We believe informed patients make the best partners in care. Here are answers to the questions we hear most often about how Sakinah works and what you can expect.
No — Sakinah Integrative Oasis is not a DPC practice. We are an integrative medicine wellness and consulting clinic. This is an important distinction.
DPC practices typically serve as a patient's primary care home, providing comprehensive ongoing primary care for a monthly membership fee. At Sakinah, our role is different: we function as an integrative medicine consultant, working alongside your existing care team to address root causes, optimise your health, and explore integrative and holistic approaches that complement your conventional care.
You will still need a primary care physician (PCP). We strongly encourage all our patients to maintain a relationship with a PCP for routine care, acute illnesses, and care coordination. We are happy to communicate and collaborate with your PCP, and to refer you to appropriate specialists when needed.
Yes, absolutely. Sakinah is not a replacement for primary care. We see ourselves as a valued addition to your care team — not a substitute for it.
Your PCP manages your day-to-day health needs, acute illnesses, immunisations, and referrals within the conventional system. We complement that by going deeper: spending extended time with you, exploring root causes, addressing lifestyle and mind-body factors, and offering integrative and functional medicine approaches that may not be available in a standard primary care visit.
We welcome collaboration with your PCP and are happy to share notes and coordinate care with your permission.
We made the deliberate decision not to participate with insurance so that we can practice medicine the way it was always meant to be — focused entirely on you.
The insurance model has reshaped healthcare in ways that do not serve patients or physicians well. It dictates visit lengths, limits which tests can be ordered, creates months of delays waiting for prior authorisations, and often denies coverage for integrative and preventive approaches that fall outside narrow definitions of "medically necessary."
By operating outside that system, we are free to:
We believe this model — though it requires an out-of-pocket investment — delivers a quality and depth of care that is difficult to find elsewhere.
In many cases, yes. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) can often be used for qualified medical expenses at cash-pay practices. We recommend checking with your HSA/FSA plan administrator to confirm eligibility for our services. We can provide detailed receipts and documentation to support your submission.
We believe access to good diagnostics should not be gated by insurance approvals. We work directly with laboratories to negotiate the best possible pricing for our patients on a wide range of tests — from standard panels to more comprehensive functional and micronutrient assessments.
In many cases, the cash-pay price through our lab partnerships is competitive with or even lower than insurance co-pays and deductibles. You will always know the cost upfront before any testing is ordered.
We understand how frustrating it can be to wait for insurance approval — or to be denied entirely — for important preventive imaging like a coronary artery calcium (CAC) score or DEXA bone density scan.
We are actively building relationships with imaging centres that offer transparent, affordable cash-pay pricing for these studies, so that our patients can access the preventive diagnostics they need without unnecessary delays or bureaucratic hurdles. We will keep you updated as these partnerships come together.
Yes. For certain patients, commercially available medications may not be the best fit — for example, those who cannot tolerate standard hormone formulations due to fillers, dyes, or specific delivery methods. In these situations, compounding pharmacies allow us to tailor prescriptions to your individual needs.
We work with reputable compounding pharmacies and will discuss this option with you when it is clinically appropriate.
Please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room immediately.
Sakinah is a wellness and integrative medicine consulting practice — we are not equipped to manage medical emergencies, acute crises, or urgent care situations. We do not have emergency facilities, and our telehealth model means we cannot provide in-person urgent intervention.
If you are experiencing chest pain, difficulty breathing, signs of stroke, severe allergic reaction, or any other emergency, please do not wait. Call 911 or proceed to the nearest ER right away.
For non-emergency urgent concerns, please contact your primary care physician or visit an urgent care centre.
No. We do not prescribe opioids or other controlled substances for pain management. This is a firm boundary of our practice.
Our approach to pain and chronic conditions is integrative — we focus on understanding and addressing underlying causes, and on evidence-informed approaches that support the body's capacity to heal. If you are seeking opioid management, please work with your primary care physician or a pain management specialist.
Yes, Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is one of the integrative tools we may consider for appropriate patients. LDN has emerging evidence supporting its use in a range of inflammatory and immune-mediated conditions, including long COVID, autoimmune conditions, fibromyalgia, and certain chronic pain syndromes.
Unlike opioids, LDN works through a completely different mechanism — it modulates the immune system and reduces neuroinflammation rather than acting on pain receptors. It is generally well tolerated and non-addictive.
If you are interested in exploring whether LDN might be appropriate for your situation, we welcome that conversation during your consultation.
We are always happy to talk through whether Sakinah is the right fit for you before you book. Reach out and we will get back to you within 1–2 business days.
Get in Touch