FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What type of treatment does Dr. Cooley employ?
Dr. Cooley brings alternative and mainstream treatment methods together, primarily combining nutritional biochemistry with functional neurology techniques. He combines nutrition, acupressure, chiropractic, and craniosacral therapy with principles of neurology, biochemistry, and physiology, to create a clearer picture of the problem and how to fix it.
So instead of having to hunt from one doctor to another until you find one that can help, you’re being treated by one doctor whom has the knowledge of several doctors put together.
How long are appointments?
A 90 minute initial appointment is necessary so treatment may begin upon the first visit. Dr. Cooley will spend a lot of time with you so you may begin to feel better after your first appointment.
The 2nd follow-up appointment is typically one hour as well. After the first 2 visits, appointments will typically be scheduled in ½ hour appointments. When you schedule your first 1-hour visit, you must schedule 2 follow-up visits, one each week for the following 2 weeks. This puts you in Dr. Cooley’s schedule as the average patient needs to see him initially once a week for 3 consecutive weeks to make the appropriate health changes. If he feels you do not need to follow this plan, we can always change your appointments accordingly.
Do you think he can help me?
He helps patients that have seen lots of doctors and haven’t been able to find help.
What are his fees?
Dr. Cooley bills at an hourly rate of $150 per hour with lab work and/or other materials (such as nutrients) charged separately if they are needed. The fee you will be charged is based on the time he spends with you, not the time blocked off for your appointment. To clarify, if Dr. Cooley only sees you for 15 minutes during a follow-up visit, then that is all you will be charged for, not the time that was initially blocked off.
Our patients pay us at the time of the appointment, and are given all the necessary forms to submit to his or her insurance company. Please be prepared to take care of the charges before you leave. We accept cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, & Discover cards.
Can I speak with Dr. Cooley before I come?
Under certain circumstances, he can speak with you for a brief discussion if you have specific questions about your issue(s). Email is much easier and faster. ([email protected])
Does insurance cover his charges?
That depends on your insurance company. Dr. Cooley is a chiropractor, so if your insurance covers chiropractic then it is likely that you will reimbursed for his services to the extent that your policy covers. He does not participate in any insurance plans. Therefore, he would be considered a non-participating provider or “out-of- network” with your carrier.
You are responsible for the charges incurred at the time of your appointment. We give you the paperwork for you to send in to your insurance company. If they reimburse for the services provided, they’ll reimburse you directly.
So you don’t bill my insurance company for me like my other doctor did?
No we don’t. For the quality of time Dr. Cooley spends with you, his hourly fee is much less than the average chiropractic or medical physician. We leave your insurance needs up to you.
Does he use muscle testing?
Yes, but from the average person knows about muscle testing, or from what you may have been exposed to, the type of muscle testing Dr. Cooley uses is much more comprehensive and complex than what most doctors use. Unfortunately, there are a lot of physicians and non- physicians that are either not qualified to perform muscle testing, or are using generalized bogus forms of the technique. Muscle testing, as performed in our office, is a major part of the neurologic assessment process.
To help you, Dr. Cooley looks at your medical history, lab tests, physical exam findings, neurological exam findings, and other criteria. He uses specific neurological muscle tests to help him understand what is going on with you, and how to treat the problem most effectively. Muscle testing, when used appropriately and by a qualified, skilled physician, is a powerful tool that aids in individualized, specific treatment.
Why do you rarely “crack” my spine and spend so much time performing manual soft tissue work?
Dr. Cooley is a chiropractor so he has been trained on the techniques and benefits of manual adjusting. Early on in his career he performed manual adjusting on every patient on the various vertebral locations. However, as he began to look for reasons why vertebral subluxations occurred he learned that they are most often secondary to some underlying muscle imbalance or nervous system imbalance. Therefore, if he can correct the underlying muscle imbalance the need for the adjustment will go away and the vertebral subluxation will not return. He still performs spinal adjustments but he tries to minimize the need for the adjustment.