Most insurances do not cover specialty labs as these labs do not fall under what is deemed medically necessary. For the test to be deemed medically necessary, it must fall under the Medicare guideline that states, "Reasonable and necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of illness or injury or to improve the functioning of a malformed body member."
Within the practice of functional or personalized medicine, other labs are often explored to find the underlying root cause of the issue and its connection to other body systems. Functional medicine doctors will also look at optimal ranges of lab values that fall outside of the standard lab values to help provide insight into disease progression that can be missed within the standard lab values.
The examples of these labs include:
DUTCH TEST. This is a dried urine test to evaluate the level of sex hormones and its metabolites in a person’s body.
DUTCH Plus Test evaluates a level of stress ( cortisol ) in a patient’s body
GI Map or Genova Effects tests are used to understand the gut microbiome and how it affects a person’s body.
OMX, Neutraeval or Metabolomix evaluate a person’s nutritional status, pathways of energy production such as carbohydrate or mitochondrial metabolism; as well as liver function and function of neuromodulators.
IgG Food Explorer allows an insight of food sensitivities.
Dr. Zilberstein offers the above tests and interpretations of those tests. Please, call the office to make an appointment!
