ONLINE NATUROPATHIC FORMS
On this page patients can Enroll in Naturopathic Care, Refill Hormones, Request a Lab Slip, Report Adverse Reactions, Upload Documents/Labs securely, and Book Naturopathic sessions Online. Please allow 3-5 seconds for the booking widget to appear on the SCHEDULE page. The information below explains each form in steps.
NATUROPATHIC HORMONES AND WOMEN'S HEALTH FAQ
My Naturopathic FAQ page addresses how to schedule your visit, the conditions I treat and specialize in as a Naturopathic Doctor, How to Request a Labslip if you have not been seen recently, and how to request a Hormone Refill (30 Days only) until your hormone testing is finalized.
HORMONE DOCTOR APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING
Naturopathic Medicine, Hormone Management, and Hormone Med Checks are conducted by appointment only. Please visit the SCHEDULE page to receive Naturopathic care. Care is not conducted outside of appointments, except in the event of an adverse reaction there is no charge to receive a substitute hormone, herb, or supplement you cannot take.
To treat yourself to a Holistic Women's Health, Natural Endocrinology, Natural Dermatology, Natural Rheumatology, Natural Cardiology, Natural Gastroenterology, Natural Urology, or BHRT visit please visit my SCHEDULE page and allow 3-5 seconds for the booking widget to load. If you need assistance please call (480) 837-0900.
DOES MY INSURANCE COVER NATUROPATHIC VISITS?
Naturopathic Doctor's spend a great deal of time with their patients via a detective process to understand the "Root Cause" of symptoms and are quite different than the standard MD version of Endocrinologist, Dermatologist, Rheumatologist, Gastroenterologist, Urologist, and Cardiologist. Naturopathy is a complicated process that uses Functional Medicine, Nutrition, Natural Hormones, Herbal Medicine, Vitamins, and Supplements to address the "Root Cause" of these conditions, rather than just prescribing the antiquated failed "Sick Care" American Medical Model that we use X drug to suppress X symptom. This is why Naturopathic Doctors do not accept insurance and do not run their appointments on a five to ten minute schedule like most doctors that accept insurance. While some patients do receive reimbursement for their visits from their insurance we do not work with any insurance companies as it is too time consuming and the payment system is based on the typical 1-5 minutes an MD spends with a patient not the 30-60 minutes I reserve for each patient.
Instead of handing a patient a prescription after 60 seconds of listening to their symptoms, we are looking at the symptom set as a whole to understand which Functional Medicine systems need to be addressed to reduce inflammation, and aid healing of the affected tissues. Please read the blogs associated with the conditions you seek treatment for to better understand how my medicine is more of a "detective process" and not just a "prescription." This is why the new patient visit is 60 minutes and follow up appointments are 30 minutes. Time is required to solve the symptoms which cannot be conducted outside of a scheduled appointment.
NEW PATIENTS: WHAT CONDITIONS DO YOU TREAT?
I want every patient enrolling in my practice to be a success story, and only accepting new female patients with Women's Health conditions such as female hormone imbalance, thyroid, breast pain (not breast cancer), Urology, Rheumatology, Psychiatry, Gastroenterology, and Dermatology conditions. Women with these conditions can enroll into my practice. If your health chronic disease health condition is not listed, I can most likely help you with my seventeen years of experience working as a Naturopathic Doctor, but you should call my assistant to first confirm that we will be successful working together. Please ensure your NEW PATIENT PAPERWORK is submitted at least 48 hours prior to your appointment for me to review prior to meeting you! I am very detail oriented and ask a great deal of questions.
HOW DO I SUBMIT LABS AND DOCUMENTS?
Hormones Labs, Functional Medicine Labs, and relevant imaging can be faxed to us at (480) 409-2644 by calling your lab, previous doctor, or by calling your doctor's office and requesting the tests, not the notes are sent to Dr. Sundene. Please do not send your labs by text message as this is not secure, or labs from your patient portal as this is not a normal lab report that any doctor wants or finds useful as oftentimes there is one lab test per page which actually makes it more difficult for me to help you.
Or use the secure document upload form at the top of this page, or mail the labs to our clinic.
WHAT LABS ARE HELPFUL TO THE NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR?
I only want the past 1-2 years of your labs, Functional Medicine Labs performed by your previous Naturopath, and anything pertinent that is abnormal related to your chronic disease condition. Providing too much information ie: more than 20 pages will require multiple visits. Please stay problem focused so we can achieve results and I am not wasting your new patient visit sifting through three boxes of chart notes over the past twenty years.
For assistance with scheduling your Naturopathic Hormone visit or for questions if my Women's Health and Hormone practice can be help your specific health chronic health condition if it is not listed as the doctor's specialty, please call (480) 837-0900. We can also obtain copies of your lab reports from Labcorp and Sonora Quest by calling us to request this.
HORMONE REFILLS
We always refill your bioidentical hormones until you are legally due for a lab and follow-up visit. Please check with your pharmacy first before submitting refill requests. If you need a 30 day courtesy refill of your hormones to ensure your labs are accurate, please submit the REFILL REQUEST form. For accurate hormone testing, I need patients taking the hormones regularly without disruption for at least two weeks prior to the testing for it to be accurate. Do not take any AM hormones or caffeine the morning of your testing. Please stop biotin (hair loss supplement) two weeks prior to having your hormones test as it interferes with thyroid tests and female Hormone tests masking the hormone imbalance and making the labs appear as if they are completely normal, despite the patient exhibiting multiple symptoms.
HOW TO REQUEST A HORMONE LAB SLIP
To request a hormone lab slip please fill out this form: HORMONE LAB SLIP. Please read my NATUROPATHIC HORMONE TESTING page to confirm your testing is performed at the correct time of day and in the proper window with your menstrual cycle.
All lab slips are given directly to the patient at their appointment, or via a portal email. We never send your lab slip to the lab. Please ensure you are at the correct lab that is contracted with your insurance company. While some companies do not care which lab you are at, some policies may deny 100% of your charges should you be at the wrong lab. Labcorp is our preferred lab, due to fewer errors and wait times than Sonora Quest.
MY INSURANCE SENT ME A $2000 BILL! I THOUGHT YOU SAID THIS WAS COVERED!
EOB's are not bills. Hormone lab testing may look very expensive upon receiving your EOB or "Estimate of Benefits" until your insurance adjusts the lab's bill with their allowed amount. Most of my patients with decent insurance have their labs covered per their insurance plan. Patients with high deductibles usually end up having to pay around $100-200 dollars toward their deductible. I have never seen a patient in my practice receive an actual bill from the lab for $2000 unless the diagnostic codes are missing, or the patient failed to give the lab their insurance card. If none of the labs are covered it is either because #1 The phlebotomist did not enter the diagnostic codes on the lab slip or #2 The patient did not give the lab their insurance card, or #3 The Patient gave the lab their old insurance card that is the wrong card. These are the scenarios that cause mass hysteria in hormone testing that can be avoided by properly educating yourself about the hormone testing process up front.
HORMONE TESTING PROCEDURES AND COMMON QUESTIONS
Hormone patients should check in at the lab no later than 8 am. Hormones must be tested while the patient is fully hydrated with water but fasting (no food, caffeine, or AM hormones) during days 21-23 of the menstrual cycle unless otherwise stated on your lab slip. PM hormones should be taken the night prior.
Please do not get your hormones checked when you are not on the hormones consistently the two weeks prior to testing, or if you have accidentally taken any AM hormones as this will cause erroneous hormone labs and potential hormone safety issues. If you have not performed the hormone testing within the 30 day "courtesy refill" please do not waste your precious lab dollars getting hormones tested when you are not on them. This is an utterly useless waste of everyone's time and taking hormones does not "magically change" hormone numbers. I will just receive totally useless labs that looked exactly as they did prior to treatment. The purpose of the follow up hormone testing is to ensure your hormones are safe for the long run. Patients that perform their labs incorrectly will be legally required to return to the lab at their own expense (as most insurance plans only allow testing every three weeks.) So please read the hormone testing blog to confirm you are doing everything correctly and using your insurance to reduce if not eliminate the cost of your hormone testing.
Our hormone lab results take a minimum of 3 weeks to become final. Sometimes they come in sooner, at which point we will call you. We recommend you wait for the doctor to inform you the labs are final and correct before scheduling a follow up to avoid multiple appointments.
For more information on hormones and Hormone Testing, please visit our Bioidentical Hormone page.
HORMONE SUPPLEMENTS: VITAMIN AND HERBAL MEDICINE REFILLS
Our clinic uses Fullscript for all prescription grade supplements, vitamins, and herbal medicines the doctor needs to balance your hormones. Once you have set up your account, you can continue to order the supplements and refill them as needed. Patients do not need a prescription to order prescription grade supplements, and we need you to continue taking the supplements to ensure the treatment plan continues to work once the your symptoms are resolved.
While we recommend every patient has an annual hormone check up, this is optional for patients that have resolved their symptoms of hormone imbalance.
HOW OFTEN DO I NEED A HORMONE APPOINTMENT?
Patients should plan to be seen monthly until their symptoms improve. Generally Naturopathic Hormone Doctors need to work with patients monthly until they have improved and then every 3-6 months after that. I always recommend an annual hormone check up to ensure women's hormones are optimal and not just "In the normal range." Especially for women with hypothyroidism, perimenopause, Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, PMS, and menopause.
Existing patients can request a lab slip at any point if they are concerned their hormones are not correct by filling out the lab slip request below.
Visit notes with the doctor are required to get your hormones covered per your plan, if you have not been seen prior to the labs, your labs may be denied without filling out the proper request form so I have documentation for medical necessity.
HOW LONG UNTIL MY HORMONE LABS ARE FINAL?
Please do not listen to the phlebotomist at that lab that says 2-3 days. This is not a simple chem panel and cholesterol check ordered by most doctors. Hormone panels are specialty tests that must be sent out and require two to three weeks for our hormone specialty testing to be complete before scheduling your follow up appointment. The Total Estrogen, which is the most important test I need to help women with female hormone imbalance generally takes 3 full weeks.
To receive Naturopathic service, please book a visit on our SCHEDULE page or call (480) 837-0900 for assistance. We must see you annually at minimum to legally provide any hormones, advice, or medications per Arizona state hormone prescribing laws on thyroid hormones, and female hormones.
I am not legally allowed to prescribe medication by text message. Please do not text me copies of your labs as this is HIPAA compliant and I will immediately delete the text and ask my assistant to call you to schedule a meeting to review the labs.
For more information on how thyroid, adrenal, and female hormones are covered per insurance please visit our Naturopathic Hormone Testing page.
