Common Questions & Membership Support
General
We have 2 locations! Our Newton location is at: 181 Wells Avenue, Suite 202, Newton MA 02459 – a few minutes off I-95/Route 128.
And our Back Bay location is at: 425 Boylston St 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02116
For our established patients, we have an after-hours answering service that can reach out to the on-call provider for any urgent concerns. We do highly recommend calling 911 in case of an emergency.
Monday through Friday: 8am-5pm
If you live outside of the state of Massachusetts, your first visit must be in person and subsequent visits may then be via telehealth.
The majority of our blood work is done at a lab such as Quest or Labcorp. Our testing for gut health, lyme, heavy metals, mold, hormones, etc. is done through 3rd party testing kits which are available at our office. At our office, we perform some Lyme and Food Sensitivity tests as well as Galleri Cancer screening.
By clicking ‘Patient Portal’ at the top of our website
Yes, we do offer pediatric care.
If you don’t have insurance or it is one we do not accept, then you may pay cash for a visit. If you have an insurance plan that we accept, then we are required to bill your insurance for visits. Please contact the office for more information.
Membership
Membership is required for everyone who wishes to receive medical care at Five journeys®. This includes consultation, primary care, gynecology services and IVs. Membership is not required to see only the nutritionist.
Yes! You do not need to be a member to access: Nutrition services, Wellness Coaching, Performance & Recovery Coaching, Wellness IVs.
Each plan is different; some allow this as an expense and others do not. Please check with your plan administrator to see if this is an approved expense.
For membership purposes, a family is defined by individuals who are on the same insurance plan that has the same guarantor.
We use a secure system through a payment collection service that bills you monthly.
Insurance
We are unable to accept any kind of public/ state-funded insurance plan. Some examples are but not limited to:
- Many Massachusetts Connector Products
- Medicaid/ MassHealth
- Network Health
- Tufts Carelink and Tufts Health Direct
- Medicare Advantage Plans (although we are able to accept PPO Plans)
The state of Massachusetts will not allow us to see patients with state-subsidized insurance, even as a self-paying member. Those who are eligible for self-pay will pay $699 for the first month and $249 for subsequent months. Please book a Discovery Call to learn more about our self-pay options.
Already an Established Patient?
Five Journeys requires each new patient to provide the following documents prior to your first appointment:
- Membership Agreement
- Consent Form
- Photo of your insurance card
- Photo of your Driver’s License
*** Some insurance plans, such as HMO or POS, require a referral from your Primary Care Provider to be completed and faxed to us prior to your appointment. Please see below.
Although your past medical history is important to us, we approach each patient with a fresh set of eyes. This means, collecting our own data using comprehensive testing to see where your health stands currently. We ask that you only send the last year of records, if necessary. This can include any recent labs, specialty tests or imaging, medication, and vaccination history. All necessary information will be collected during your first appointment. These can be uploaded directly into your patient portal or faxed to us at 617 934 6401.
Option 1: Access your portal: (See FAQ #5 to access your portal) Once you are in your portal, scroll down to the bottom. There is a section to message your provider and add attachments.
Option 2: Via our HIPAA compliant texting platform: https://patient.klara.com/#/login
Option 3: Via our admin email, [email protected]
Option 1: You will be sent an emailed invitation to the Athena Health Patient Portal to create a password and register your account. Once registered, you can access the portal using the direct link: https://12273.portal.athenahealth.com/.
Option 2: Visit our website, fivejourneys.com and click on the “Member Hub” button. We recommend you bookmark these links as you will be using them often.
Appointments
Please call our office at 617-934-6400 or if you’re already a member with us, you may book your appointment yourself through our secure portal.
You may need to obtain a referral depending on your insurance plan. Most patients with HMO or POS plan types will need to obtain a referral from their Primary Care Provider. It is the patient’s responsibility to check with your insurance company and obtain a referral prior to the appointment date if needed. If a referral is not obtained, the balance will be transferred to the responsibility of the patient.
Instructions on how to obtain your referral from your PCP:
Please contact your PCP’s office directly and provide them with your appointment date, the number of visits you need for your care (12 visits), your provider’s NPI number (listed below), and our fax number- 617.934.6401.
Log on to your portal account to pay your bill. You may also pay your bill in person at your next appointment – please note that we do not accept bills larger than $50 on site.
Insurance policies determine the out-of-pocket costs for each individual’s copay and deductible. Please book a Discovery Call with our New Patient Onboarder to find out specific billing codes to work with your insurance company to find out specific costs.
The only way to register and schedule your first appointment is with our New Patient Onboarder.
A link for your appointment is sent automatically via email. You can also access the link by logging into the patient portal.
If you cannot attend your appointment or need to reschedule, please let the office know 48 hrs prior to your appointment time. If we do not receive notice within at least 2 business days, we reserve the right to charge a cancellation fee of $150 for a new patient appointment and $75 for a follow up visit.
You may contact our office by one of the following:
Phone: 617-934-6400 * please use this method when rescheduling
Text: Use our secure texting system called KLARA
Email: [email protected]
If you need to switch your appointment to telehealth, please call or email our office. As long as you are a Massachusetts resident, your first appointment may be virtual. If you are an out of state patient, your first appointment MUST be in person or insurance coverage may be denied.
Lab Appointments
This depends on both your plan and the tests that you are having done. You must check this with your insurance company PRIOR to having your blood drawn. Once the samples are sent out to external facilities, we cannot cancel them and you will be responsible for their costs. If needed, we can provide you with the lab codes that you might need to be able to check this with your insurance provider.
Specialty labs will require payment at time of blood draw or kit being sent in. Please ensure you are clear about the costs prior to providing payment information.
When calling your insurance, we recommend you ask:
- Do I have a deductible?
- If so, how much is it?
- How much of it have I already fulfilled?
- Is there a copay for labs?
Prior to the lab appointment, we suggest you check if your insurance prefers LabCorp or Quest and find out the copay/deductible amount. The majority of the time this lab evaluation is fasting, which means no food 8 hours prior to the test, and only water or black coffee. If you are on supplements, avoid taking them for 3 days prior to the lab test. We suggest drinking 24 ounces of fluid 2 hours prior to the appointment to be sure you are hydrated as this is a comprehensive blood test and there are typically 15-20 vials of blood drawn. If you are on thyroid medication take your medication after the lab draw.
Once you have your first appointment, your provider will then be able to order your blood work.
Blood work can take 2-4 weeks depending on the lab and on what is being tested. Once the results are completed, the lab will automatically send 5 Journeys the results and we will upload them to your Athena chart which may be accessed via your portal.
Nutrition Evaluation
This depends on your plan. You must check this with your insurance company PRIOR to the appointment. We recommend that at the very least, you ask your insurance provider:
- Does my plan have nutrition coverage?
- How many nutrition visits are covered in my plan?
- Are the nutrition visits covered in full or on a percentage basis?
Supplements
To order supplements, first create a login for the website. (**Please note – this is different from the login to your portal). You will then be able to purchase supplements through our website. (Please note – the website can’t process HSA/FSA cards so please call or email your order into the office in order to use an HSA/FSA card.)
Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine is a unique approach to finding the root cause of an ailment as well as healing an entire person, instead of focusing on just the symptoms. According to the Institute for Functional Medicine, it is “personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of symptoms for serious chronic disease.”
