A letter to our current patients

Hey Y’all, 

 

I understand that our recent announcement may have come as a surprise to many of you, and I’m hoping that this letter can help explain why we’ve made the changes that we have. 

 

Let me start by explaining some of the changes in more detail.

 

For years, we have tried to juggle three very different types of medicine at once:

1. Holistic pediatric care (well-child checks, sports physicals, sick visits)

2. Routine adult primary care (hypertension, diabetes follow-ups, urgent issues)

3. Deep-dive functional medicine work (90-minute root-cause visits, advanced labs, and hormone protocols) - this aspect was not part of our original plan for the clinic and was driven by patient demand and the worsening health of the community.

 

These three competing models have spread us thin, and eventually made the clinic unsustainable. Our original clinic was very much built only for the first two, NOT all three. The old pricing and scheduling template was designed for “short” (but still longer than typical) 30-45 minute visits, not the hour or more 360-degree, root-cause work that many of our patients now require.

The reality is that we cannot continue to provide care under all of three of these competing models, while maintaining the quality and safety of care that each patient deserves. 

 The choice we made: 

 

After a thorough review and difficult conversations with patients and staff, we have decided to focus on our original mission— providing holistic care and providing a home for pediatric patients whom many medical practices have abandoned due to their vaccination status, birth location, other factors. In this new model, that means still offering pediatric options (just in a different form) and the functional medicine membership option for our patients who need it the most. However, that meant letting routine adult primary care go so that we can focus on these two areas where we feel most called to serve our patients and community. 

 

Doing this allows us to limit our patient numbers, ensuring each family member receives longer visits and proactive follow-up for functional medicine issues, which require significant behind the scenes work and investment. All of that while still being open to seeing pediatric patients, again, just in a different way. 

 

For families who primarily need standard pediatric checkups, we are still offering this service, and if your children see us infrequently, these à la carte options may actually be more cost-effective than the old membership.


For those who want our functional-medicine depth, whether for parents, teens, or young adults, we are maintaining a membership model.

What this means for our patients:
• If functional medicine is a priority for your family, the new membership covers it end-to-end (details and exact pricing are in the FAQ at rootedhealthclinic.com/faq).

• If you mainly need routine pediatric care, again, we can still manage that. For adult care, we understand the need to transition out; we’ll handle records, refills, and referral letters to ensure a seamless transition. Your current membership runs through July 31, and nothing renews at the new rate unless you opt in by July 15.

Whatever you decide, we are committed to being as clear and forthright about the reasons behind these changes as possible, and to being as respectful and efficient as possible during the transition.

 

We understand that this new model is different and it is purpose-built to be distinct from the old model. We also understand that means it will not be the right fit for every patient or family.

 

I am truly sad to know that many patients and families will be leaving the clinic in lieu of this change, and I care deeply about every single patient I have had at this clinic. However, I am not willing to compromise on the quality and safety of care we provide, and this difficult decision was made to maintain that quality of care.

In short, choosing to narrow our scope wasn’t easy, but it was the only way to keep delivering the level of care I’d want for my own family.

Warm regards,

Matt Altman, MD