Health
Possible Health Insurance Benefits with a Naturopathic Physician By Dr. Jenna Dye, Naturopathic Physician
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oard certified and licensed naturopathic physicians in the state of Arizona are not typically contracted with insurance companies and therefore do not accept insurance for office visits. The good news is that many patients can utilize some of their insurance benefits. I always recommend that patients contact their insurance company prior to visits to inquire about possible coverage. OUT OF NETWORK CLAIMS Some insurance companies may consider naturopathic physicians as out-of-network providers. Insurance companies may be able to reimburse you for partial or all your visits with proper documentation. At the time of your visit, you will be provided with the necessary forms, which include Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) and diagnostic codes (ICD-10). You can submit these forms along with your receipt to your insurance for possible reimbursement. This may be a mail-in form or an online form with uploaded documentation and receipts. The reimbursement amount will depend on your specific plan. HSA/FSA Some insurance plans offer a Health Spending Account (HSA) or Flex Spending Account (FSA). These accounts can be used to pay for naturopathic visits at the time of service and may also be used for nutritional supplement purchases and specialty labs. Any extra documentation can be provided and approval will be dependent on your specific plan. LABORATORY SERVICES AND IMAGING If you have private insurance and your plan covers routine lab work and/ or imaging, naturopathic physicians can order particular laboratory testing and imaging through your insurance. Sonora Quest and LabCorp are usually
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the preferred labs for most insurance companies here in Arizona. If you do not carry private insurance or do not have lab work or imaging coverage, there are cash pay options available depending on your specific needs. Specialty labs such as Food Sensitivity IgG testing, Comprehensive Stool Analysis and others are not covered by insurance and are either paid at the time of purchase or directly to the specific specialty laboratory. MEDICARE/MEDICAID AND AHCCCS Naturopathic physicians are not eligible to be providers with Medicare/Medicaid as well as state insurance (AHCCCS). Due to this, there are no options for possible reimbursement of visit costs. Unfortunately, there is no laboratory or imaging coverage if ordered by a naturopathic physician. In this situation, labs can be ordered at cash pay facilities for reasonable pricing. To inquire more regarding possible insurance reimbursement options with a naturopathic physician, contact your insurance company or call my office at 480-448-8888. Dr. Jenna Dye is a licensed naturopathic physician. Her role is to support the body’s foundation to restore and maintain optimal health. Together with her patients, this is achieved by identifying and removing barriers that may be impacting health while creating a healing environment. For more information, visit drjennadye.com.
What Your Doctor Forgot To Tell You About Your Back Pain By Leading USA Back Pain Expert, Dr. Tom Padilla
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o you have to continually do things like stretch or get massages to loosen up your back and avoid pain? Is your doctor telling you that your solution options consist of rest, surgery, and pain killers? Living with a stiff back is one of the #1 frustrations for people with any sort of back pain. The first time it happens, you might just ignore it. As it gets more consistent, you might think “I guess I’m getting older now.” However, back stiffness isn’t age related. Living with a stiff back affects people of all ages. In fact, a significant number of people in their 20s and 30s deal with this just like their 60-plus-year-old counterparts. The question then becomes, if it’s not an age thing, what is it? If you’re active and conventional advice like resting and “taking it easy” isn’t working for you, you don’t have to choose between surgery and giving up the activities that you love. We see this scenario all the time in our clinic. In fact, over 80% of the cases that come through our doors have a component of chronic back pain. Just recently, Jessica came to us with back pain that had been giving her problems since having her second child... which was 10 years ago. She’d tried yoga, stretching, strength training, massage, chiropractic, and even physical therapy. Each of these things helped a little bit, but the pain always seemed to come back. Until she followed our advice. There’s no such thing as having a “bad back.” Eighty percent of back pain is reversible. No matter how long you’ve suffered, you can still get your life back. No surgery. No pills. The 5 Most Common “Fixes”... That Don’t Work Long Term • Getting a New Mattress: One of our clients tried over six different mattresses before seeing us. (Spoiler: They didn’t help.) • Stretching: It helps for a little bit, but the pain will keep coming back because it doesn’t address the root cause of the pain. • Hot-packs or hot showers: These feel good in the moment and help get blood-flow to the muscles, but again, this is only a temporary fix. • Painkillers or Anti-Inflammatories: As you probably know, the pharmaceutical industry is getting slammed with lawsuits for pushing opioids they knew were addictive. Taking pills may provide temporary relief, but at the expense of your other organs. (Worse than stretching and heat, this isn’t even a temporary fix, it’s just masking the underlying issue.) • Doing Nothing: This is pretty common. People start and stop treatment plans because they get frustrated when nothing seems to work long term, leading them to think they just have a “bad back.” What Most Doctors Forget To Tell You The #1 thing that most doctors forget to tell their patients is that hydration may be playing a role in your back stiffness. Muscles need oxygen to relax. For oxygen to get carried to the tissues, you need blood that flows easily. When you’re dehydrated, your blood doesn’t flow as easily through your body. Without enough oxygen, your muscles continue to stiffen, reducing the blood-flow even further. It’s a vicious cycle. Staying hydrated won’t completely reverse your back stiffness on its own, but it’s one component of stiffness. But if you’ve never been told that… what else are you missing? What To Avoid Here are 3 things that can make your back pain worse.
Lollygagging: Believe it or not, your pace matters. When you’re browsing at the mall, you sway back and forth a little bit because you’re not really using your muscles. Have you noticed that the longer you casually browse, the more your back starts to hurt until you need to take a break? Crossing Your Legs: This is a biggie. When you cross your legs, it can put pressure on your spine, causing it to rotate or bend to the side. This puts more pressure on joints that are already arthritic. Ignoring It: Believe it or not, if this strategy hasn’t worked for you up until now, you’re not getting closer to a breakthrough. Trust me, there’s no prize for persistence in this category. How to Fix Back Pain for the Long Term Back pain isn’t caused by a “bad back,” and it’s not fixed by stretching or surgery or pain pills. Back pain is caused by fatigued, overworked muscles that have to work overtime because your brain has stopped using the smaller stabilizing muscles to do their jobs. The problem is in the communication between your brain and your body. This is the reason so many of the “solutions” we try only provide temporary relief–they’re not targeting the root cause. And without getting to the source of the problem, back pain will continue to return because the cause was never addressed. So how do you fix back pain? You retrain the brain. Exercises that remind your brain which muscles to use and in what order get to the source of your back pain to keep it from returning (or getting worse). Tips and Exercises to Crush Back Pain for Good Our special back pain report is full of more tips and exercises to ease your pain fast and change the way your brain works for the long term so you can get back to picking up your kids, playing your sports, or just tying your shoes. Get our special back pain report by calling or texting us at 480-482-0651 and asking for a copy, or emailing us at info@thedoctorsofpt. com and saying “back pain report.” Or, if you’d like to meet with one of our doctors one on one for a personalized diagnosis and roadmap to healing, ask us about our free discovery visits. Our doctors believe in teaching you about your body and finding an approach that works best for you. Through getting to know your history, we can know precisely what approach would work for your back pain. We have just 5 of these visits that we give away each month to those who qualify. To Apply For a Discovery Visit go to: www.thedoctorsofpt.com/discovery-session To Download A Back Pain Guide go to: www.thedoctorsofpt.com/back-pain Dr. Tom Padilla, Physical Therapist, and Back Pain Expert is CEO and Founder at The Doctors of Physical Therapy in Scottsdale Arizona. To get in touch or request that a free hard-copy back-pain guide (value $27) be mailed to your home, email him at info@thedoctorsofpt.com or call 480-482-0651.
THE SCOTTSDALE STANDARD • February 2022 • 21
