Frequently Asked Questions

I find that the traditional house call has some advantages over an office visit:

• It establishes a more personal doctor-patient relationship.
• It is more comfortable and convenient for the patient, and can save the patient time, energy, gas, and money.
• It eliminates the need to find childcare.
• It allows visits with those who cannot drive.
• It prevents the patient from having to lug things into the office (or forget them at home).
• It eliminates the need for a waiting room, where one can be bored, uncomfortable, and exposed to other patients’ communicable illnesses.

I currently offer house calls within the San Francisco Bay Area.

Please call me at (510) 423-4253.  We will set up a time for a complimentary 15-minute phone call to see if this practice will be a good fit for you. If it is, we set up a time for your appointment at the end of the call.

Unfortunately, at this time I cannot offer to treat pregnant women or children under the age of 18.

For First-Time Patients:

If you are a new patient and I have not seen you yet, then please call me directly and I will be happy to cancel your appointment or reschedule it. As a courtesy, I ask that you please let me know at least 24 hours before your scheduled appointment.

For Established Patients:

If you cancel an appointment via email, phone or text more 48 hours or more ahead of your scheduled appointment you will get a 100% refund. If you cancel an appointment via email, phone or text less than 48 hours ahead of scheduled time, you will receive a 50% refund.

Yes. However, our initial consultation must be in person so that I may get a thorough history and conduct a detailed physical exam. Also, if there has been a significant change in your physical status, pain or symptomatology, I need to see you in-person so that I can re-examine you. In those instances, a remote visit would not be appropriate or safe.

Unfortunately, I can not accept private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare. This is a fee-for-service practice. I do not participate in any health plans or insurance networks. Ayurveda is not covered under most insurance plans. However, I will give you a superbill that you can directly submit to your insurance company for reimbursement.

Please contact me directly for pricing. If you have any financial hardship, please ask me for details about my sliding scale in exceptional situations.

To see if this practice is right for you, please call me at (510) 423-4253 for a 15-minute complimentary consultation. If we both feel that we would make good partners in your care, we will proceed to schedule our first appointment at the end of the call. To save us time, I advise that you fill out all patient encounter forms (see under “New Patient Forms”) prior to our initial appointment. These forms are quite thorough and take some time. I have carefully crafted them to gather detailed information about you. Once the forms are filled, we can get to work when we meet. Otherwise, our first meeting will be spent gathering this basic information from you. If you have any questions or doubts regarding your forms, please fill them out to the best of your knowledge and we will discuss them during our initial consultation. Having my patients print out their own forms helps me keep my prices reasonable. If you cannot print out your forms, please let me know. In addition to having your forms ready, please have ready all of your medications, and any medical records you would like me to review.

Our initial consultation can either be a visit at your home or at my practice in Berkeley. I will take a comprehensive history and conduct a detailed physical exam. I will also review your answers on your history forms. I will make recommendations about diet and lifestyle and help you correct your imbalances. I may recommend some herbal therapies as well. We will schedule a follow up appointment in 2-4 weeks. For more detailed information, click here.

If this is what you wish, I’d be happy to. In this case, I ask you to sign a form authorizing me to do so. I will not stop or change any of your medications. For more details, see my Informed Consent Form which can be found under “Patient Forms” in the main menu.

Absolutely! I am proud to be a family physician and I work with your regular doctor’s advice, not against it. I will not change any prescription medications you are taking. It’s important to stay up-to-date on regular modern preventive care such as vaccines, routine labwork, blood pressure checks, eye exams, and cancer screening tests. However, it is up to you and your regular doctor to keep track of these events. Please note that if you are taking supplements or treatments from non-physician practitioners, I may advise you to stop or taper those supplements. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis. I do not provide the following:

• Intravenous (IV) Vitamin Therapy
• Chelation Therapy
• Narcotics Management of Chronic Pain
• Anti-Aging Hormone Therapy
• Acupuncture and/or Chinese Herbs
• Homeopathy

My goal is to teach you to be cued in to nature’s signals and communications. The word “doctor” comes from the Latin docere, to teach. In other words, a doctor is really a teacher. Once you have learned the fundamentals of the language of health, you no longer need to see me on a regular basis. My role is to provide the structure, the system, and the support for change. The rest is up to you. I believe that at least one follow-up appointment (either on Skype or face-to-face) after the initial consultation is important, but it is not mandatory.