Appointment Menu & FAQ

Functional Medicine
  • Discovery call with assistant (free). Talk to Laura’s assistant Meghan to find out if we can help you, and learn about the process.
  • Discovery call with Laura, 20 minutes ($67). Talk to Laura directly before becoming a patient, or about anything! NO medical advice given.
  • New Patient or 1+ years since prior visit, up to 75 minutes ($350). This includes an overview of your health goals, history and timeline, current symptoms, and lifestyle log. In addition, you can upload any current labs from the past 1-2 years. This appointment fee includes Laura’s time to review your case prior to the meeting, and a written health action plan afterward.
  • Followup, up to 60 minutes ($225). This is for patients seen within the past 12 months, to report progress, review new labs, discuss new issues, and update your health action plan.
  • Phonecall, up to 30 minutes ($150). This is for established patients to chat with Laura when needs are too much for the patient portal yet too little for a full face-to-face follow-up visit. This is not sufficient for lab review or a health plan update.
ACUPUNCTURE
  • New Patient, up to 75 minutes ($145). Includes intake and treatment, and added modalities such as moxa, e-stim, fire cups, and microcurrent.
  • Return Visit, 60 minutes ($95). Followup acupuncture treatment and modalities.
  • NEW for return patients: Acupuncture with lab or supplement review add-on ($195). 30 minutes before acupuncture treatment to review labs and discuss dietary, herb, and supplement recommendations.
  • Packages. These provide savings for those who need to come frequently.
    • $425 for 5 visits in 6 weeks
    • $750 for 10 visits in 12 weeks

FAQs

We do not bill insurance for Functional Medicine, however, we can give you a superbill with appropriate codes that you can submit to your insurance plan for potential reimbursement. Many people do get reimbursement! For acupuncture visits, we do bill Aspire plans as an in-network provider, and we also bill PPO plans that have coverage for acupuncture. You need to verify your coverage if we are not familiar with your plan.

We keep our Functional Medicine fees as low as possible in order to provide services to people from a variety of economic backgrounds. Laura is also very judicial about lab orders, and you can use your insurance for labs whenever possible. For acupuncture visits, we do offer a sliding scale fee, as well as packages for people who need frequent treatments. Please inquire about a sliding scale fee application for acupuncture.

This is very individual and depends on how long your health concerns have existed, and how many systems there are to investigate. You can discuss this at your first new patient visit. In general, Functional Medicine consults take place every 4 – 12 weeks until goals are met, and Acupuncture treatments take place 1-2 times a week until concerns are resolved. At that time we can discuss a maintenance plan.

Laura does not prescribe medications. She only prescribes botanicals and supplements. However, she can advise you about your hormone replacement options and can help you with how to talk to your doctor about your medications. This includes medications that you may need to wean from, because as you get better with holistic medicine, you may need fewer prescription medications or the dose may need to change.

Functional Medicine applies a root-cause approach to health and wellness. We investigate underlying body systems that are disrupted as the source of many common ailments. Our concern lies with the whole person, including their background story, environmental triggers, lifestyle, emotional and spiritual well-being, and nutrition. We use lifestyle medicine first and foremost, then natural agents like herbs and supplements, and medication comes last. Any licensed medical provider can take continuing education to become certified in Functional Medicine. To learn more, please visit the Institute for Functional Medicine.

Naturopaths use holistic and “natural” treatments, and there may be overlap with Functional Medicine protocols. Many Naturopaths practice “Green Pharmacy” which is the use of an herb, supplement, or hormone to help a symptom. Functional Medicine is systems-based and seeks to discover root causes that underlie symptoms. We shy away from a “use this supplement for that symptom” approach. If we use herbs and supplements, typically they are therapeutic and time-limited. Laura typically does not prescribe herbs or supplements to patients on a protocol from a Naturopath, to avoid overlap and confusion within a treatment plan.

This is an important distinction. Functional MDs are amazing – but few and far between. This is in part because the Functional model is time-heavy, and typically outside of insurance coverage. For these reasons and more, Functional MDs tend to charge a high fee for their services, and many only work through “memberships” or “concierge” services, which makes them accessible to a narrow affluent population. When you work with a Functional MD they can provide an integrative approach, and combine conventional “Western” medical care with Functional care. This means they can prescribe your medications and hormone prescription, which is a huge bonus! They can also do physical exams and provide primary care, however, some choose to opt out of primary care. Laura is a DACM and not an MD. This means she does not provide primary care nor prescribe medications or hormones. However, she is trained and licensed in herbal medicine, acupuncture, and nutrition so she brings a wealth of knowledge to the table that most MDs do not receive in their training. Her medical school has always been holistic, she never “made a break” from being a conventional provider. She can order your labs, however, her treatments are 100% holistic and do not include pharmaceuticals. She works respectfully in conjunction with your conventional doctors as part of your health care team.

book an appointment

Appointments take place at two Monterey Bay Paris Healing Arts clinic locations: 820 Bay Ave in Capitola (Santa Cruz County) and 700 Cass St in downtown Monterey.