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A
doctor-patient relationship can be established only by a doctor evaluating a patient in
his or her clinic.
Consulting by telephone with Dr. Lowe doesn't establish a
doctor-patient relationship; instead, it establishes a health educational/counseling
relationship. When the doctor uses the terms "consulting" or
"telephone consulting," he is referring to educational
consulting.
Dr. Lowe strongly believes
that education, or reeducation, is a prerequisite to most people achieving
and maintaining optimal metabolic health. He believes this to be the case
not only for people who consult with him long distance, but also for those
with whom he has a doctor-patient relationship. Within their consulting
relationship with you, their intention is to help you understand what you need to do
and how best to do it.
In consulting with you, Dr. Lowe will consider your relevant health
history, exam findings, test results, responses to treatment, and your
questions. Based on these considerations, he'll strive to help you understand the most likely causes of your health
problem(s) and how
to
overcome them.
Some patients who consult by
telephone with Dr. Lowe is working to improve their
health on their own, without the help of local health care
practitioners. Most are using diet, nutritional and
herbal supplements, exercise, and some are using one or more
over-the-counter medications. Dr. Lowe strongly encourages patients to continually work at their own self-guided health recovery and
maintenance program. Through consulting, he assists such people in several
ways: by answering their questions, helping them set reasonable goals,
suggesting how to improve their treatment and health maintenance programs, and
by helping them identify and remove
obstacles to their improvement and recovery.
Other patients have disorders
that require treatment by health care practitioners. If this is true of
you, Dr. Lowe assumes that you have a local
health-care practitioner who is primarily responsible for your care. The educational information
he gives you is intended to aid you and your local practitioner. He often helps the patient
and his or her local practitioner troubleshoot a treatment plan that isn't working well
for
the patient. When a patient requests, he also orders any lab tests that may
help clarify the
nature of his or her health problem and what's needed to overcome it.
How
to Get the Most from Your Consultation
Dr. Lowe wants to make
sure the time you spend on the phone with him is maximally productive for you and/or
your doctor. To this end, he recommends three steps:
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Fax or
snail mail a brief (roughly one page) summary of the issues
you want to talk about on the phone. This will familiarize Dr. Lowe with the issues
you want to discuss during your phone consultation. (Be sure to
also fax or snail mail the consulting agreement.)
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Fax or snail mail
any relevant lab test results.
Dr. Lowe take the customary precautions in protecting the confidentiality of those
who consult with them.
Consultation
Fee
Phone consultations are charged at a rate of $4.25 per minute. We also
charge at the same rate for Dr. Lowe's preparation for your consultation, such
as reviewing your records, and for any work he does on your behalf after your
consultation. If you want to limit the consultation to a specific length of
time, please
let Tammy know when making your appointment for the consultation. This will help us
meet your individual needs, and it will help with our scheduling.
Short
Time Slot Appointments: If you have only one or two questions
that the doctor should be able to answer briefly, phone Tammy and talk with her
about it. If a short time slot is available in the doctor's schedule, she can
set your brief appointment for that time. If no short time slots are available,
Tammy will have to let you know whenever she's able to work you into the schedule.
To
Talk with Tammy About Consulting
To discuss or arrange a consulting
relationship, please contact Tammy Lowe. You can phone her at 603-391-6061
or write to her at Tammy@drlowe.com.
How to Send
Copies of Your
Records
You may send your records by snail mail
or fax. You may send as many pages as you feel are important for Dr. Lowe to
review. Please read details of
each of these below.
(1) Snail
mail:
Please mail your records to the following address:
The Lowe Clinic & Research Center
1800 30th Street, Suite 216
Boulder, CO 80301
(2) Fax:
303-496-6200.
Methods of Payment
(1) You may send a check or
money order to our snail mail address (see above).
(2) You may pay by Visa or
MasterCard.
Please write or type in your credit card number and expiration date on the
Agreement form, or give it to Tammy when you call to schedule an appointment.
The fees given on this page
were posted on July 1, 2007. They will apply until we post a notice on this page of a
change in the fees. We reserve the right to change the fees at our discretion at any time.
Whenever the fees change, we will post notice here with the date of the change.
The changed fees will apply to any services delivered on or after the newly posted date.
© Dr. John C.
Lowe, PLLC 2007
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