FM Training Launch

What is the FDM Online Training Program?

On this page are answers to some of the questions we have been getting about our Functional Medicine Online Training - along with details about the training itself and of course about the upcoming enrollment. Scroll through the menu below and get your questions answered.

Questions:

Q: I’m not sure what Functional Diagnostic Medicine is, can you give me a quick definition?

A: Many people who seek medical care do not have a clinically identifiable disease or pathology. Their problems are based in what I call “derangements or blockages in normal physiology” and present as dysfunctions in one or more organ system that left unchecked would ultimately lead to disease and pathology. Typically these patients come to us having usually been told that everything looks normal based on the standard tests routinely run by their doctor (physical examination, urinalysis, blood tests etc.). FDM practitioners know that most of our patients are by no means “normal”, but are a long way from being in a state of optimal health. So why do we use and rely diagnostic techniques and standard interpretations that are designed to identify disease states and pathology only? Shouldn’t we use interpretative and diagnostic methods that can help us assess a wide range of problems that are more suggestive of sub-clinical or functional problems?

Many patients fall through the cracks of the current medical paradigm because they are neither sick from a pathological perspective (no tissue changes, no findings on diagnostic testing etc.) nor 100% well. These patients fall into a gray area of medicine and we need a different approach to be able to deal with this.

Functional diagnostic medicine is the way to deal with this because FDM is about becoming the ultimate medical detective. As a physician working in the realm of function and dysfunction, you need to have as many tools as possible to assess the body. You must be able to “cast your net wide”. You must have as much data about your patient as possible flowing into your assessment funnel.

  • Data from the patient’s story and history
  • Data from the patient’s medical records
  • Data from the patient’s body
  • Data from the patient’s urine
  • Data from the patient’s saliva
  • Data from the patient’s blood
  • Data from a whole range of Advanced Functional Diagnostic Medicine tests

But once you have all that information you must be able to process and make sense of it all. You must be able to quickly and efficiently communicate to the patient exactly what you think is going on. And finally, you must be able to clearly and concisely recommend what they must do to achieve a greater state of health and well-being. This is what Functional Diagnostic Medicine is all about and this is what you are going to learn in our Functional Diagnostic Medicine Training Program.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: There are a lot of nutrition courses out there. What makes this training program so unique?

A: I think the most important point to understand is that Functional Diagnostic Medicine is not about nutrition. Yes, we know that sounds totally bizarre since a lot of our individualized treatment protocols use nutritional interventions. The bottom line is, functional diagnostic medicine goes way beyond nutrition. Heck, if you want to do nutrition go to one of the many supplement companies that provide supplements to our professions and enroll in one of their cookbook nutrition courses. Functional Diagnostic Medicine is about much, much more. The bottom line is that Functional Diagnostic Medicine goes way beyond nutrition. To a lot of health care practitioners nutrition is synonymous with nutritional supplements. We’d like you to consider something for a minute.

The majority of doctors using nutrition today are doing it allopathically

The reason we say this is that most doctors, whether they are prescribing drugs or some natural supplement or an herb, focus on temporary symptomatic relief rather than getting to the true underlying cause of the dysfunction, disorder or disease. They are practicing what we have called “greenallopathy”.

The majority of the nutritional supplement companies have what they call “Protocol Manuals”, which are just glorified cookbooks: “Patient A has this disease then give them these 3 supplements“. We might as well do our patients a favor. Just give them the protocol manual and have them buy whatever supplements they like so we can go and sit on the beach!

Let’s look at it from the patient’s perspective. Never before has our patient population been more highly informed. They have, thanks to the internet, a wealth of information on nutrition and they can get nutritional supplements from their supermarket. But they are also in a different frame of mind than they were even a few years ago. They are sicker, feel less functional than at any time in history and allopathic medicine does not have any answers.

They want answers and are no longer satisfied with the same old nutritional approaches. They want a practitioner who has a wide frame of focus, can see the wood from the trees, does not just seek temporary relief of symptoms, can analyze information from multiple systems of the body, organize that data into a detailed report that clearly identifies what areas of the body are out of balance and communicate what steps are necessary to restore optimal function.

That’s why our FDM Training Program is NOT like those other nutrition courses.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: I presently use a popular nutritional program which is being aggressively marketed in the chiropractic profession. The main focus of this program is muscle testing to discover the underlying health problem. Why would I want to invest in your program when I can quickly uncover a patient’s health problem via muscle testing?

A: This is a great question and one that I have personally answered from other doctors. First and foremost, I will say that AK or other muscle diagnostic techniques have great value in helping doctors uncover some of the causes of XYZ disease. Where this type of analysis falls short is two fold: For starters, inter-doctor reliability many times varies leading to different findings. Considering treatment is dependent on an accurate diagnostic assessment, starting with a wrong diagnosis will lead to a poor outcome. Now if you think or have been told that lab testing can vary, I will have to whole-heatedly disagree and say that the across the board accuracy of lab testing is unmatched with even the best muscle testing practitioner. I have managed thousands of patients using functional medicine approach and have had the opportunity to treat many patients who had previously been to doctors using the muscle diagnostic technique and were not helped. I hate to say how many patients were completely mismanaged and the doctor was traveling down the wrong path. My suggestion is to use muscle testing as “part” of a comprehensive diagnostic assessment including the science of functional diagnostic lab testing. The combination would allow doctors to reach a new level of health management.

The second reason and probably something most doctors using muscle testing techniques may not have considered is the health consumer perception. You see, a comment I frequently hear from patients who were previously treated by a muscle analysis program is although it was quite fascinating to see how easily their muscle weakened and/or strengthened when being tested, they still questioned the validity of the procedure and commonly sought more convincing lab testing to satisfy themselves that something was not overlooked. To top things off, most of these same patients had a super tough time trying to explain to their family and friends how a muscle testing analysis could be of value in identifying a health challenge. Most of their family and friend’s perception of it was some dog and pony show and did not support these patients. On the other hand, hard data via lab testing is commonly accepted and is rarely if ever questioned. Most patients not only can see the results of their labs but they frequently bring it home to show their family and friends which results in a higher compliance and many referrals.

Now I need to finish by saying that muscle testing procedures would best be used in conjunction with objective lab testing.

Here’s a quote from one of our recent graduates:

“Even after 25 years of practice including Applied Kinesiology and nutrition I found the course informative, very thorough and valuable. I feel like it has increased my level of competency, and my confidence, resulting in significant practice growth.”

Richard A. Belli, D.C. 900 Fulton Ave. Ste. 300 Sacramento, CA95825 916-482-4150

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: I am interested in the promotion and step-by-step implementation/integration of FM within my chiropractic office. How do I transition from a subluxation/manipulative based practice to practice FM?

A: First of all I don’t recommend changing your subluxation/manipulative based practice but rather “add” functional diagnostic analysis. The addition of functional medicine will only enhance your practice and allow you to treat conditions that may have been out of your diagnostic comfort zone.

Now for “adding” FM to your practice, here is a simple action step. I recommend allotting a special time exclusively for your primary subluxation based practice and different time for patients seeking your service for functional medicine. I personally do functional medicine consultations on Tuesday and Thursdays from 11 to 2PM. Now that we got the time issue out of the way, here is a great way to open up the doors for your new functional medicine practice. First and foremost, I am going to give a little plug for our new training program. Announcing to your patients that you are enrolled in an advanced diagnostic program and providing some of the details will only create some buzz around your office and will ultimately lead to many patients seeking you out for answers to some of their most challenging health problems.

One way to introduce your work (by the way this will be covered in detail in our training program) is to have all new patients complete a general symptom review questionnaire in addition to their regular new patient intake form. This one simple procedure allows you to identify many health challenges that you otherwise would have never had known was it not for this questionnaire.

Case in point: I commonly will have a patient see me on my “regular” chiropractic time for say a neck problem and one quick review of their general symptom questionnaire reveals they are also suffering with high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, anxiety and the list goes on. Using a patient management procedure which I have perfected, the patient is scheduled for a separate FM consult on the time allotted exclusively for FM patients. It is important to separate the two practices. You basically are wearing two hats and it works extremely well.

I recommend you watch 2 videos we have produced that address this issue. Please click the links below to watch these videos:

“How to Integrate FDM Into A Busy Practice”

“The FDM Approach to Hypertension”

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: One concern I see with a functional diagnostic medicine approach is patients may be reluctant to pay for lab tests if the labs are not going to be covered by their insurance. They may choose a “stab in the dark” approach because it is cheaper.

A: What may be considered a negative to some is a blessing to others. You see, people will ALWAYS pay for what they want. People have this unique ability to come up with the money when they want something bad enough. And that is where you as a physician must “own” and believe that what the patient needs is extremely important in helping them get well. PERIOD! I may be bold in my comment but I believe with every ounce of my being that what I recommend in the way of labs is vitally important to the well-being and health of that patient. Most if not all of the patients I see for functional medicine are at the end of their rope and are desperately looking for answers to their health challenge. What is exciting is the fact that I have real answers to the patient’s health woes not found with their present and past medical experience and that is something people are willing to pay for. I promise you WILL have the goods and you will KNOW deep down in your gut that you have the goods when you acquire the knowledge to incorporate functional diagnostic medicine into your practice. Talk about the ultimate cash practice, this is a dream come true.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: I’m new to all this and would like to know where to start. A patient walks in with a complaint or symptom. Exactly where do I begin? What questions do I need to ask? How do I prioritize the findings so that patients don’t walk out with a sack full of pills to treat each condition I find?

A: To be quite honest, this is a significant part of our training. We will be presenting proven time tested clinical algorithms you will quickly discover will answer all the above questions.

However, we prepared a couple of videos that show you exactly how to do this. These are instructive videos and will show you how to easily add a turn-key Functional Diagnostic Medicine System to your practice and all for free! The title of our first video is:

“How to Integrate FDM Into A Busy Practice”

As you watch this first video you will learn:

  • The untapped new patient strategy
  • 3 steps you must learn to easily build a FDM practice. (No Need to “Re-Invent the Wheel)
  • The “step by step” approach to integrating FDM into a busy practice
  • The one mistake you most avoid at all cost in order to have a successful FDM practice.
  • The simple but powerful “pre-commitment” phase that will sky-rocket your patient compliance.
  • The missing ingredient most doctors overlook that will have your patients begging for your help.
  • How to organize and present a “no-hype”, clinically documented report of findings (I promise no consultants have taught you this)
  • Why Step #5 of the FDM system will eliminate any and virtually all competition and put you in class of your own.
  • How to put it all together, achieve amazing results and boost your income.

Our second video shows you how to put these steps into action by showing you how we approach 3 different patients with hypertension and demonstrate 3 different causes and 3 different treatment approaches using FDM. You can access the 2nd video at this link:

“The FDM Approach to Hypertension”

============================================

Q: Will I legally be able to implement these techniques?

A: The global answer is yes, however, from a chiropractic perspective, telling a patient you will “cure” them of XYZ disease via an adjustment is a big “no no” and will open you up to disciplinary action. This applies to functional diagnostic medicine too. We are not curing anything but rather assisting the body to function more efficiently thereby increasing the health potential of your patients.

To be quite honest, the typical disease specific approach using nutrition has a greater chance of leading to problems than the functional medicine model. All in all, each health professional should be privy of their state’s practice limitations and practice accordingly.

But that answer is simply not good enough to help ease any concerns you may have about this issue especially if you are unfamiliar with your state scope of practice. So, we decided to do the grunt work and gather this information. You will be pleasantly surprised with this important document. Go ahead and click the following link to access the excel document: http://www.functionalmedicine.net/scope.html

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: Is FM within scope of my practice as a DC? For instance the State of California likes to come down on DCs who claim to treat non-musculoskeletal conditions.

A: The whole concept whether functional medicine, acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, AK and yes even chiropractic care for non-musculoskeletal conditions is legal or within the scope of practice is entirely dependent on how you define what you are doing with your specific analysis method. If you say you can cure asthma with acupuncture, then you will have problems. If you say you can cure fibromyalgia with homeopathy you got a problem. However, if using the functional diagnostic model you say you are focusing on identifying and correcting the biochemical and physiological glitches which may be responsible for the development of fibromyalgia, you will be ok. Remember, if this was not the case, then it would be illegal to use AK, massage, homeopathy, acupressure/acupuncture or any other alternative medical analysis system.

Over the last few weeks we have been compiling information on the chiropractic scope of practices. Although chiropractic education includes education on physical examinations, blood tests and other more advanced lab testing, we are surprised how many chiropractors are unaware of the scope of their license and what they can legally do within their state.

We are always amazed and at the same time disappointed when a chiropractor ask us” can we really do what you teach”. Of course we could say “yes” but that simply was not good enough to help ease any concerns a chiropractor may have who is unfamiliar with their state scope of practice.

So, we decided to do the grunt work and gather this information. You will be pleasantly surprised with this important document. Go ahead and click the following link to access the excel document: http://www.functionalmedicine.net/scope.html

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: How do we improve compliance with testing and supplement? How do we teach patients to follow through and comply with diet and supplements?

A: The compliance issue is a logical progression of doing an excellent work-up. This includes conducting an exceptional history, review of past and present medicals, appropriate in house first line lab testing and finally the ordering of clinical functional medicine labs. Remember, 90% of ensuring your patients will comply with your recommendations is dependent on how well you do this part. Unfortunately, many doctors and other healthcare professionals will jump right into the treatment without spending sufficient time doing the work-up. Patients are accustomed to their primary medical doctors ordering tests, reviewing and studying the findings THEN making their recommendations. That is where functional medicine shines. Unlike the disease specific model which is comparable to cook book health care, the patient specific model/functional diagnostic approach is rooted in the work-up followed with enviable patient compliance.

Back to the Top

==================================

Q: Can I make money doing this? Will I need to raise my fees?

A: This is a very important question. With reduced insurance reimbursement, with an onslaught of managed care programs and a constant avalanche of paperwork involved with billing insurance companies, the established chiropractor is finding it increasingly difficult to operate a financially rewarding and stable practice. To add insult to injury, a brand new, just out of school chiropractor, will be lucky to get into a tenth of the managed care plans available.

Fortunately there is another way! Whether you’re an established or a brand new practitioner you will finally be able to….

FDM Profits

When you use our Functional Diagnostic Medicine System in your clinic and start running a few patients through it you will see some large profits from your consulting time, your blood work, your advanced lab tests, the nutritional programs you put together and the re-testing. The interesting part is, patients are excited to pay for this because they experience the value!

In the illustration above we showed how much profit you can make with Functional Diagnostic Medicine. That was for each patient. Here’s what happens when you see more than 1 patient:

10 FDM Patients/year: $16,500 -$25,000 20 FDM Patients/year: $33,000 - $50,000 30 FDM Patients/year: $49,500 - $75,000 40 FDM Patients/year: $66,000 - $100,000 50 FDM Patients/year: $82,000 - $125,000

Do you think you could see 50 Functional Diagnostic Medicine Patients in a year? We hope so and with the information in our training program you will do this and a lot more.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: What conditions are best suited for FDM? How do we identify which patients are the best candidates for FDM?

A: Functional Diagnostic Medicine will give you the tools and techniques to assess and treat the underlying cause of many of the most clinically challenging conditions you see in practice. Remember, you are not actually treating disease. You are identifying and treating the underlying cause. Some of the challenging conditions that respond well to Functional Diagnostic Medicine would include:

  • Coronary Artery Disease
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other gastrointestinal conditions
  • Inflammatory conditions such as Crohn’s disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Ankylosing Spondylitis
  • Asthma and chronic sinusitis
  • Female hormonal issues such as pre-menstrual syndrome and menopause
  • Stress related diseases and conditions of fatigue and lack of energy
  • Thyroid and adrenal dysfunctions

I think it’s also important to recognize that a lot of Functional Diagnostic Medicine is about assessing and treating dysfunction long before it manifests as a medical condition. In the training program we will be spending time discussing ways to help our patients prevent diseases such as these.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: What’s the time required to complete the course?

A: Your registration gives you 24/7 unlimited access to the training site at http://www.FunctionalMedicineUniversity.com for 1 full year. This will give you plenty of time to complete the training program, which is broken down into 9 modules and each of these modules is further broken down into individual lessons. Each lesson is about an hour in length. On the first day of class you will have access to all of the lessons within their individual modules. If you average 6 -7 lessons a week this program will take 3 months. However, you have one year of access to the site, so you have plenty of time to complete each module!

Of course all of the lessons will be archived as audio downloads and the slides for the training videos will be archived too so you can download the training material and have access to it forever! We also have a forum and a very complete library full of handouts, questionnaires, diets, tracking forms etc. Everything you need to be successful.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: Can I use your online training program for my CEU requirements?

SCU LogoA: We appreciate that you have many choices for your post graduate education to choose from to get your CEUs. Many doctors are unaware that the majority of States in the US give CE Us for online training.

We are proud that our FDM Training Program is co-sponsored by Southern California University of Health Sciences.

As part of your tuition we will submit your details to SCU to get you the maximum number of C.E. hours granted by your state for online learning. The only requirement on your end is that you participate fully in the program and pass the final examination.

Naturopathic Physicians

We are also a Program provider for the Oregon Board of Naturopathic Examiners. Our program is pre-approved for 30 hours of Continuing education.

Acupuncturists

Functional Medicine University and the Functional Diagnostic Medicine Training Program are approved for Acupuncture continuing education by NCCAOM.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: What does it cost?

A: We have 2 options for Physicians (MD, DC, ND, DO). Choose the one you prefer:

  • Single payment of $1995 (save $165)
  • 6 easy installments of $360, spaced 30 days apart

We also have a different payment plan for non-physicians and students. Choose the one you prefer:

  • Single payment of $1695
  • 6 easy installments of $310, spaced 30 days apart

We both went down to Atlanta last year to take the Institute of Functional Medicine’s A.F.M.C.P. Program, a 5 day on-site training. Not only did the training itself cost $3500 each but we had to add to that the cost of travel, our hotel rooms, and our meals. We worked out that this cost us an additional $2100 each. Then we had to add in the income we lost from being away from the office and the cost of keeping our offices open (office rent, payroll for staff, etc.). This brought the cost of taking a program like this up into the tens of thousands of dollars ($10,000 plus).

Thanks to the marvel of modern technology, we can make our cutting-edge information available as a complete training program without requiring you to leave the comfort of your home or office. Not only that, but you get to archive the entire training so you can go over the material time and time again. How many “on-site” training programs allow you to do that? In our experience, they usually charge you for the audio of the training!

So, if you have been waiting for a complete system to assess, diagnose, evaluate, and treat your patients from a functional perspective then this is the program for you!

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: Is there a money-back guarantee?

A: Absolutely. We have the best guarantee of any training program or seminar we have ever come across. In actual fact most seminars or programs you go to give you no guarantee. We think that’s appalling. Here’s our “30-day risk free” guarantee… Here’s how it works…

Our ” 30-Day Free Look“ Guarantee

You have a full 30 days to see if our “Functional Diagnostic Medicine Training Program” course is right for you.

If you determine that it isn’t, and that we have nothing of value to offer you then let us know and we’ll gladly refund your money. No hassles. No hard feelings.

Back to the Top

============================================

Q: You mentioned that you give a price discount to non-physicians. Are non-physicians able to take full advantage of this program? What about ordering labs?

A: This course is primarily a post-graduate training program for licesned physicians (MD, DO, DC and ND).We make our training available to non-physicians becuase many “non-physicians” are able to do Functional Medicine quite successfully in their practices. The following are some of the non-physicians who would benefit from our training program: nutritionist, dietitian, nurse practitioner, physicians assistant, osteopath (outside US), acupuncturist, herbal medicine practitioner etc. However, if you are a non-physician and want to take our program you are doing so with the understanding that many of the labs will not allow you to open up accounts, so please be aware of this prior to signing up. Many non-physicians have working relationships with a physician who co-signs or orders lab tests for them. This is definitely an option. Others take the training to expand on their current knowledge base and either ask the patients to bring in their lab work for a functional interpretation or ask the patient to ask their physicians to run the tests. Often times you can write a thorough report to the patient’s physician giving the reasons why you are requesting the lab tests, citing references in the peer-reviewed literature to supportyour request. This approach works very well. Finally, this program is not open to non health care practitioners.

Back to the Top

=============================================

Q: When you recommend supplements to resolve functional problems, do you use specific products, companies or give us descriptions or ingredient breakdowns of the type of product to use?

A: I first want to say that we are in no way linked or supported by any nutritional company or lab company. We are 100% independent and the information we give you is not biased by a fiduciary relationship with another company because we don’t have one!

Our clinical recommendations will include a variety of nutritional products which have been time tested via successful patient outcomes. We continually evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of natural therapeutic agents via subjective and more importantly objective testing. Our goal is to identify the most effective treatment protocols to return a patient to a state of optimal health.

Back to the Top

=============================================

Q: I live in the UK and am very interested in your program can I participate? I don’t really want to have to stay up all night to attend a live event.

A: The simple answer to your question is a resounding YES. This program is designed for anyone anywhere in the world to participate. All you need is an internet connection. We are using a unique online system to deliver our training program. This provides you with an interactive learning experience that will hold you accountable for the highest quality training information you will absorb in our step-by-step teaching style. We provide cutting edge content, automated tests and additional support tools (downloadable audio and clinic resources, an online forum etc.) that work to greatly increase your comprehension of Functional Diagnostic Medicine and ensure results.

Additionally, unlike other content delivery packages, such as CDs, downloadable e-books, etc., this interactive web-based delivery system ensures you receive maximum benefits from our training material. You do not need to be online at any particular time. You go through this program at your own speed.

We have broken this training program into nine (9) information packed training modules where we will walk you through all the steps to successfully integrate and implement Functional Diagnostic Medicine into your practice. It’s set up so that you go through it one lesson at a time. All the lessons are available as soon as class opens so feel free to go slower depending on your circumstances and time available.

Back to the Top

=============================================

Q: Is this just a repackaged product that you already sell?

A: No. This is not a re-packaged product. This is the first and only 100% online Functional Diagnostic Medicine Training Program available anywhere. You can’t get it anywhere else in any other form.

Back to the Top

=============================================

Back to the Top

We look forward to seeing you on the other side!

All the best

Your Support Team at Functional Medicine University