Single payer Family/Group discount. K) There is a $99 one time Registration Fee. L) All Patients must have an e-mail address on record with the Practice. If the Patient does not have an internet account personally, they need to arrange with a family member, friend, or business associate to provide one for them so we can send them account information, announcements, newsletters, and other communiqus. M) For IV Patients who are receiving nutrient IVs only, there is a fee (currently $38) charged for each IV, regardless of the Patients WELLNESS GROUP Plan type, to cover the actual cost of the IV nutrients in their Treatment. This part of the IV cost is not covered by any insurance carriers. We charge the Patients account for this before the IV is mixed since the materials cannot be recovered after they are mixed together. N) Patients who do not call to reschedule or cancel their appointments may have a non-cancellation
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From the business side of the Practice, several decisions had to be made and rules established to make sure the Practice would survive the attacks from the insurance industry and the help promised by the government. Here are some of the most important ones that have been implemented this month: A) Every IMC Patient needs to become a WELLNESS GROUP Member - paying the current rate displayed in the imedsb.com website payment schedule for their plan - now (be sure to note that insured and non-insured Members now pay from the same schedule). The deadline is December 31, 2013, but everyone is encouraged to join right away in case the Membership limit is reached before then. B) All newcomers to the IMC must join the WELLNESS GROUP to become an IMC patient (a provision has been made for an initial consult with the doctors to get to know the Practice before making the decision to become a Patient.). As the Membership levels reaches higher and higher, and the Membership limit that the WELLNESS GROUP can accommodate draws nearer, Membership has to be limited in order for the doctors to be sure they have the quality time to spend with their Patients. To learn more about or to join the WELLNESS GROUP please visit our website at www.imedsb.com or call Wayne or Patti Moore at the WELLNESS GROUP Membership office at 805-845-3220. We want every IMC Patient to continue to be one of our Very Valued Patients. C) To be seen at the IMC, or to refill a prescription or do a consult on the phone with the doctors, Pa-

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OBAMA continued from page 3


fee run on their credit card/HSA card/ACH account. O) Formerly, special payment arrangements were made with a few Patients who had extraordinary needs. We have found that this almost always works out poorly both for the Practice and for the Patient. We will honor all such special arrangement until December 31, 2013 after which we will no longer continue, or enter into, any special arrangements with any Patients. Every Patient, as well as every IMC Staff member and Practitioner, is unique and everyone has special circumstances. Please do not ask us to make arrangements contrary to the policies stated here and in our Terms Of Service Agreement . We have to abide by these provisions in order to remain in business and to continue to be able to provide every WELLNESS GROUP Patient the Higher Standard of Care we promise. Weve turned the medical model upside down! Our incentive is for YOU TO STAY WELL and OFF MEDICATIONS. By paying us directly as a WELLNESS GROUP Member, WE WORK FOR YOU - not your insurance company. That means the doctor wants you to be healthy, not just come in for more visits. We often are able to get people off multiple medications, saving them thousands of dollars every

year, and they become far healthier in the process. Remember - the deadline to become a Member is December 31, 2013. We want all of our current valued IMC Patients who are not yet a Member to stay with our practice. Please visit our website at imedsb.com and call our WELLNESS GROUP Membership office at 805-845-3220 to get more information and discuss any questions you may have. We will explain how the WELLNESS GROUP provides an affordable, Higher Standard of Care for you and your loved ones. Whether you are uninsured, or insured - either way - the WELLNESS GROUP can work for you and your loved ones.

WELLNESS GROUP offers New texting Ser vice!


The Integrative Medicine Center is proud to offer its patients and community at large the ability to send text messages to the office. This will enable the public to communicate their needs and desires in a more efficient manner, if text messaging is a more preferable option to phone calls or emails. The texting number is listed below, and will be monitored during our normal office hours.

1 (209) 800-3375
LYME continued from page 1
Dr. Salcido: I was fortunate to attend the ILADS annual conference October 17th through 20th. The conference was jam-packed with information on detecting and treating Lyme disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other associated illnesses. One of the feature presentations that was particularly helpful to me was titled Mycotoxins and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Many patients ask me how they can test for toxic mold. Previously we could check for antibodies in the blood but it was hard to determine if positive antibodies were from past exposure or current exposure to mold. Now through a laboratory called Real Time we can test urine for toxins that mold produce, which is great because if you have the toxins in your urine it means the mold has set up shop in your body. Toxins produced by mold can be particularly debilitating as they can impair our mitochondrial function leading to decreased ATP production and fatigue. Mycotoxins cause depletion of antioxidants by increasing oxidative stress, increased risk of malignancy by binding to our DNA and RNA, altering apoptosis (cell death), causing dysregulation of the immune system and increasing inflammation. Mycotoxins can cause chronic sinusitis, fibromyalgia, peripheral neuropathy, tachycardia, hypotension, migraines, headaches, rashes, abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, anxiety, depression, vertigo, chemical sensitivity, and cognitive dysfunction. A recent study found that 93% of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome had at least one mycotoxin present in the urine, nearly 30% had two mycotoxins present. If you have any of these symptoms you may want to request Real Time Laboratorys mycotoxin test to rule out mold exposure and colonization as a cause or contributor to your health issues. For some patients treating mold may be the missing link to better health.

533 E. Micheltorena St., Suite 101, Santa Barbara, CA 93103 Phone: (805) 963-1824 Fax: (805) 963-1826 E-mail: info@imedsb.com WELLNESS GROUP Membership Phone: (805) 845-3220 www.Imedsb.com

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