Patient Information Resources

Your partners in True Health

At Northwest Center for Natural Medicine our we strongly advocate for truth-based medicine. Our goal is to provide you with an honest approach to personalized health care.

There is no magic pill that will get your health back on track. True health is about understanding the imbalances in your body and targeting them with personalized programs. With over 25 years of experience, we are expert at designing plans to get your health back on track.

Our doctors are available for in-person or online Telehealth visit for New and Established patients.

Resources

OFFICE VISITS

Your First Appointment

During the first appointment, we take an extensive health history and do an in-depth review of your body’s systems. During this visit we will order past labs and medical records, and order any additional testing we think will help us further investigate the biochemistry underlying the cause of your symptoms. We will begin the initial steps of your treatment at this appointment.

A few weeks later we will meet for a follow-up appointment once the lab work and records are gathered and we will formulate and outline a comprehensive treatment plan.

We strongly encourage you to fill out the first office call paperwork online in your patient portal. This portal works much better on a computer than your phone. If you are not able to fill it out we do have a paper copy that you can bring to your appointment. See Below

Telemedicine

Telemedicine is a great way to connect with our physicians. At this time, we are offering telemedicine to all our current and also new patients from the State of Washington and Montana who are unable to access our physical practice

Schedule a FREE 15 min Virtual Consult

The purpose of the consultation is to see if our expertise and philosophy are aligned in a way that matches your health concerns and goals. It does not offer any kind of treatment advice but rather it gives each of us a chance to see if we are a good fit to become partners in your health care.

Download FOC paperwork here

HOW TO SCHEDULE RETURN OFFICE CALLS

Return office calls can be scheduled by phone or online through your patient portal

SCHEDULING

Scheduling Your First In Person Or Virtual Appointment

Call the office to schedule your first appointment. You will receive a welcome email with a link to our Patient Portal to fill out your digital paperwork and instructions for your first visit.
If you need assistance filling out the forms, please arrive 20 minutes early to fill them out. Please submit or bring in any relevant medical records you may have.
Please fill out the paperwork in the patient portal 48 hours prior to your visit to allow our physicians time to download and review your information.
You are required to activate your patient portal when you initially register as a patient. This portal has a secure messaging system and you will be able to upload your forms securely. On this portal you will be able to see all your treatment plans and any lab work that we order
If you have insurance, please upload a picture of the front and back of your insurance card.
If you are having a virtual appointment the link for your visit is provided in your appointment confirmation email.
If you have any difficulty signing up or filling out the intake, please contact our front desk at 360-754-7775

FINANCES

Billing and Insurance

We are committed to providing the highest quality, cost effective medical care.

We work with some insurance companies and provide discounts to self-pay patients.

Self Pay Patients

We offer a 20-30% discount to patients that pay at the time of service. The following are service costs with discount applied

Initial Office visit $225 for 60 minutes
Initial Office visit $280 for 90 minutes
Return Office visits $85 for 30 minutes
Return Office Visits $170 for 60 mi
Return Acupuncture visits: $75

Health Insurance

The Physicians at Northwest center are contracted with some insurance plans like Regence, Uniform, Premera, Lifewise, First Choice, Kaiser, Blue Cross Blue Shield (when billed through Regence/Premera).

Please be aware that each doctor may be contracted with some health insurances but not others.

Your health insurance plan is an agreement between you and your insurance company and we are not able to guarantee whether your insurance will cover naturopathic care.

It’s very important to take the time to call your insurance company to understand your benefits.

We recommend asking them the following questions:

Do I have naturopathic benefits on my insurance plan? Do I have acupuncture benefits on my insurance plan?
Is Northwest Center for Natural Medicine or Dr. Cheryl Plaza or Dr. Steven Plaza- in network with my plan? Our Identification numbers if requested are Office NPI 1407023773, Dr Steve Plaza NPI 1831212455, Dr Cheryl Plaza NPI 1073636668
If the physicians aren’t in network, can I be reimbursed for a percentage of the visit for ‘Out-of-network visits? If so what percentage?
Do I need a referral to see a naturopathic doctor or acupuncturist to have it covered by insurance?
Is there a limit to the number of visits per year with a naturopathic doctor or acupuncturist?
Write down the name of the individual you spoke to, date, time and reference number for your call.

Financial Responsibility

Payment is due at the time of scheduling on a secure system that will keep your credit card protected. For insured patients this is a booking fee that will be only be charged if you do not cancel your appointment within 24 hours.
For insurance patients Co-pays are due at the Time of Service. We accept cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, and Discovery.
PLEASE NOTE: Our billing service is a courtesy will our billing manager will bill insurance on your behalf however, they require that we keep a credit card on file so there won’t be any further delay in payment processing. It is a protected medically protect system and HIPPA Complaint.

SUPPLEMENTS

Supplements, Herbs, & Prescriptions

We strive to make available the highest quality supplements to our patients through our in-house dispensary as well as our online dispensary operated through Fullscript ( link to Fullscript account?).

Prescription Refill Policy

Please contact your pharmacy to initiate prescription refill requests. The pharmacy will send us a request via our fax or our EHR system. Please allow 2-3 business days to complete the request. If you have not been in the past year, please be aware that a yearly visit or virtual visit is required to determine if the medication is still valid and necessary.
If you would like a prescription for a new medication, or if transferring a medication from another physician that wasn’t addressed and charted in a recent visit, then an office visit is required to re-evaluate the safety and proper use of that medication in your treatment

LABS

Basic Lab Fees Covered By Insurance

Check with the lab and your insurance company to see if the labs we request are covered. If a particular test is not covered, consider self-paying ahead time to get a time-of-service self-pay discount.

Self Pay Lab Fees

We work with a variety of labs to find discounts and competitive prices for self-pay patients and the costs often end up being much cheaper than insurance prices.

Alternative Medicine Lab Coverage

Most Functional Medicine Lab tests are not covered. If some insurances say they reimburse for out of network labs you can submit proof of payment to get partially reimbursed. Please be aware we cannot advocate on your behalf if your insurance company declines payment for a lab we feel is a necessary part of your work up.

Communication & Policies

We communicate exclusively through our patient portal and phone only when necessary. This ensures that patients’ concerns are addressed in a timely manner while respecting our physicians’ time and ensures the security of patient privacy. Any phone calls with a physician that require the use of that person’s medical knowledge and medical decision-making will be considered a visit and will be billed as such.

Emergency Phone Consult

If you need to contact the doctor after hours, please be aware that all phone care after hours will incur a 35.00 fee for the call and time spent will be billable at our hourly rate.

Cancellation Policy

Please allow us at least 24 business hours to cancel or reschedule an appointment. We charge a $75.00 cancel feel if you miss your appointment or if you cancel less than 24 hours prior to the appointment. This fee is not billable to insurance.

Please respect this policy as missed appointments take the provider’s time away from other patients that need their assistance.

Medical Records/Madical Forms Policy

Please be aware that the staff will do their best to fulfill medical paperwork and records request in a timely fashion but the needs of patients at the office take priority. Please allow up to 14 days for medical records and forms to be processed. Since this requires extra administration time for the staff and physicians to gather and review the appropriate records the office charges a Processing fee. This fee is applied to all forms such as; Family Medical Leave (FMLA) forms, disability forms, employment/education letters, sending out medical records, compiling year-end statements for tax purposes and gathering information for HSA or Flex spending accounts. The document processing fee is a $25 administration flat fee. Photocopying and faxing are billed at $1.00 per page for the first 30 pages and $0.75 per additional page beyond. This is in accordance with the WAC 246-08-400 for form processing fees.

Still need help?

Contact our customer support