Unlock the secrets of a healthcare model that's changing lives as we sit down with Lauren Lewis, a passionate family nurse practitioner from the Functional Health Center at the Carolinas. Discover firsthand how Lauren's journey from orthopedics led her to embrace a transformative blend of functional medicine and direct primary care. Learn how this innovative membership-based model emphasizes a closer, more accessible relationship between patients and providers, ensuring same-day appointments and hassle-free communication. Lauren opens up about her initial reluctance and how this practice has become the most rewarding chapter in her career.
Tune in as we explore why direct primary care might be the game-changer you’ve been looking for, particularly if you're burdened with high insurance deductibles. Hear the compelling story of a pharmacist who slashed his family's healthcare costs while gaining superior care. Lauren explains how this approach is not just for the sick but for anyone seeking a more personalized healthcare experience. From the flexibility of using insurance for prescriptions to plans for expanding services to broader age groups, this episode promises to reshape the way you think about healthcare for you and your family.
Functional Health Center at the Carolinas
Lauren Lewis
Fort Mill, SC
1674 SC-160, Fort Mill, SC 29708
Mt. Pleasant, SC
570 Long Point Rd # 230, Mt Pleasant, SC 29464
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina League.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
I am here in South Charlotteand excited today to speak to
Lauren Lewis.
She is a family nursepractitioner for Functional
Health Center at the Carolinas.
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Lauren, thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely on this gloomy morning.
So I was on your website just,you know, really reading about
everything you guys do.
You have an amazing businessmodel, so tell us first a little
bit about you and how you gotinto this, and then we'll talk
about the practice.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, so we are a functional health center.
We offer two different types ofservices at our practice
functional medicine and directprimary care.
And how I got into this?
I was actually working inorthopedics.
Working in orthopedics and DrReiser and I approached me and
(01:11):
said you know, I really want tohave something else for our
patients here.
We have functional medicine,but I really want to offer them
primary care, with sick andwellness visits and just this
all-encompassing care for ourpatients.
And I said absolutely not, I'mnever going back to primary care
, I can't do it, I don't want todo it, it doesn't interest me.
And I will tell you.
(01:32):
You know, the more we talkedand the more we developed the
business plan, I am so glad wedid this because it has been
truly the most rewardingposition as a practitioner that
I've ever been in.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, I know what we were talking and you called it
direct primary care.
Tell us what that means exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So direct primary care is a different business
model and it really in the next10 years you're going to
probably see more of that thanyour traditional primary care.
And what it is is it is amembership-based primary care,
so you pay a membership feeevery month, but it includes
easy access to your provider.
So what that means is you cantext me, you get a same-day
(02:16):
appointment, whether that'stelehealth or in person.
You don't have to wait severaldays to hear back from me.
You don't have to wait weeks toget an appointment.
You don't have to wait a coupledays for your prescription.
So it's a differentrelationship with your provider
and what I find a betterrelationship and a lot less
hassle for the patient.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So who is your ideal patient?
Then Explain who should see you.
I think we were talking about,let's say, you have a really
high insurance deductible andhow that makes sense, right?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
So I talked to a pharmacist the other day and he
has switched to direct primarycare because he was paying
somewhere close to $1,800 amonth for his family for
insurance and using that acouple of times a year, but then
he would still have co-pays andget bills months later for labs
that they had had done.
And so what he has done is hehas brought his insurance down
(03:16):
to close to $600 a month for hisentire family and then he pays
about $200 a month for directprimary care for his family.
So he still has the insuranceif he needs it for catastrophic
events like hospitalizations oraccidents, but he gets better
care for himself and his familyand quite significant reduction
(03:39):
in costs for health care for theentire year.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So if you write prescriptions, can we run that
through our insurance?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yes, absolutely so.
You can still use yourinsurance for prescriptions, but
all of your visits whetherthey're sick wellness visits,
your physicals and then all yourlabs, are included in that
membership fee for directprimary care.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
And what ages do you see?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
We're doing 12 and up right now.
We hope in the next year toexpand to all ages, but right
now we're seeing ages 12 and up.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So you just touched on something you know.
When you think about making adecision like this as a consumer
or potential patient, you know,are you only seeing sick people
?
Or if I just say, hey, I likethis model, I just want to come
and have my annual with you, doyou work both ways?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Absolutely.
We're seeing a lot of both.
Some people call this conciergemedicine and I like to say it
is concierge because of what youget out of it without the
concierge price.
So we see a wide range ofpeople.
We see some people that do nothave insurance because they
can't afford it, and Icompletely understand because,
(04:51):
as a female, mine is about threeto four hundred dollars a month
, which is crazy.
I never use it.
So we do see some patients thatdon't have insurance and use us
instead.
And then we see patients thathave great insurance through
their companies but they want touse us because they get better
care.
I think in the primary caremodel that we have now in
(05:12):
traditional medicine, insurancedictates that you only get about
20 minutes with your patient,and if you're a provider, you
know 20 minutes is not enoughtime to get a full history of
what's been going on with thatperson for the last year.
So we get to spend an hour, anhour and a half, whatever it
takes, and the benefit of thatis people are well for longer.
(05:32):
We really get to the root oftheir issues and see a year of
wellness with that.
So how?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
do you do that?
How do you get to the root oftheir issues and see a year of
wellness with that?
So how do you do that?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
How do you get to the root?
Well, time right.
I think in every other practiceI've been in it's been rushed.
You have to review theirhistory and talk to them really
quickly and you just get thissnapshot of what's going on and
then you use your knowledge.
And in Western medicine wereally have fallen to using
medication as a band-aid.
So, for instance, if yourthyroid, if your TSH is low, I'm
(06:05):
going to automatically give youSynthroid.
Well, in our setting we canreally dive deeper and I can
look at your vitamin levels.
Maybe your vitamin D is low andthat's why your thyroid is low,
and so I can take the time toreally do that and get to the
root of it, instead of justputting a bandaid on it.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So what is the process like If our listeners
are thinking hmm, I really likethis idea?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
What happens.
You just call our office or youcan email us or email me
directly.
Again, that's a benefit of that, and what we do is we get you
on the schedule.
We send you an intake formthat's really thorough, probably
a little more thorough thanwhat you usually get.
We want to know every nittygritty detail of your life and
(06:51):
then you'll come in for aninitial consultation with me.
Usually we'll look at the labsthat you've had done recently
and we might add to those or wemight think those are sufficient
.
We'll do a full physical examand really get to know each
other.
I want to know what's importantto you.
I want to know if you'regetting respiratory illnesses
every three months.
I want to know if you live in ahouse that may have been
(07:14):
exposed to mold.
I want to know every detailabout you so that we, when
sicknesses do arise or problemsdo arise, we have a really good,
thorough base to know what todo.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
That's amazing, and can you tell us how much it's
called?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, so it's $97 a month.
I did a little quick mathbefore this for just kind of
averages of what people pay.
So if you're paying, you know,anywhere from $300 to $400 a
month, like I think most peopleare, for their insurance, you're
looking at $4,800 a year forthat, plus your co-pays, plus
(07:51):
your prescriptions, plussurprise labs and imaging, and
if you're doing $100 a month,for us that's $1,200 a year.
And then if you get yourinsurance down to around $200,
then you're at about $3,600 ayear, so saving about $1,200 a
year with a direct primary careand a higher deductible
(08:13):
insurance plan.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's amazing.
So I guess at times, like forthings, bone and joint arthritis
, do you have to then refer out?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
It depends.
We're pretty comprehensive sowe can.
If I do need to refer, I'm notgoing to I'm not going to
pretend like I know what I'mdoing.
I'm going to refer tospecialists If someone looks
like they need a surgicalreferral.
Obviously, we don't do surgeryor maybe more in-depth endocrine
following or rheumatology, buta lot of what we can do a lot in
(08:50):
our office is primary care andwe'll do everything we can until
we need to refer out.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Gotcha.
As far as misconceptions inyour industry you talked a
minute about, you know the wordconcierge might throw people off
and think, oh, that's just forthe rich.
But when I hear what you'redoing, and for the price you
know, it's really amazing thatone-on-one attention having
access.
So are there any othermisconceptions that we didn't
discuss?
So are there any othermisconceptions that we didn't
(09:18):
discuss?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Well, I think the name, our name, of our clinic
Functional Health Center of theCarolinas, we, we are, and it
started Dr Reiser started thisspecifically as a functional
health clinic.
We don't just take functionalhealth, functional medicine
patients, so I can take anybody.
If you've never heard offunctional medicine and you
(09:40):
don't know what it is, you canstill come to our clinic.
We like functional medicinebecause it really does help get
to the root of issues and a lotof times things don't need to be
treated with medication.
But what I like is I take thepatient that comes in, I talk to
them about how they like to betreated and we're going to treat
them the how they like to betreated and we're going to treat
(10:01):
them the way they want to betreated, whether that's
medication or whether that'sholistic treatment.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
That's amazing.
I was on your website readingtestimonials and you guys are
doing an awesome job.
When someone says they drivethree hours to come and see you
guys, that's pretty amazing.
So congratulations on that kindof success.
Thank you, yeah.
So what do you do for fun whenyou're not doing all of this?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, I moved here from Charleston so I'm actually
still exploring the area.
I've been here for about twoyears now, so I'm still really
getting to know Charlotte.
I live in South Charlotte.
I'm a bonus mom of four boys,so we are out and about.
(10:50):
They're involved in sports.
We are always outside.
They're just.
They've given me a new life,for sure, so I love to be
outdoors with them.
I love to be outdoors with ouranimals.
I like to read.
I don't really get to do thatthat much anymore, but yeah,
just spending time with them andthe pets that sounds exciting.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Well, I see the joy in your faith, so tell our
listeners how to find you guysand how to reach out.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, so we can be reached.
Our phone number is704-625-2994.
We are also on Instagram andFacebook so you can find us
there at FHC.
So Functional Health CenterCarolinas, and that's our email
(11:33):
address as well.
It's info at FHCCarolinas.
com.
Amazing.
Thank you for being on the showtoday.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's been a pleasure FHCCarolinas.
com.
Amazing.
Thank you for being on the showtoday.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It's been a pleasure.
Thanks, regina, nice talking toyou.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina League.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
I am here in South Charlotteand excited today to speak to
Lauren Lewis.
She is a family nursepractitioner for Functional
Health Center at the Carolinas.
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Lauren, thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely on this gloomy morning.
So I was on your website just,you know, really reading about
everything you guys do.
You have an amazing businessmodel, so tell us first a little
bit about you and how you gotinto this, and then we'll talk
about the practice.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, so we are a functional health center.
We offer two different types ofservices at our practice
functional medicine and directprimary care.
And how I got into this?
I was actually working inorthopedics.
Working in orthopedics and DrReiser and I approached me and
(01:11):
said you know, I really want tohave something else for our
patients here.
We have functional medicine,but I really want to offer them
primary care, with sick andwellness visits and just this
all-encompassing care for ourpatients.
And I said absolutely not, I'mnever going back to primary care
, I can't do it, I don't want todo it, it doesn't interest me.
And I will tell you.
(01:32):
You know, the more we talkedand the more we developed the
business plan, I am so glad wedid this because it has been
truly the most rewardingposition as a practitioner that
I've ever been in.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, I know what we were talking and you called it
direct primary care.
Tell us what that means exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So direct primary care is a different business
model and it really in the next10 years you're going to
probably see more of that thanyour traditional primary care.
And what it is is it is amembership-based primary care,
so you pay a membership feeevery month, but it includes
easy access to your provider.
So what that means is you cantext me, you get a same-day
(02:16):
appointment, whether that'stelehealth or in person.
You don't have to wait severaldays to hear back from me.
You don't have to wait weeks toget an appointment.
You don't have to wait a coupledays for your prescription.
So it's a differentrelationship with your provider
and what I find a betterrelationship and a lot less
hassle for the patient.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So who is your ideal patient?
Then Explain who should see you.
I think we were talking about,let's say, you have a really
high insurance deductible andhow that makes sense, right?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
So I talked to a pharmacist the other day and he
has switched to direct primarycare because he was paying
somewhere close to $1,800 amonth for his family for
insurance and using that acouple of times a year, but then
he would still have co-pays andget bills months later for labs
that they had had done.
And so what he has done is hehas brought his insurance down
(03:16):
to close to $600 a month for hisentire family and then he pays
about $200 a month for directprimary care for his family.
So he still has the insuranceif he needs it for catastrophic
events like hospitalizations oraccidents, but he gets better
care for himself and his familyand quite significant reduction
(03:39):
in costs for health care for theentire year.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So if you write prescriptions, can we run that
through our insurance?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yes, absolutely so.
You can still use yourinsurance for prescriptions, but
all of your visits whetherthey're sick wellness visits,
your physicals and then all yourlabs, are included in that
membership fee for directprimary care.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
And what ages do you see?
Speaker 3 (04:04):
We're doing 12 and up right now.
We hope in the next year toexpand to all ages, but right
now we're seeing ages 12 and up.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So you just touched on something you know.
When you think about making adecision like this as a consumer
or potential patient, you know,are you only seeing sick people
?
Or if I just say, hey, I likethis model, I just want to come
and have my annual with you, doyou work both ways?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Absolutely.
We're seeing a lot of both.
Some people call this conciergemedicine and I like to say it
is concierge because of what youget out of it without the
concierge price.
So we see a wide range ofpeople.
We see some people that do nothave insurance because they
can't afford it, and Icompletely understand because,
(04:51):
as a female, mine is about threeto four hundred dollars a month
, which is crazy.
I never use it.
So we do see some patients thatdon't have insurance and use us
instead.
And then we see patients thathave great insurance through
their companies but they want touse us because they get better
care.
I think in the primary caremodel that we have now in
(05:12):
traditional medicine, insurancedictates that you only get about
20 minutes with your patient,and if you're a provider, you
know 20 minutes is not enoughtime to get a full history of
what's been going on with thatperson for the last year.
So we get to spend an hour, anhour and a half, whatever it
takes, and the benefit of thatis people are well for longer.
(05:32):
We really get to the root oftheir issues and see a year of
wellness with that.
So how?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
do you do that?
How do you get to the root oftheir issues and see a year of
wellness with that?
So how do you do that?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
How do you get to the root?
Well, time right.
I think in every other practiceI've been in it's been rushed.
You have to review theirhistory and talk to them really
quickly and you just get thissnapshot of what's going on and
then you use your knowledge.
And in Western medicine wereally have fallen to using
medication as a band-aid.
So, for instance, if yourthyroid, if your TSH is low, I'm
(06:05):
going to automatically give youSynthroid.
Well, in our setting we canreally dive deeper and I can
look at your vitamin levels.
Maybe your vitamin D is low andthat's why your thyroid is low,
and so I can take the time toreally do that and get to the
root of it, instead of justputting a bandaid on it.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So what is the process like If our listeners
are thinking hmm, I really likethis idea?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
What happens.
You just call our office or youcan email us or email me
directly.
Again, that's a benefit of that, and what we do is we get you
on the schedule.
We send you an intake formthat's really thorough, probably
a little more thorough thanwhat you usually get.
We want to know every nittygritty detail of your life and
(06:51):
then you'll come in for aninitial consultation with me.
Usually we'll look at the labsthat you've had done recently
and we might add to those or wemight think those are sufficient
.
We'll do a full physical examand really get to know each
other.
I want to know what's importantto you.
I want to know if you'regetting respiratory illnesses
every three months.
I want to know if you live in ahouse that may have been
(07:14):
exposed to mold.
I want to know every detailabout you so that we, when
sicknesses do arise or problemsdo arise, we have a really good,
thorough base to know what todo.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
That's amazing, and can you tell us how much it's
called?
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, so it's $97 a month.
I did a little quick mathbefore this for just kind of
averages of what people pay.
So if you're paying, you know,anywhere from $300 to $400 a
month, like I think most peopleare, for their insurance, you're
looking at $4,800 a year forthat, plus your co-pays, plus
(07:51):
your prescriptions, plussurprise labs and imaging, and
if you're doing $100 a month,for us that's $1,200 a year.
And then if you get yourinsurance down to around $200,
then you're at about $3,600 ayear, so saving about $1,200 a
year with a direct primary careand a higher deductible
(08:13):
insurance plan.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's amazing.
So I guess at times, like forthings, bone and joint arthritis
, do you have to then refer out?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
It depends.
We're pretty comprehensive sowe can.
If I do need to refer, I'm notgoing to I'm not going to
pretend like I know what I'mdoing.
I'm going to refer tospecialists If someone looks
like they need a surgicalreferral.
Obviously, we don't do surgeryor maybe more in-depth endocrine
following or rheumatology, buta lot of what we can do a lot in
(08:50):
our office is primary care andwe'll do everything we can until
we need to refer out.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Gotcha.
As far as misconceptions inyour industry you talked a
minute about, you know the wordconcierge might throw people off
and think, oh, that's just forthe rich.
But when I hear what you'redoing, and for the price you
know, it's really amazing thatone-on-one attention having
access.
So are there any othermisconceptions that we didn't
discuss?
So are there any othermisconceptions that we didn't
(09:18):
discuss?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Well, I think the name, our name, of our clinic
Functional Health Center of theCarolinas, we, we are, and it
started Dr Reiser started thisspecifically as a functional
health clinic.
We don't just take functionalhealth, functional medicine
patients, so I can take anybody.
If you've never heard offunctional medicine and you
(09:40):
don't know what it is, you canstill come to our clinic.
We like functional medicinebecause it really does help get
to the root of issues and a lotof times things don't need to be
treated with medication.
But what I like is I take thepatient that comes in, I talk to
them about how they like to betreated and we're going to treat
them the how they like to betreated and we're going to treat
(10:01):
them the way they want to betreated, whether that's
medication or whether that'sholistic treatment.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
That's amazing.
I was on your website readingtestimonials and you guys are
doing an awesome job.
When someone says they drivethree hours to come and see you
guys, that's pretty amazing.
So congratulations on that kindof success.
Thank you, yeah.
So what do you do for fun whenyou're not doing all of this?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, I moved here from Charleston so I'm actually
still exploring the area.
I've been here for about twoyears now, so I'm still really
getting to know Charlotte.
I live in South Charlotte.
I'm a bonus mom of four boys,so we are out and about.
(10:50):
They're involved in sports.
We are always outside.
They're just.
They've given me a new life,for sure, so I love to be
outdoors with them.
I love to be outdoors with ouranimals.
I like to read.
I don't really get to do thatthat much anymore, but yeah,
just spending time with them andthe pets that sounds exciting.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Well, I see the joy in your faith, so tell our
listeners how to find you guysand how to reach out.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, so we can be reached.
Our phone number is704-625-2994.
We are also on Instagram andFacebook so you can find us
there at FHC.
So Functional Health CenterCarolinas, and that's our email
(11:33):
address as well.
It's info at FHCCarolinas.
com.
Amazing.
Thank you for being on the showtoday.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's been a pleasure FHCCarolinas.
com.
Amazing.
Thank you for being on the showtoday.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It's been a pleasure.
Thanks, regina, nice talking toyou.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.
That's GNPSouthCharlotte.
com, or call 980-351-5719.
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