Our membership is unique in that we are a true medical practice. This means that we do not just make recommendations, we take full responsibility for the health of every patient – unlike health advisories and referral services.

In contrast to local concierge physicians, we provide immediate physician access and treatment globally. Connecting local, high quality medical advocacy with our international network is uniquely available through the Membership Program. We also provide care through a platform that integrates every element of your personal medical information to leverage the latest longevity science.

Although Comprehensive Wellness is not able to submit the membership fee to insurance, any time you receive services from Comprehensive Wellness they will be submitted to your insurance carrier as long as you have PPO coverage. Comprehensive Wellness cannot submit to HMO carriers or Medicare.

We do not share personal medical or contact information with any third party under any circumstances without written consent of the member. Membership is a HIPAA-compliant entity as are its pharmacies, evacuation, and USA- based participating physician/hospital partners.

Comprehensive Wellness will be introducing an exciting new patient education program, CW-You, in the spring of 2020.  CW-You will consist of a wide variety of health and wellness classes by our diverse multidisciplinary team of clinicians. Classes will cover topics including behavioral fitness for families, functional medicine, life transitions, pediatric yoga, nutrition, Zumba, balance training, acne clinics, mindfulness and much, much more.

The CW-You classes will be offered on an online calendar and sign-ups are free for members at all levels—bronze through platinum. Online registration will be first come, first served. This is a great way for people to explore all of the wonderful services and expertise we have to offer!

Additional details coming soon!

The silver membership will include access to all of the CW-YOU classes and includes unlimited access to your designated Comprehensive Wellness primary care physician, plus three discretionary visits each year to any of the Comprehensive Wellness specialty clinicians (such as Nutritionist, Therapist, Aesthetics specialists). Office visits and calls/emails with your primary care physician are all included. There is no limit on time spent with your physician. Most vaccines, lab draws, and office-based injectable medications are all included in your membership.

Primary care physicians offering the Silver Membership include Dr. Denise Hilliard and additional clinicians coming soon.  Dr. Rebecca Parish is only available to current membership patients.

Additional details coming soon!

Our partnership with WorldClinic allows us diagnose and treat you remotely, anywhere in the world, at any hour of the day.

The process is straightforward. When you are sick, injured, or have any health concern or question, you call our 24/7 Hotline using the Comprehensive Wellness/WorldClinic app. The physician who answers your call has access to your summarized medical records as well as information about local disease risks and best doctors and hospitals in your location. The physician will interview you and direct you in the use of your personal Prescription Medical Kit (PMK).

We have found that 95% of the time, the combination of our team of physicians and your PMK can fully address most medical problems. In the remaining situations, the physician will begin treatment using your PMK and then facilitate referral to emergency or specialized care. Detailed physician follow-up and tracking of your progress will continue until your issue is fully resolved.

Because we are not tied to a particular insurer, we can provide the highest quality of care and alignment of incentives between patient and physician.

Membership includes procedures that we perform within the office. For example, for lab tests, the actual blood draw that we conduct in the office is included. Once it is sent to the lab, it is up to the lab and your insurance company. Our membership program does not cover fees for services rendered by and billed for by outside care providers (i.e. lab, radiology, hospitalizations).

Along with instant physician access, your Prescription Medical Kit (PMK) enables immediate treatment by providing key medications for many common ailments. Your on-call physician will use your PMK to provide immediate treatment and address potential urgent care needs, no matter where you are.

If a Gold/Platinum member experiences a medical emergency while abroad, call the 24/7 WorldClinic MD Hotline using the Comprehensive Wellness/WorldClinic app. Our physicians immediately provide care and, if necessary, simultaneously coordinate your transfer to the best local hospital through our geolocation feature. We have a proprietary 9,000-member database of international doctors and providers that meet our high standards. During your care, we confer with the treating doctor and transfer medical records. We follow through until you return home safely.

No. Wherever you are, your medical team is there. Whether you’re dealing with an unexpected diagnosis, emerging health concern, or sudden crisis, your membership ensures exceptional care for you and your family at home and abroad, 24/7.

Using the Membership App and PMK can also prevent the need for unnecessary office visits and hassles when you are local, streamlining care safely in coordination with your team.

Membership also provides preventive and longevity planning, chronic disease monitoring, an expert referral network, and coordination of all aspects of your healthcare.

Travel insurance and travel assistance are NOT medical care. With travel assistance, you place a call and then must travel to a care provider you have never met before. This reactive model may create an unacceptable delay and possible miscommunication due to cultural and language differences.

With our membership model, familiar and expert care comes to you with a single phone call, thus addressing your greatest point of risk in a crisis—a delay in receiving effective care.

Our clinical team carries a specific medical malpractice policy for delivery of telemedical care. In over 15 years of operation, the company has never been named in a lawsuit or deposed in a medical case. Our competent and caring physicians, along with our care practices, are the keys to our success. We track the progress of every case to closure.

We look forward to a productive and collaborative relationship with you. The Comprehensive Wellness team works closely together to ensure that you are looked after you in a timely, collaborative and patient-centered manner. Below are some tips for making the most of your membership.

Care Philosophy

Our goal with the CW Membership is to better align incentives in healthcare between physician and patient. We believe that, if we work together, we can deliver more efficient, personalized care and provide the uncompromised advocacy that we believe all patients need in our current healthcare environment. If there are issues or obstacles that come up, please communicate with our team so that we can help address them to the best of our ability.

Annual Membership Cycle

The CW Membership is an annual program and generally runs from March 15 of the current calendar year to March 15 of the following calendar year.

• Dr. Parish’s Membership practice is closed to new patients. Exceptions can be considered on a case by case basis only. Please call the office to get more information.
• Paperwork and HIPPA: please make sure that you have signed the CW legal/HIPPA paperwork. This needs to be updated per California law annually. This paperwork is separate from the WorldClinic paperwork; WorldClinic Members also need to complete the WorldClinic packet. New forms will be emailed annually (including HIPPA, Medicare opt-out, etc.).
• Membership continues unless we receive written requests to opt-out of membership.
• Your credit card on file will be charged annually on March 15 unless we receive payment via personal check prior to March 15. Please make sure that we have your preferred payment method on file.

Membership Care Team

While all of the Comprehensive Wellness staff and clinicians work together, there are specific contacts for the Membership program to help facilitate care. Our goal is to make communication as simple and efficient as possible. There are several ways to reach us based on different types of patient needs. Please see the general guidelines below:

• Beth Brand is our clinical membership coordinator. She is dedicated to the care of our Membership patients and their needs. She can be reached via email (bbrand@comprehensivewellness.org) or via the office phone. She has expertise in patient care, insurance authorizations, patient safety, and compliance.
• Gold/Platinum level membership patients can access the WorldClinic patient care team via the email: careteam@worldclinic.com. Please alert them when you are traveling.
• Dr. Parish takes the coordination of your care with the Membership very seriously. If you are experiencing administrative problems of any kind, please reach out to her directly. Her email is rparish@comprehensivewellness.org.

General Communication

Our goal is to make communication as simple and efficient as possible. There are several ways to reach us based on different types of patient needs. Please see the general guidelines below:

• During Business Hours: If you need to reach your primary care physician during business hours or have a time-sensitive request, please call the main office number. She does not carry her cell phone when she is seeing patients during the day. Please do not email or text urgent or time-sensitive medical needs.
• The John Muir Health patient portal (johnmuirhealth.com) allows you to message the CW Membership staff (who can then pass the message along to your primary care physician), view your labs and imaging results, etc. There is a code for this HIPPA compliant system on the “After Visit Summary” that your primary care physician provides for most patients at the time of their visit. The John Muir IT department can assist you with any questions regarding sign up – their contact information is provided on the visit summary paperwork.
• After Business Hours: If you need to reach your primary care physician after hours, please call the answering service via the office phone number. If your primary care physician is unavailable, calls will be forwarded to a covering colleague with access to your chart and medical history. As always, for a local medical emergency, please dial 911.
• Out of the Area Access for Gold/Platinum Members: please use the app on your phone if you are out of the SF Bay area for immediate WorldClinic access. This includes emergency care.

Appointments & Medical Records

We like to keep an eye on you! Please make sure that you book an annual physical. In addition to an annual exam, you may access your Membership as much as you would like, in whatever way you are most comfortable.

• For routine matters such as prescription refills, please contact the office. Beth Brand can be reached via the office phone or email (bbrand@comprehensivewellness.org).
• Your primary care physician may have evening hours and/or may be available on Saturday, as needed. If you are offered a visit time that isn’t convenient for you, please communicate your needs to the staff and we will make every effort to accommodate you.
• Comprehensive Wellness is part of John Muir Health Community Connect. This means that your records are connected electronically to the majority of the local medical community and hospitals.
• If you have seen outside clinicians that are not electronically linked to the health system, you will need to complete a “records release” form in order for our team to access that information. It is illegal for physicians to request records without patient consent. We need your help to ensure that the health information that we have for you in our electronic system is complete and accurate.
• Please read your After Visit Summary. Your primary care physician writes your “homework” at the end of this document to help you keep track of what was covered at the visit and what the next steps will be. If you have questions about the homework or any aspect of your visit or follow up plan, please contact Melissa or your primary care physician directly.
• Please book your follow up appointments while you are still in the office, if possible. We can always reschedule, as needed, but we find that it helps with continuity of care to have visits arranged ahead of time. Please reach out to Melissa with any changes or other appointment requests.

Prescriptions

As a convenient complement to the service that we provide, we recommend using Alto Pharmacy as allowed by your insurance plan. This San Francisco-based pharmacy delivers at no extra charge and utilizes email and texting to communicate with patients. We are not affiliated with Alto Pharmacy – we just appreciate the service that they can provide to our patients. Set up is easy: www.alto.com for more information.

Insurance Tips

We want to maximize what your insurance covers with the CW Membership.

• If you have access to an FSA or HSA, please communicate with your primary care physician when you come in for a visit. We will work with you to maximize submissions to these pre-tax programs, where appropriate. Please contact your HR department about the options for you.
• We try to do as much as we can for you within our office to allow for as many services as possible to be covered under the Membership fee. This includes labs, immunizations, office-administered medications, and other office-based medical care.
• We want to understand how to best utilize your specific plan. For example, if you typically receive a bill if you go to a standard lab, we want to do your labs in-house to avoid incurring additional costs. If your labs are normally well covered at a standard lab, you may choose to get them done at the location that is most convenient for you. There is no way for our team to know ahead of time if you will receive a charge from a lab or another care facility. If you anticipate hitting your deductible in a given year, it may be appropriate to schedule elective testing and procedures. Our team will work with you to coordinate this as much as possible.
• Superbills will be given to you or emailed to you after the conclusion of your visit. Follow up questions should be directed to your insurance company: contact information is generally available on the back of your insurance card. If there are problems with the submission of a Superbill on the practice side, please let us know so that we can help you resolve the issue.

CW-You Classes

The CW-You classes will be offered on an online calendar and sign-ups are free for members at all levels—bronze through platinum. Online registration will be first come, first served. This is a great way for people to explore all of the wonderful services and expertise we have to offer!  Additional details coming soon!