Wellness Department

Feelings of sadness, feeling blue, down in the dumps or worried, nervous, uptight and anxious are all normal feelings. When these feelings begin to take over your daily thoughts and affect your everyday behaviors, it is time to call for help. Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health and both influence each other greatly. The Behavioral Health Counseling program provides a safe, confidential and non-judgmental environment while being guided through your feelings to work toward solutions. This service is provided by one of our Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW). The initial visit will be approximately an hour long and includes a general emotional assessment. You and the LCSW will determine the duration, frequency and length of any subsequent visits. 

Our counselors are in-network with Medicare, many Medicare Advantage, and commercial plans. Our wellness department will assist you in confirming your insurance coverage prior to your first visit.

Living with diabetes can be very manageable when you have the correct information and the confidence to make healthy decisions that will help control your blood sugar (glucose) levels. With our DiabetesSmart program, we can help coach and empower you through the decision making process. You have access to our diabetes team of dietitians, nurses and health educators who work directly with your doctor. Our DiabetesSmart program consists of an initial one-on-one assessment, followed by group education. During our time together, you will learn more about diabetes and how it affects your body, how to make lifestyle changes to better manage the condition, how to read food labels and determine what a carbohydrate really is and how to fit them into your diet without going overboard. Our goal is for you to feel confident in your ability to live happily and successfully with diabetes. Most insurance plans cover diabetes self-management education and training with a co-insurance. If you have a secondary insurance, it often covers that portion.

The American Diabetes Association recognizes Pinehurst Medical Clinic as meeting the national standards for diabetes self-management education. This is a yearly process that our DSMES team goes through which includes site visits, updating goals and audits. You may find the DiabetesSmart NC website here: https://diabetesmanagementnc.com/learn-about-dsmes/

Don’t be intimidated by the name, IBT is simply health coaching for weight loss. If your body mass index (BMI) is greater than 30 kg/m2, then you qualify for this service. You are able to meet with one of our health coaches who are trained in nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle management. Your health coach will help you navigate through your weight loss journey. We will not prescribe a specific “diet,” but we will engage in exploring what works best for you and your lifestyle, guiding you through positive changes that can last a lifetime. Your IBT sessions will start with more frequent visits, gradually adding more time between visits. Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans cover 22 visits per year at 100%. Some private insurances will also cover IBT.

Navigating life after a Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) diagnosis can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. Living in the Heart Zone is a program to help you navigate life with CHF. A health educator, pharmacist, social worker, registered dietitian, and nurse will guide you through the program by providing education, support, and coaching along the way. They will teach you how to recognize the signs and symptoms of CHF, when to call your doctor. how important your diet is, exercise options, and more in your free workbook. Your care team is committed to ensuring you have the proper tools and knowledge to feel as comfortable as possible. 

Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) is a service that allows you to meet one-on-one with a registered dietitian to learn about how specific types of food affect health conditions you may have. Some health conditions, such as diabetes, kidney disease, celiac disease, along with others, are significantly improved when changes are made in our daily food choices. In order to make these lifestyle changes, it helps to have a better understanding of food, while also learning strategies and tips to make food selection simpler. MNT can help with this. Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans cover this 100% for those with diabetes and kidney disease. Private insurances may cover this for other diagnoses as well. We can you help determine what your insurance will provide.

Pinehurst Medical Clinic Wellness Department offers a unique program for patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The program provides education, coaching, and support from a respiratory therapist, clinic pharmacist, registered dietitian, licensed clinical social worker, and registered nurse. Together the team works with the patient to ensure they have the knowledge and resources to live a happy, healthy life.

Quitting smoking or any other tobacco product can seem a little overwhelming without help. Tobacco is more addictive than many other illicit drugs. The brain develops nicotine receptors that are responsible for most of your cravings. Additionally, our daily habits and behaviors create regular associations with tobacco use. You can work together with one of our health coaches who is a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist to determine what strategies will work best for you to reduce cravings and identify distractions, developing a Quit Plan. Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and most private insurance plans cover this 100% as a preventive maintenance visit.

There are many factors that affect our health and ability to continue to perform activities of daily living. We know that health declines significantly after a major fall. If we ask consistently, and identify that you are beginning to feel more unstable, we can help you identify ways to prevent future falls and coordinate resources that may also prevent future falls.

Your emotional health is equally important as your physical health. Depressed feelings over time can create or exacerbate physical symptoms. Depression can be a scary term and may be something that we don’t want to admit to. There is no need to suffer in silence. Think of depression as you would high blood pressure or any other disease- it happens and there’s treatment for it. We have professionals who are trained specifically in working with you.

No. In the event that we are audited, we must print notes, but we blackout any identifiable information.  Insurance will not know who the note belongs to.

Yes. You will see that this visit has been billed on your Medicare statement, although there is no charge to you.

If you are satisfied with all areas of your life, you may not need our wellness services at this time. However, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the service offerings at Pinehurst Medical Clinic. Participating in annual wellness visits, despite being healthy, will allow your team to have a baseline and note any minor changes as the years pass. The goal is to be more preventative than reactionary. Our other wellness services serve to teach you physical and mental exercises and strategies (for coping, eating, reducing substances like tobacco and more) that you will be able to use for a lifetime.