Updated June 1, 2021

Contact Information

Address: 

Center for Optimal Health
Michael Cheikin M.D.
832 Germantown Pike, Suite 3
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
610-239-9901

website:  cohlife.org
email: staff@cohlife.org
fax: 866-217-0158

Hours

posted and updated in the footer of the website.

Emergencies

Call 911

Urgencies

For non-emergent matters that cannot wait until the next business day (see our schedule below), Dr. Cheikin can be reached at our Hotline: 610-239-9901, Option 1, leave message.

Appointments

Cancelling appointments requires two full business days notice. Cancellation must be made by phone, not by email or text.

Courtesy reminder calls and texts are made 5 days in advance to give you adequate time to cancel.  However, failure to receive a reminder call is not an excuse for missing your appointment.

Communicating

• Text messaging: only used as a courtesy reminder of upcoming appointment, never for communication. Texting staff is not permitted.
• Email: is not a reliable method of communication and should only be used for non-urgent matters. May be used for non-urgent questions about your visit review, supplement and prescription refill requests, sending visit agendas ahead of time, sending of past records and interesting links. Dr. Cheikin will never address clinical matters by email but you can send a description of your non-urgent information, either on the Agenda Form or other documents. All emails go to staff@cohlife.org and will be acknowledged when received. Emails may not be used for changing or cancelling appointments and will not be acknowledged.
• Phone: preferred method of handling appointments, clinical issues. Use hotline for urgencies that should not wait until the next business day.
• Snail mail: only used to mail supplements and non-urgent documents

Concurrent Care

In some cases, patients wish to seek additional opinions and possibly concurrent care during active treatment at COH. While we encourage the seeking of additional information, any activities that change your physiology (including some of those done during testing) may interfere or have a negative effect on ongoing protocols, potentially affecting safety. Therefore, any interventions that affect your  physiology must be reviewed during an office visit and incorporated into your treatment plan, If the planned intervention will negatively impact your holisitic protocol, in the opinion of Dr. Cheikin (your treating physician), your holistic protocol may be placed on hold or terminated.  Please be aware that withdrawing any holistic treatments (including, for example, the use of triiodothyronine (T3) may require time to safely withdraw the treatment and possibly replace it with a conventional option that will be supervised by your primary physician or other licensed practitioner.

This statement includes a new decision to seek pregnancy, or in some unintended cases, the discovery of a new pregnancy

This statement is not applicable to Emergency Room/Department (ED) evaluation and treatment.  Please see that section below (or click here).

In all cases, as a patient of Dr. Cheikin, you are required to notify Dr. Cheikin of any changes or interventions as soon as feasible, either by calling the office or calling the hotline.  Email notificiation will not serve as notification due to their potential unreliability.

Duration of Treatment

In general, most patients work actively (visits/changes every 3-6 weeks) for up to two years, and then enter maintenance status. Individual circumstances may accelerate or delay this expectation. You will know whether our processes and protocols are right for you within three to six months. Visits with the doctor always begin with a review of the goals and past visit(s), monitoring progress and mutual expectations and altering treatment plans accordingly.

Financial Matters

For services that are covered by your insurance plan, you will be responsible to pay for any deductibles or copays. We charge a 3% convenience fee for credit card payments for products and services already discounted (insurance services, yoga classes, supplements, other specials).  We will tell you in advance about any non-covered costs.  As stated elsewhere, we never will represent what your insurance company will and will not cover. (Retainer, CC on file)

Products and services that are not covered by insurance include: supplements, medical coaching, website services, special program fees, medical coaching, case-management, non-conventional testing, lab design and interpretation, supplement prescriptions, and formulation of compounded prescriptions. Several of these services are provided under our Holistic Program fee.  You will receive an itemized receipt with each service. In our mission to help all those seeking healing, we can in some cases of documented hardship offer special financing.

Insurance Coverage

It is the patient’s responsibility to know his/her coverage. This includes deductibles, co-pays and coverage for doctor visits, labs, radiology, ER visits, pharmaceuticals and hospitalization. While we work within most insurance guidelines we do not represent your carrier and will never guarantee their behavior.

Labs

Most metabolic labs are done fasting before 10 am.  If in doubt, it’s best to fast and go to the lab by 9am. No supplements should be taken for 12 hours before draw. All medications should be taken on schedule except:

Thyroid and Potassium: do not take your meds that evening or morning; bring both to the lab and take after the blood draw.

Non-Compliance, Non-Participation

In some cases, patients can not or do not want to engage in the holistic protocols that are necessary to achieve the expressed goals.  If the goals are unobtainable without agreed-upon participation (pejoratively called “non-compliance”), then the patient will be discharged from the holistic program. This can be temporary if mutually agreed.

Patient Responsibilities

• Know your insurance coverage
• Know your appointment schedule. We reserve at least 45 minutes for your visit, so we must enforce our cancellation policy (2 full business days to avoid a fee up to $250)
• Follow the action steps in order on your visit review. Be sure to complete necessary tasks including surveys, videos and specific lifestyle changes. Call with questions.
• Most patients should expect to invest approximately six hours per week in their healing program. This includes watching videos, shopping, cooking, and re-organizing home and lifestyle. Some of this can be shared with a partner.
• Use Dr. Cheikin’s hotline if you have a non-emergency issue that develops between visits.
• While implementing our protocols, you should not make any other changes in your medical or lifestyle routines. Get as many second opinions as you wish, simply do not begin any new treatment regimens without checking in with us first.
• We do not provide primary care.  Patients are expected to have a relationship with a primary care physician (PCP), even if not seen annually. By accepting treatment, you are agreeing to continue any prescriptions with your primary doctor upon discharge from your program with Dr. Cheikin. You are encouraged to review your visit reviews with your PCP. Dr. Cheikin is glad to speak with your PCP at important points in your program.
• Notify us as soon as possible if you’ve been to the ER, admitted to the hospital, or have received a new diagnosis or treatment by another physician.
• Return for follow-up visits and labs to ensure proper continuity and safety. Absence for more than three months will be considered a discharge unless arranged in advance and documented in visit review. Returning to care after discharge is at the discretion of Dr. Cheikin.

Pharmacy Issues

Have the pharmacist call Dr. Cheikin’s hotline.  Please avoid calling the hotline to ask Dr. Cheikin to call the pharmacy.  This adds three steps to the process (you call COH, Dr C. calls his hotline, Dr. C calls the pharmacy) while if the pharmacy calls the hotline it removes a step and there is much less chance for an error. In most cases Dr. Cheikin will need to speak to the pharmacist so please ask the pharmacist to call directly during office hours or via the hotline during other times.

Pharmacy Refills:

2 full business days required. We only generate refills when requested by patients (preferably during office visit). We do no refill based on pharmacy requests since most are automated and inaccurate. Submit this form by email to pemail@cohlife.org

Psychological Issues and Concurrent Care

Prior to or during the course of treatment certain issues may arise that require the assistance of a specialist in the psycholo-spiritual realm.  We will mutually determine the best options for this evaluation and/or treatment, which can include a counselor, psychologist, spiritual leader, social worker or other licensed/registered practitioners.  In some cases, concurrent therapy will be required.

Supplement Issues:

Go back to prior protocol, take notes of your experience. Call  the office the next business day or use Dr. Cheikin’s Hotline if it can’t wait. Got to ER if unsure.

Supplement Refills:

submit this form by email to pemail@cohlife.org

Website

After you subscribe, your status will be elevated to Patient which will give you access to hundreds of pages of information. Please honor your confidentiality agreement and do not share your password with others. Your status will be changed back to Subscriber upon discharge unless you chose to be a Member or Elite member (more on this later).