Office Policies

Appointment Types and Fees

Functional Medicine First Visit (2 hours): $300

  • Functional Medicine Intake and Assessment with Heather Ratliff, RN


First Visit with Dr. Betten after Initial Intake with Heather (1 hour): $250

  • Review test results and discuss treatment plan with Dr. Betten


Established Patient Visits: $95 (25 minutes)
$150 (45 minutes)
$200 (60 minutes)


Acupuncture Appointments: $95 – $150  depending on time and extent of treatment(s)

Payment
Payment is due at time of service. Cash, personal checks, and debit/credit cards are accepted. If you have a financial difficulty making a payment, please contact us to make alternative arrangements.

If you write a check that is not honored by our bank, any bank charges incurred (usually $30) will be passed on to you and you will be assessed an additional $20 Returned Check Fee.

Cancellation Policy
Because a significant amount of time is set aside for each patient, we require at least a 48-hour notice for cancellations of new patient appointments, in order to give us enough time to offer the appointment to another patient.

We require at least a 24-hour notice for cancellations for established patient visits. In the case of a missed appointment, future appointments will not be scheduled until the missed appointment fee has been paid in full.

The cancellation fee will be one-half of the appointment fee.

*Patients who no-show for a scheduled appointment will be charged the full appointment fee.

Telephone and Email Consultations
An appointment fee will be assessed at Dr. Betten’s discretion for telephone or email consultations in which a new problem is discussed or medication prescribed and/or more than 5 telephone calls per month, phone calls lasting more than 5 minutes, and frequent or lengthy email communications.

Up to 15 minutes: $45
More than 15 minutes: $90

Appointment Reminders
You will receive a phone call and an emailed appointment reminder at least 72 hours before a new patient appointment and 48 hours before established patient appointments to allow adequate time to cancel your appointment, if needed. It is your responsibility to make sure we have your current phone number and email address.

Waiting List
Patients will be offered the option to be called if an earlier appointment should open up prior to their scheduled new patient appointment.

Appointment Scheduling and Office Hours
An established patient appointment can be made by doing one of the following:

  • Call the office at (269) 312-8170 
  • Schedule your own appointment online (see the Schedule an Appointment page.)

Regular office hours are:
Monday 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Tuesday  9:00 am – 6:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Thursday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Vacations and After Hours Call
A receptionist will be available to take phone calls during office hours, however, Dr. Betten is available 24-hours a day by phone. As a courtesy to Dr. Betten and her family, please do not call after 9pm or before 8am unless it is an urgent matter. If you leave a message, Dr. Betten will call you back as soon as possible. When leaving a message, please leave your first and last name, a phone number where you can be reached, and the purpose of your call.

In case of any life-threatening emergency, do not call the office or Dr. Betten! Instead you should always call 911 or go to the nearest hospital for any emergency.

Prescription Orders and Refills
If you need a refill for a prescription medication that you take on a daily or continuous basis, please contact the pharmacy first. They will either fill the prescription or contact our office to request a refill authorization. If you have not been seen within the past year, you will need to schedule an appointment in order to continue receiving medication refills.

If you need a refill for a prescription medication that you do not take regularly, in most cases you will need to schedule an appointment first, especially if it has been more than one year since you were last seen. Dr. Betten will not prescribe or refill antibiotics or narcotics without an evaluation first.

Except for a few situations, new medications will not be prescribed over the telephone. For medicolegal reasons, Dr. Betten will usually need to evaluate you first whenever a new prescription is written.

Insurance Plans
Dr. Betten does not participate with any insurance providers, including Medicare or Medicaid for payment of any medical services. Some insurance plans will reimburse you for seeing an out-of-network provider.  Upon request, you will be provided with information needed to complete the form for reimbursement from your insurance company.  (This does not apply to Medicare.) Most insurance, including Medicare, should cover the cost of any testing ordered the same as a participating provider, but you should check your insurance plan to confirm this.  (This does not apply to HMO plans.)

If you have Medicare and want to receive medical services, you will have to sign a Medicare Private Contract with Dr. Betten.

If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flex Spending Account (FSA), you should be able to use those funds to pay for office fees.  This also includes visits for acupuncture.

It is your responsibility to know the details of your insurance coverage by checking with your employer, insurance agent, or other appropriate person. It is your responsibility to notify the office of any changes in your medical coverage.

Secure Messaging (Patient Passport)
You can register for Patient Passport, a secure messaging system, to communicate with Dr. Betten and access your electronic health record. Once you have agreed to sign up for Patient Passport, an invitation will be emailed to you with registration instructions. You will need to click on the link in the email and a secure invitation code will be texted to your phone to complete the registration.

*If you do not see the invitation email in your inbox, check your spam folder for the invite.

Confidentiality and Its Limits
Discussions are strictly confidential and will not be shared with anyone without your expressed permission given in writing to Dr. Betten. There are, however, certain exceptions that you should be aware of:

  1. Suspected cases of child abuse must be reported to the police and Child Protective Services.
  2. Elder abuse must be reported to the police.
  3. Dr. Betten may need to report you to public safety officers if she feels that you may be in imminent danger of harming yourself or others.
  4. We are obligated to attempt to warn and protect intended victims if we have reason to believe you are likely to inflict bodily harm on someone else.
  5. We may be ordered by a court of law to testify or to release medical records.