Duke Integrative Medicine is now accepting insurance in order to increase patient access.
Previously, all sessions with a physician at the alternative medicine center were paid through Medicare or paid out-of-pocket. An hour-long new patient appointment costs $380, an expense most cannot pay in today’s current economic situation, noted Isabel Geffner, the director of communications at Duke IM. Now, insurance will cover physician consultations, health psychology services and nutrition services at Duke IM. The decision to accept insurance was a response to both an increase in customer demand for these services and to expand the availability of integrative medicine services.
“This speaks so fundamentally to the mission and purpose of our work,” Geffner said. “And as unusual as [integrative medicine] is, the care that we offer is care that belongs in the lives of everyone—it shouldn’t be exclusive to anyone.”
Duke Integrative Medicine treats patients with chronic complex conditions and patients looking for long-term health improvement. The 27,000 sq.-ft. medical center located on the Center for Living Campus assesses patients’ health holistically to recommend lifestyle changes and provide services to treat illnesses or ailments.
Under the new terms, any insurance plan accepted at Duke Medicine—including the StudentBlue plan offered to Duke students through BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina—will be accepted at Duke IM to cover physician consultations and health psychology or nutrition services.
Physician consultations at the center take an assessment of the patient’s physical, emotional and spiritual health and establish long-term health goals for the patient. Some of the health psychology and nutrition services available include relaxation and stress management services to lifestyle management. Services such as massage therapy and acupuncture will still be paid for out-of-pocket.
LaWanna Bochert, guest services manager of Duke IM, said more patients have been signing up for their services after hearing that insurance will be accepted.
“By opening the door to various insurances, we are going to open our door to a completely different demographic of patients,” she said. “If we had kept on the same path they would not be able to come here because they couldn’t pay out of pocket.”
Bochert said that even programs that do not accept insurance have also seen an increase in patient turnout as a result of the policy change. Since more patients are coming to receive consultations covered by insurance, more hear about other services and want to sign up for those.
Integrative medicine is an important aspect to overall health care but is not currently used by a majority of the population. Once more people realize the benefits of the treatment, it will become a standard form of health care, Geffner added.
“There are many times less invasive and less expensive ways of managing so many of the most commonly shared chronic conditions in this country,” she said. “Until we can get the entire [health] system to recognize this, we are not going to transform health care—all we are going to do is treat the small number of people who recognize there are alternatives.”
The Duke IM program has been at Duke for 15 years, but the facility that houses its services opened in November 2006, Geffner added.
Duke IM Executive Director Dr. Adam Perlman, noted that there are 50 academic health centers in the country that have integrative medicine programs, but Duke is the only academic health center with an integrative medicine facility. Some of these centers take insurance, but most begin their programs only accepting Medicare and out of pocket payments. More health systems are moving toward better combining integrative medicine with other care programs, but he noted that the country is still working to find a financial model to support this new system.
“Because the visits are longer and it takes more time to do these assessments, we just felt we wouldn’t be able to realize the greater vision of Duke Integrative Medicine if we didn’t start taking insurance,” he said.
Despite the increase in overall patient care at Duke IM, the main benefit of the new policy proves to be the better environment patients can receive treatment in, Bochert added.
“Once you walk through the doors you immediately know you are in a healing environment,” she said. “The thing that is the most important is that everyone really believes in the mission of what we are doing here and that makes a huge difference.”
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