FAQ

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is about getting to the root cause of why you don't feel well—not just covering up symptoms.

Many people come to us after being told their labs are "normal" or after trying multiple treatments that haven't solved the problem. Instead of asking, "What medication matches this diagnosis?" we ask, "Why is this happening in the first place?"

We take a deep dive into your health history, symptoms, lifestyle, nutrition, sleep, stress, hormones, environment, and lab work to uncover the factors that may be contributing to your health concerns.

No two people are exactly alike. Two patients can have the same diagnosis but completely different underlying causes. That's why every treatment plan we create is personalized to the individual.

Our goal is to help you feel better today while also improving your long-term health and reducing your risk of future disease.

How is Functional Medicine different from conventional medicine?

Conventional medicine is often focused on diagnosing disease and treating symptoms. In many situations, that approach is absolutely necessary and can be lifesaving.

Functional medicine takes a different approach. We want to understand why symptoms developed in the first place. Think of it like a tree. If the leaves are turning brown, you can spray the leaves, but if the roots are unhealthy, the problem will continue. Symptoms are often the body's way of telling us something deeper is going on.

Rather than simply managing symptoms, we work to identify and address the underlying factors that may be contributing to them, such as inflammation, hormone imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, gut dysfunction, chronic infections, toxin exposure, poor sleep, or chronic stress.

What does a Functional Medicine doctor do?

A functional medicine doctor spends more time listening, investigating, and connecting the dots. We look at your health as a whole rather than focusing on one symptom or one body part. We carefully review your history, lab work, lifestyle habits, nutrition, sleep, stress levels, and environmental exposures to create a personalized plan designed specifically for you. Your treatment plan may include changes in nutrition, exercise, sleep habits, stress management, supplements, hormone optimization, advanced testing, and sometimes prescription medications when appropriate. The goal is to help your body function the way it was designed to function.

What kind of care will I receive?

At WeCare Frisco, we focus on understanding the whole person, not just a diagnosis. We are always asking two questions:

1. What was happening when this symptom started that could have been a potential trigger?
2. Why is it continuing to progress?

We look for triggers, patterns and connections throughout the body because symptoms in one area are often connected to dysfunction somewhere else.

Our treatment plans are highly personalized and may address issues involving hormones, gut health, inflammation, immune function, metabolism, nutrient deficiencies, sleep, stress, and environmental factors.

Our goal is not simply symptom relief. We want to help you build a foundation for long-term health and vitality.

What is your Philosophy of Care?

At WeCare Frisco, we believe that symptoms are clues, not inconveniences. Our job is to understand what your body is trying to tell us and uncover the underlying reasons you're not feeling your best.

We recognize that two people can carry the same diagnosis yet require completely different treatment plans. That's because health conditions rarely develop from a single cause.

We use advanced diagnostic testing and a thorough review of your health history to identify potential contributors such as inflammation, hormone imbalances, gut dysfunction, nutrient deficiencies, immune dysregulation, environmental exposures, and metabolic dysfunction.

Once we understand what's driving your symptoms, we create a personalized plan designed to restore balance and help you achieve your health goals.

Our focus is always on helping patients feel better, function better, and live healthier for the long term.

How does WeCare Frisco work?

Our process begins with what we call the Foundational Assessment. This is where I take a deep dive into your health history, symptoms, lifestyle, and lab work so I can begin identifying what may be driving your health concerns at the root level.

Before we meet, you'll complete a detailed health history and have your lab work drawn. This allows Dr. Engels to spend time together analyzing your information rather than simply collecting it.

The Foundational Assessment includes:

• A comprehensive review of your health history and questionnaires
• A thorough review of your lab results
• A 90-minute one-on-one appointment with me
• A personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs and goals
• A follow-up visit with our health coach to help you implement your recommendations

During your appointment, we'll discuss nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress management, supplements, hormone optimization, and any additional testing that may be appropriate. Most importantly, Dr. Engels will share her thoughts on what she believes is contributing to your symptoms and the steps she recommends moving forward.

The investment for the Foundational Assessment is $1,495. There is absolutely no obligation to continue afterward. Some patients simply want answers and a roadmap. Others choose to continue working with us through our membership program for ongoing support and guidance.

What happens after the Foundational Assessment?

If you decide to continue your care with us, we work within a membership model. Our premium membership includes:

• Five 60-minute follow-up visits with me over 12 months
• Five 45-minute health coaching visits over 12 months
• Ongoing review of advanced testing and updates to your treatment plan
• 10% savings on supplements and products purchased through our office, Fullscript, and Doctors' Supplement Store
• 10% savings on procedures such as pellet hormone therapy, microneedling, and hair restoration treatments
• Access to our monthly Functional Medicine educational webinars and our Members-Only Portal to view past webinars

We typically recommend scheduling your health coaching visit about 1-2 weeks after your appointment with me. This gives you time to begin implementing your recommendations and allows our coach to help you troubleshoot challenges, stay accountable, and build momentum.

Our goal is not simply to give you a treatment plan, but to help you successfully implement it and get results.

How do I sign up for the Foundational Assessment?

Option 1: Sign Up and Pay Online

You can complete the registration form and purchase the Foundational Assessment directly through our website here. After completing your purchase, you will receive access to your patient portal, where you will be asked to thoroughly complete your health history forms and questionnaires.

Option 2: Sign Up and Pay by Phone

Call our office at (972) 668-2636. A member of our administrative team will collect your basic information, including your name, date of birth, email address, phone number, and mailing address. Payment will also be collected over the phone.

Once your registration is complete, you will receive access to your patient portal and will be asked to complete your health history forms and questionnaires. There is no price difference between signing up online or by phone.

Do you accept insurance?

Our office does not bill insurance. You may pay by check, credit card, or FSA / HSA debit card. Upon request, we can provide you with a copy of the superbill, which you can submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement for out-of-network care. The superbill is a detailed medical receipt that contains procedure codes, diagnosis codes, and the fees charged for your office visit. We cannot guarantee what reimbursement, if any, you may receive. We do not submit claims or call insurance companies directly. This is the responsibility of the patient.

We do not participate with Medicare, nor do we bill Medicare for any services rendered. A patient CANNOT submit superbills to Medicare for reimbursement.

Do you offer payment plans?

Yes, we offer payment plans for our membership subscription. Patients have have two options; yhey can pay for the entire year as a one-time payment (5% discount) or pay on a monthly basis for 12 months.

Our Foundational Assessment is a one-time payment, and we do not offer payment plans for this appointment.

Why don’t you accept insurance?

This is one of the most common questions we get. In short, Dr. Engels wants the freedom to practice medicine the way she believes it should be practiced. Insurance companies often determine what tests can be ordered, how much time a doctor can spend with a patient, and what treatments are covered.

Unfortunately, that model is simply incompatible with Functional Medicine, a type of personalized, root-cause care.

Functional medicine requires time. Dr. Engels spends hours reviewing questionnaires, medical history, laboratory data, and previous records before each patient visit. During appointments, Dr. Engels takes the time to listen, connect the dots, and create an individualized treatment plan. Simply put, that level of care is not supported by the traditional insurance model.

By remaining independent from insurance contracts, we can focus on what is best for the patient rather than what is approved by an insurance company!

What About Lab Work?

Many routine blood tests can still be submitted to your insurance if you prefer. Depending on your coverage, insurance may pay for some or all of those tests.

For patients with high deductibles, limited coverage, or no insurance coverage for labs, we have negotiated discounted cash pricing through Quest and Cleveland HeartLab. In many cases, patients find these prices are actually lower than what they would pay through their insurance.

An added benefit is that we can order a more comprehensive evaluation without worrying about insurance denials or unexpected bills.

Will insurance cover my lab work, or should I pay cash?

You have two options:

Option A: Submitting labs for insurance reimbursement

During the Foundational Assessment, we do blood work, and it depends on the patient's insurance coverage and diagnostic codes whether insurance will cover the lab work. We do an extensive foundational lab panel that looks at sex hormones, thyroid, inflammatory markers, cancer risks, cardiovascular risks, and vitamins and minerals. For patients who have a lot of diagnoses and have good coverage, we run it through their insurance. If you tell the doctor you want it run through your insurance, you can attempt to get it covered that way. When using insurance, you can have your blood drawn at WeCare Frisco or at an outside lab (Quest, LabCorp, or CPL).

Option B: Paying cash for lab work

We have negotiated a cash price for WeCare Frisco patients' labs. Our entire initial panel can be between $350 and $475, plus a $35 lab draw processing fee.

It is important to understand that if you bill through insurance and they do not cover your lab work; it can cost you five to ten times as much, totalling at $3000 or more.

You must pay WeCare Frisco upfront for cash labs. If you prefer to use an outside draw center, just let the external draw center know that you would like to use "client bill" pricing. Please do not provide your insurance information as it may change the billing structure.

Do you use Function Health Labs?

We do not work directly with Function Health Labs. Dr. Engels orders her own customized, in-depth lab panel based on your individual intake questionnaires, so the exact labs are tailored specifically to what your history and symptoms suggest may be driving your concerns. This differs slightly from Function Health, which uses a standardized panel.

However, if you have recently had Function Health labs done (within the last month), please upload the results to your Patient Portal, as Dr. Engels may be able to use them in place of doing a full panel.

Once Dr. Engels reviews your questionnaires (which you fill out after purchasing your Foundational Assessment), she will have a much clearer sense of which specific labs are most important for you.

What About Specialty Testing?

Many of the advanced tests we use in functional medicine—such as comprehensive stool testing, hormone testing, food sensitivity testing, and certain specialty labs—are not consistently covered by insurance. In those situations, patients typically pay the laboratory directly. Some laboratories provide a superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement, although coverage varies widely from plan to plan.

Because every insurance policy is different, we recommend contacting your insurance company directly if you have questions about your specific benefits, deductibles, or out-of-network coverage.

Do you accept Medicare?

We have formally opted out of Medicare and do not bill Medicare for services provided in my practice. However, some laboratory testing performed through outside laboratories, such as Cleveland HeartLab, may still be eligible for Medicare coverage depending on the test and your individual plan.

Who is a typical WeCare patient?

The truth is, there isn't one "typical" WeCare patient.

Some of our patients are dealing with chronic health conditions such as hormone imbalances, fatigue, autoimmune disease, thyroid disorders, digestive issues, diabetes, heart disease, weight loss resistance, depression, anxiety, or chronic inflammation. Others are relatively healthy but know they could feel better.

Many of the people who come to see me have been told that everything looks "normal," yet they still don't feel like themselves. They may struggle with fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, low motivation, stubborn weight gain, digestive symptoms, or simply a sense that something isn't right. Often, they've seen multiple providers and still don't have answers.

Our goal is to help uncover what may be driving those symptoms and create a personalized plan to help restore health and improve quality of life.

Most of our patients are women and men in midlife who want more than symptom management. They want to feel energetic, strong, mentally sharp, and engaged in life for years to come.

We don't believe feeling worse every year is an inevitable part of aging. While getting older is unavoidable, declining health doesn't have to be. If you're looking for a proactive, personalized approach to your health and want to understand what's happening beneath the surface, WeCare Frisco may be a great fit for you.

What do treatments typically involve?

There is no one-size-fits-all treatment plan. Every recommendation Dr. Engels makes is based on your history, symptoms, goals, lifestyle, and laboratory findings.

Treatment plans often include recommendations for ways to improve your nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, and other lifestyle factors that have a profound impact on health. Depending on your needs, we may also discuss hormone optimization, targeted supplements, advanced testing, or prescription medications when appropriate.

Dr. Engels strongly believes in using the right tool for the right patient. Sometimes that's a lifestyle intervention. Sometimes it's a supplement. Sometimes it's a prescription medication. Most often, it's a combination of approaches working together.

Our goal is always to help you feel better, function better, and improve your long-term health in the safest and most effective way possible.

Perhaps most importantly, we view healthcare as a partnership. Healing happens best when there is trust, communication, and a shared commitment to reaching your health goals. We take the time to get to know our patients because understanding the whole person is often the key to finding the right solution.

Will Dr. Engels become my primary physician?

No. Dr. Engels serve as a functional medicine consultant and does not replace your primary care physician. WeCare Frisco does not provide emergency care, urgent care services, or after-hours medical coverage.

All patients are required to maintain a relationship with a primary care provider who can perform annual physicals, preventive care, urgent, and after-hours medical care when needed.

Dr. Engels will collaborate with primary care physicians and specialists as part of your healthcare team. Having a strong relationship with a primary care physician allows us to work together to provide you with the most comprehensive care possible.