Dr. Robertson will take a thorough health history, including discussing the forms you filled out in advance of your visit. He may perform orthopedic and neurological tests to help him develop a complete picture of your musculoskeletal system. In most cases, he will also do hands-on joint and muscle evaluation, as well as treatments like targeted stretching and neuromuscular re-education and perform a chiropractic adjustment (which can take many forms). Whole Healthy You / Whole Chiropractic Healthcare uses a secure off-site scribe system to help produce the necessary documentation from your visit; this enables the doctor to focus 100% on you and your care.

Although you may initially require more frequent visits to address long-standing patterns and jump-start the healing process, we are not going to keep you coming back three times a week forever! (In fact, patients rarely need three visits a week, even in the beginning!) 

Our goal is to get to the root of your health problems, not just treat the symptoms. With this achieved, we aim to give you the tools you need to stay well! Often this includes periodic tune-ups (see maintenance care below) and a plan for mind-body exercise that’s sustainable for you.

After completing a treatment plan—once their acute problems are resolved and they’re stable in a symptom-free state—most people find that periodic check-up treatments help them to feel their best. The frequency of these treatment visits varies based on lots of individual factors, including your activity level, diet, and stress. We don’t use the word “maintenance” because insurance unfortunately will not cover “maintenance” or “wellness” or “preventive" visits. Usually, patients have a complaint that the doctor examines, diagnoses, and treats.

We’ve also found over the years that patients who regularly engage in self-care with specific practices like yoga and meditation, pilates, chi gong, or tai chi are better able to monitor their health, stay ahead of chronic problem areas, and address exacerbations more quickly with short courses of treatment.

Note that although regular self-care is essential to well-being, insurance does not cover wellness or maintenance visits, but you can still use FSA / HSA accounts to pay for this treatment.

To provide you with the most focused, individualized treatment, Dr. Robertson sees a limited number of new patients each week. This ensures a thorough examination and the best care possible, but it also means we may not be able to see you right away—that said, ask the front desk if he can squeeze you in for a quick evaluation. Dr. Robertson can also see you via telehealth / virtual visit to give you some self-care options at home—see below.

In many cases, such as those involving acute injuries or flare-ups of long-standing problems, this possible waiting period can aid diagnosis by allowing inflammation to subside before evaluation; however, we understand that it’s also an uncomfortable time! Please visit the Resources page to learn what you can do to ease your symptoms right now—there’s often quite a lot!—or call the office for recommendations.

Telehealth is an online appointment via a secure, encrypted video. (You’ll just need a stable internet connection and a device with a camera and microphone. Your laptop, phone, or tablet is fine.) This is a great option for patients who need guidance and treatment but are unable to make it to the office.

Via telehealth, Dr. Robertson can provide quality care for nutritional consultations, physical therapy, stress relief, and more. Be sure to specify that you would like a telehealth appointment when scheduling. The staff will send you a form (per government guidelines) to authorize us to provide care via telehealth. At the time of your visit, simply click the video link above to go to our telehealth site. (or HERE)

It’s OK! Although chiropractic adjustments are extremely safe—and to many people feel fantastic—we have plenty of other options for patients who dislike manual manipulation, or for whom it’s not appropriate.

Just so you know, there is a much higher risk of more downstream problems for neck pain when chiropractic is NOT used. See here.

Also, healthcare costs associated with spinal care in general are much higher when chiropractic is not used. See here.

That said—we still don’t need to crack your neck to get you on the road to recovery.

You can use an FSA or HSA card at our office for just about every service, including supplements, when you are under an active care plan from Dr. Robertson. Unfortunately, insurance does not pay for investigational nutrition counseling or investigational testing. Sometimes an insurance representative will tell you that they “pay for nutrition”, but this is usually only in the special cases of diabetes and sometimes obesity care. Even when tests have been scientifically validated, insurance companies often consider them to be “investigational” and will not pay—especially when we are looking to prevent conditions from occurring or to maintain health or promote wellness. Think about it—if we could prevent more illnesses and keep you well, you wouldn’t need to have insurance, would you?

We participate with selected insurance plans, including Care First, the Federal Employee Program, other Blue Cross / Blue Shield plans, and Aetna. Some insurers that we are not contracted with may offer “Out-of-Network” benefits—we can check your benefits as a courtesy.

Although most insurance includes coverage for chiropractic, physical therapy, examinations, and even custom molded foot orthotics, each plan is different. Please call the office at 410.305.1331 for rates or for help understanding your benefits.

If your insurer is an HMO or other managed care plan, you may need a referral from your primary care physician, or PCP. (Here’s a sample referral letter you can take to your PCP.)

If your insurance plan does not cover our services (or you’re under maintenance/wellness care; see above), we offer discounted non-insurance rates that will still allow you to access our top-quality care. We keep these rates as economical as possible—we believe that cost of care should not be a barrier to healing. We offer additional discounts for active-duty and retired military and their families, and for seniors 65 and over, and for pediatric patients. Please call our office to inquire.

Many insurances now cover telehealth appointments for the same or a similar fee as an in-person appointment. Our office would be happy to check the charge for this benefit specifically with your insurance plan. Patients who do not have insurance can book a telehealth appointment for the same discounted fee as their in-person appointments. For more details, please review our Telehealth Informed Consent form or call the office.

Here’s an enlightening explanation. Here’s another. While costs to patients go up, payments to providers like us go down; at the same time, the burden of paperwork and other administrative requirements continues to increase (and insurance executives get bigger and bigger bonuses every year—makes you wonder how this is happening!). 

We believe strongly that healthcare, including chiropractic, physical therapy, and even functional nutrition works best as a partnership; third-party intermediaries, including insurance companies, fall outside this patient-provider relationship and unfortunately sometimes negatively affect our ability to offer the care we want to provide by dramatically increasing administrative costs and limiting patient care.

What does this mean to you? At some point, your healthcare costs are going to get too expensive and doctors’ reimbursements are going to get too low and the only healthcare around may look something like this. Many good doctors have left the insurance system because insurance companies are dictating how healthcare is delivered, rather than the doctor and patient deciding as a team.

Whole Healthy You / Whole Chiropractic Healthcare has chosen not to participate with many insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid. (Here are some of the reasons we don’t accept Medicare, although we do love seniors.) We are happy to work with patients who have this coverage to find ways to make the care they need more affordable—we offer discounts for seniors 65 and over, and for patients who have Medicaid . Please call our office to inquire.