Helping you heal means understanding your lifestyle and medical history in great detail. Before we schedule your New Patient Consultation, we want to get a glance at your medical history and story so we can be 100% certain we pair you with the right clinician.

That’s why, before your first consultation with Dr. Z or one of our clinicians, we’ll ask you to complete a thorough patient intake application and share relevant medical records. This intake information is more than paperwork. It’s your story and our team’s window into your medical history. It’s also the first step toward getting to the root of your illness and helping you heal. 

We recommend that you set aside 45-60 minutes to complete this and have the following information handy:

• Past hospitalizations
• List of medications and supplements you are on (including dosage)
• Office notes/progress notes from relevant specialists
• Recent lab reports

Once you’ve completed the patient intake process, we’ll be in touch by phone to schedule your New Patient Consultation and match you up with the clinician whose expertise best fits your specific needs. 

Please understand that we only see a maximum of 10 patients per day to give each of you our undivided attention and medical expertise. For this reason, your New Patient Consultation may be scheduled several weeks or months from the time you complete your intake application, depending on what clinician you’re seeing. 

We will schedule both your New Patient Consultation and first follow-up visit at the same time, to make sure you get on the schedule as quickly as possible.

Your New Patient Consultation will be 60-90 minutes. We encourage you to bring a support person with you to your New Patient appointment, whether it’s your partner, spouse, parent, friend, or relative. 

It may also be helpful to bring a notebook so you can take notes or jot down specific things you want to make sure you tell your clinician. 

At the end of your appointment, your clinician will advise you on which lab tests you’ll need to get done. This first session is all about getting to know you and beginning the data collection process. Because we are a data-driven practice, we generally do not prescribe any sort of treatment plans, medications, or supplements  until we have analyzed your test results at your first follow-up appointment.

At the end of your New Patient Consultation, your clinician will recommend which tests you should get based on your symptoms, genetic history, environment, lifestyle, and of course, your medical history. Even if you’ve had many of these tests performed previously, we strongly recommend that you don’t skip any. 

It’s important to note that we will not do all of these tests at one time; instead we take a phased approach to properly analyze each set of tests. In a nutshell, we’ll eventually test all your bodily fluids.

We have a unique approach to ordering labs and in order to get the complete picture, we’ll need to see everything. Trust that your clinician has ordered each test for a reason.

Testing is not included in your consultation fees, but many could be covered or reimbursed by your insurance. If you’re in the Chicago area, we’d be happy to recommend diagnostic test facilities.
During your follow-up visit,  we will help you understand your test results and how they may correlate with your symptoms. You’ll also get a clearer picture of where you should be for optimal health, versus where you currently are. At that time, another round of testing may be ordered.

Genetics. Environment. Lifestyle. Together with your health history, lab, imaging, and advanced testing results, plus the latest research in microbiology, these are the factors that will drive the development of your personalized care plan.

Treating your chronic conditions means treating your body as well as you can. That goes beyond simply “eating healthy” and exercising. In order to help you heal, we have to uncover what “eating healthy” and “exercising enough” means for you and your body.

After your first follow-up visit, we will begin creating your custom care plan. You may get your plan quickly or it may take days or weeks. This takes time, because we put a great deal of data analysis, the newest research, and energy into every single recommendation we make. Dr. Z likes to joke that she doesn’t sleep (she only wishes she were joking!). That’s because her patients and their stories are constantly on her mind. We spend hours creating your one-of-a-kind treatment roadmap.

Your detailed plan may include guidelines, supplements, medications, nutritional guidance, and more. We are scientists at heart, so while every recommendation we make is backed by science, a lot of your treatment plan is all about experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t.  

We’ll recommend follow-up testing and visits depending on your unique situation and your individual progress. Depending on your condition and symptoms, we recommend quarterly, bi-yearly, or more frequent visits. Many of our patients start reporting resolution of symptoms in 3 to 6 months. We adjust your care plan based on data, emerging research, and advances in technology to make sure you’re always receiving the best, most updated care possible.

At Motivated Medicine, YOU and your health are our primary concern. For this reason, we have very intentionally decided not to take insurance, so we can take the best possible care of you. Health insurance company requirements often hinder quality care in our opinion. By not accepting insurance, it enables our team of clinicians to spend as much time with you as necessary and give you a treatment plan that truly serves your best interests and doesn’t inhibit you in any way from achieving optimal health. 

We can however provide you with a simple one-page billing statement called a Superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for out-of-network benefits (excluding HMO plans, Medicare/Medicaid.)