Functional Medicine + Primary Care: How an Insurance-Based Model Can Shape the Future of Healthcare.

Primary care is often considered entry level healthcare and centers around preventive health screenings, management and prevention of acute & chronic diseases. Primary care as a concept is the foundation of health for the general population. An efficient primary care model would yield optimal health outcomes and lower prevalence of disease for the population in which it serves.

Except it hasn’t.

In fact, preventable death is on the rise in America and until we address our primary care model, the trend will only continue.

There are several theories as to why this downward health trend is becoming a mainstay in America’s health culture: Increased sedentary lifestyles, diet, stress, fragmented patient-provider relationships, medical mistrust, and the influence of “big pharma”, the list goes on…

As health trends continue to decline, public interest in “alternative medicine” has surged.

Alongside this, the field of functional medicine has grown in response.

More functional providers are offering root-cause treatments for ailments that traditional providers may have “missed” or quite honestly, lacked the time to address.

Functional medicine offers deeper insight into health through advanced lab testing, supplements over prescription medication, and, perhaps most importantly, time. Time to listen to your health story and time to put all of the clues together.

But what if functional medicine didn’t have to exist outside of the system to do that kind of work?

Because if we’re being honest,

Functional Medicine can actually certainly exist inside a primary care model.

Functional primary care combines the depth and lens of a functional medicine approach with the foundation of primary care. Because changing a flawed healthcare model to improve outcomes means working within to identify and address its gaps.

It reminds me of the saying “nothing changes unless you do” .

To truly move healthcare forward, we must be willing to question insurance “norms,” patient expectations, and traditional healthcare.

By doing so, we influence positive change to a healthcare model that no longer meets the needs of our health.

Ready to experience functional primary care? Book a visit.