Why Functional Medicine is the Better Choice for Health Optimization
Concierge medical clinics and InHealthRVA’s Functional and Integrative healthcare model are both vast improvements on today’s “disease-care” model, with its short appointments and little relationship with, or access to, your provider.
So what’s the difference between concierge medicine and InHealthRVA’s Functional & Integrative medical models? And what is right for you?
While both concierge and InHealth’s Functional medicine model offer much longer appointment times, better access and a real relationship with your health care provider, concierge medicine care is still conventional medicine: disease & symptom management through pharmaceuticals and dividing the body into seemingly disconnected parts.
In contrast, InHealthRVA’s Functional & Integrative clinic seeks to optimize your health through an investigative, holistic approach that identifies root causes and seeks to optimize health through a variety of therapies, including natural, pharmaceutical, lifestyle medicine and mind-body awareness.
Let’s dive into what Functional & Integrative medicine and concierge medical clinics have in common, how they differ and which one is best for you.
Understanding Functional Medicine: Going Beyond Symptoms to the Root Cause
Why Functional Medicine Stands Apart
Root-Cause Focus: Functional medicine asks, Why is this happening? We work to understand how the body works, what variables drive your health concerns and how to support your healing and wellness goals.
- Personalized Plans for You: We practice (personalized medicine)2: personalized medicine that is personalized to your health journey and needs. Functional medicine is personalized because it utilizes advanced labs that go beyond routine testing to investigate more areas of the body, more deeply. These include: nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, hormonal imbalances, microbiome issues and more. With these insights, we craft personalized strategies—integrating lifestyle, nutraceuticals, herbs, and pharmaceuticals—to meet your unique goals.
Compassionate, Whole-Person Care: We understand that your health history matters. It’s not just about fixing numbers on a lab sheet; it’s about combining this with your unique health history, your ability to take therapeutic measures and communicating with you to optimize your health in ways that align with your life.
Comparing Functional Medicine and Concierge Medicine: Thrive vs. Survive
Advanced
Diagnostics
Functional medicine goes beyond conventional testing to uncover what’s really going on in more depth and in more areas of the body.
Whole
Person
Functional medicine takes a systems-based approach. Your body isn’t a series of disconnected parts—it’s an interconnected system.
Preventative, Personalized Care
Functional medicine utilizes advanced testing to uncover the causes of your health concerns, address potential health abnormalities early and create a personalized plan to support your wellness.
Advanced Diagnostics
Functional medicine goes beyond basic blood work to uncover the mechanics of your body. Think nutrient levels, inflammation, toxin & infections, hormones and gut microbiome diversity—all areas that can profoundly impact your health but go unnoticed in conventional care.
Concierge medicine typically relies on standard blood work diagnostics like cholesterol panels and blood pressure checks. They may run extra blood work than in standard conventional medical appointments but aren’t trained in running, interpreting or implementing integrated protocols that include gut microbiome studies, advanced hormones, cellular health, inflammation & infections.
Whole-Person Focus
Where conventional care treats symptoms in isolation, Functional medicine takes a systems-based approach. Your body isn’t a series of disconnected parts—it’s an interconnected system. While concierge medical doctors definitely have more consideration and time for you, they aren’t trained to work with you to holistically understand, manage and even resolve common and complex health issues.
For example, stress can affect your gut and immune systems, which in turn can lead to hormonal changes….which can feedback and affect your gut, immune system and mood! Functional medicine addresses these links, empowering your body to heal as a whole.
Concierge medicine focuses on conventional analytics of labs to look for established diseases, such as high lipids and diabetes. Concierge medicine doctors are rarely or incompletely trained in whole-health, Integrative & Functional medicine, including herbal & supplement options, lifestyle and mind-body recommendations.
Preventative, Personalized Care
Functional medicine doesn’t wait for problems to become health conditions. By identifying & addressing potential risk factors early—before symptoms arise—it builds a foundation for long-term wellness.
Below is a side-by-side comparison to see how Functional and concierge medicine differ across essential aspects of care:
A Call to Thriving Health
At InHealthRVA, we believe everyone deserves the right to wellness-focused healthcare that combines the best of conventional and holistic medicine.
Whether you’re managing chronic health concerns, looking for more complete and personalized care or seeking to optimize your health and feel your best, Functional medicine offers the latest in modern understanding of human health, all in a more compassionate model along with a real relationship with your practitioner.
Are you ready to move beyond surviving and start thriving? Let’s work together to create a personalized health plan that empowers your body, mind, and spirit. Reach out today—your journey to lasting wellness starts now.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Email us at info@InHealthRVA.com or give us a call at 804-288-1111 or set up a Discovery call at a time that is convenient for you. Click here to schedule.
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Anyone 16 years or older can join.
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We are a hybrid insurance-membership model.
What does this mean? We will use your insurance for basic appointments and what lab work is covered. There is a yearly membership fee that will allow us the necessary time to spend with you for this complex level of care and education (and stay in business).
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Traditional PCP’s see roughly 30-40 patients/day and have multiple practitioners on staff.
We see ~6-8 patients/day and have just one Functional medicine-focused primary care practitioner and one Functional medicine expert consultant (who does not practice primary care nor can bill insurance).
The only way we can provide this service and stay in business is by having a membership fee.
Our mission is and always will be to revolutionize medicine to provide underlying cause, whole-person health and wellness care and to make it as accessible as feasible. Under the current insurance and billing environment, this is the best next step towards better insurance coverage for this type of medicine that will allow us to continue to exist as we work towards a better healthcare system.
We will continue to evolve and push insurance to cover more time and better health and wellness care from a Functional medicine perspective.
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Not quite. Concierge medicine isn’t (usually) more in-depth medicine, it is only better access and more time with your conventionally-practicing practitioner. InHealthRVA Primary Care will offer more time and more access which is spent doing great, underlying-cause, personalized Functional medicine for you.
In order to keep this in an affordable price range for our patients, you will not have 24-7, on-call access. If you are having an emergency when there is not an oncall practitioner available from InHealthRVA, you will call and/or go to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room. We will follow up with you immediately within the business day to provide guidance and an immediate appointment, if necessary.
“I am so grateful for Tressa and her team. I have been seeing her for over 3 years as needed and she has provided not only wisdom and expertise, but a listening and understanding ear. That can be so hard to find in the chronic illness world. There have been several times over the years during periods of discouragement for me that she encouraged me to keep “fighting” and pursuing health when I felt like giving up. I definitely recommend this practice!”
Ready for a better kind of healthcare?
Book your FREE discovery call today to get started.