My Experience With Function Health as a Nurse + Health Coach

Last year, I made the investment of a Function Health membership.

This company helps to bring health awareness through comprehensive lab testing and functional wellness advice— and it may just be changing the face of healthcare.

It is hard to make progress towards your goals, if you don’t know your starting point.

That is why I have been eager to get some lab work done and get a more objective view of how my body is functioning. After my history of PCOS and hormone dysregulation, then diving into two pregnancies, breastfeeding, and normal life in the past 4 years… I figured it’s time to check how things are going. In that time I have also been very veryy intentional about reducing stress as much as possible, taking an ancestral/ holistic/ prometabolic approach to diet and nutrition, and really been trying to set my body up for success holistically.

But after calling my PCP, I learned it would be 4 months until an appointment and nearly $1,000 for the labwork I was wanting (because it was outside of the “standard” labs they would draw for an annual physical and insurance would not cover them…..). So, naturally, instagram ads served up just what I was looking for.

Function Health was the answer to a lot of my health and wellness desires, with the added bonus of convenience. This post is sharing my experience with Function Health, my personal and professional opinion on the information they share, plus links that will allow you to skip the waitlist if you’re interested in joining yourself!

What is Function Health?

Function Health is a membership for comprehensive lab work and health data, plus physician notes, suggestions, and the ability to watch the trend of your lab work over time. This company was co-founded by six people, including Mark Hyman— a 15-time New York Times bestselling author and physician. He has been a face for the functional health movement over the last several years and shares a lot of education on the importance of a holistic approach to wellness.

Unlike your standard annual lab work at the doctor’s office (that maybe runs a handful of tests, only if dictated by your symptoms—and even then it is dependent on how thorough your provider is—this is absolutely no shade towards providers, they just all have different approaches and some are not worried about getting to the root cause of symptoms or disease), Function Health runs over 100 biomarkers. This includes a full hormone panel, blood levels, electrolytes, heavy metals, a full thyroid panel, extensive cholesterol and cardiac markers, and more.

Truly, when I saw this list I was so impressed. The goal of all of this is in line with their motto- giving members 100 healthy years.

Each membership costs $499 per year and includes:

• initial blood work with 100+ biomarkers

• full physician review and notes

• Supplement, diet, and lifestyle recommendations customized to your health history and lab data

• A retest halfway through the year with over 60 markers to see if your labs are looking better, or worse

This detailed report gives a great report of your current health, as well as a good data point for your wellness over time. How often are there signs of disease on comprehensive labs before symptoms appear? The idea of a Function membership is that you get to watch your health and catch concerns long before those symptoms pop up.

This is the main dashboard on the Function Health website. I love that everything is easy to read and you have all the info in one place. They also have an app that conveniently displays everything all in one place too!

What I Love About Function Health?

I am a full-on wellness and health nerd— so naturally, there were a few things that got me really excited about this company.

• Convenience- After I signed up, I filled out the health survey and scheduled my lab draw at a local Quest facility. The whole process was extremely simple, streamlined, and far quicker than getting labs done through my PCP.

• Price- While $500 a year is definitely an investment, I was so impressed with how thorough all the physician notes and recommendations were. That one-time price includes two rounds of blood work, plus the recommendations… should I go to a functional provider locally, those labs alone would be thousands of dollars. Let alone an additional appointment for a functional medicine provider.

• Education- If I had to pick one thing that was my favorite about Function Health, it would be the notes and education included. For every single test, there is a detailed explanation of the science and why it is an important marker for overall health. Even with my background as a nurse and being familiar with many of these tests, there was so much I learned.

  After all of the results come in, you are given even more helpful information in your physician notes. This includes helpful recommendations of foods and supplements, plus healthy lifestyle habits.

• Awareness- I am always a big fan of knowing the data. I have a history of PCOS and a blood clotting disorder, so I was expecting some of my labs to come back abnormal. But what is ironic, is the hormones I was expecting to be wonky came back great. And my abnormal labs gave me great information— like prioritizing more hydration because your girl was dryyyyy 😅 That is the whole purpose of labs— understanding where our body is at and how it is functioning.

  This goes back to the whole idea of bio-individuality and how we all have different ways to embrace wellness, depending on our personal history, values, accessibility, etc.

When your physician notes arrive, they also come with food and supplement recommendations. I love that they had a “Top Five” category for each— the top five supplements and foods to include, plus the top five foods to avoid. These are all based on your personal lab values and results 👏

How to Use Your Function Health Results?

Function Health, while it really is amazing, does not take the place of having a primary care provider. What does that mean? Function Health does not diagnose illness or prescribe medication. So, if you are needing a prescription for something, you will need to set up an appointment with your PCP.

Another example is let’s say some of your labs come back aligned with a certain diagnosis, Function Health will not give that formal diagnosis but relay you to a provider that can see and assess you in person.

So, what’s the point then?

For me, I am getting a muuch more thorough look into my overall health and wellness than I would from a PCP. I do not take any prescriptions, but do have a few health concerns I want to keep a close eye on. Function Health allows me to keep a really good pulse on how my body is functioning before going into my doctor’s appointment— and honestly, for myself personally, reduces my need to be seen until an issue arises or I have symptoms that need to be addressed.

FAQs About Function Health?

Is this covered by insurance?

No. The membership is out of pocket. In healthcare, insurance dictates a lot of what tests are covered, depending on the symptoms. Function Health is a private company ordering the tests without the input of insurance companies. If I were to pay for all of these labs through insurance, it would be thousands of dollars, as opposed to the $500 membership.

How much blood do they take?

Your lab work is split into 2 separate appointments. At each one they took 8-10 vials, as well as a urine sample at the second appointment. Should you add on any other specialty tests, they will also draw for those.

Can you eat before your blood draw?

Nope. They want you to be fasting for your blood draw! This allows for them to get the most accurate data of things like blood glucose levels.

How long does it take to get all the results?

From the first appointment, it was 2 and a half weeks before I got the physician notes. For all the tests that were run, I was pretty impressed that it didn’t take longer.

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Function Health is still a really new company and currently has new members on a waitlist— if you are interested in trying it out, and skipping the waitlist, any of the links in this blog will allow you to join right away. No wait!

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