I’m practicing in a small rural town where Functional medicine is a relatively unheard-of term. I don’t think it would be reasonable to do all the tests suggested in this course secondary to cost concerns. What are the most necessary labs?

That will depend on the patient, and I always advise in situations like this where finances are limited, in which they often are, that’s almost always a question in practice to some extent. When you do the initial consult, we’re going to talk about the case review model that I use in my practice, and we start patients with a 30-minute phone consult or video consult usually. You may need to adapt this for your needs, but just get a sense of what the patient is trying to accomplish. In some cases, no lab testing is necessary. If you can address their concerns with diet, lifestyle, and behavior change, then you don’t necessarily need to do any lab testing at all. But if you do, once you know what’s going on, you can decide what lab tests would be the most effective in that particular situation.