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Questions worth asking any hormone clinic before you start

Ask these of Vivo, and ask them of anyone else you are considering. A practice that answers them clearly is telling you how it operates. A practice that gets vague is telling you something as well.

8 points · about 3 minutes

1

Who oversees the care, and who prescribes

These are two questions, and they should get two clear answers.

At Vivo, care and protocols are overseen by licensed medical professionals, with treatment and prescribing decisions made by appropriately licensed providers.

Ask for the roles, not the reassurance.

2

What happens before anything is prescribed

The sequence tells you a great deal. At Vivo it is your new patient intake and an initial consultation first, then comprehensive lab work, then a review of your goals, history and results together before a plan is built.

A practice that can prescribe before it has evaluated you has told you what kind of practice it is.

If treatment can start before the evaluation, the evaluation is decoration.

3

Where the medication comes from

When a treatment is compounded or specially prepared, sourcing, identity, concentration, sterility, storage, labeling and pharmacy quality all matter.

Vivo dispenses through vetted U.S. pharmacy partners, including appropriately licensed 503A and 503B compounding facilities where applicable. Compounded medications are not FDA-approved products, and any practice should say so plainly.

Know the medication, know the pharmacy, know the medical team.

4

How you will be monitored, and how often

Baseline labs are the beginning. Ask what gets retested, on what schedule, and what would trigger a change.

Depending on the plan that can include hormones, hematocrit, lipids, glucose control, and liver and kidney markers.

Starting therapy is easy to sell. Monitoring is the expensive part, which is why it is the one to ask about.

5

Who you call when something changes

You should know who to contact with a question, and how quickly you can expect an answer.

At Vivo the quickest route is texting the care team on 727-361-9873. Good care makes the treatment easy to understand rather than leaving you to interpret it alone.

Access between appointments is part of the treatment, not an extra.

6

Whether the plan is expected to change

What makes sense in month one may not in month twelve, as goals and biomarkers move.

A plan should get clearer and more efficient over time: keep what is helping, adjust what needs work, remove what is no longer needed. Care that only ever adds is worth a question.

A plan that never changes is not being watched.

7

Whether they will work alongside your primary care

The answer should be yes, without hesitation.

Vivo encourages it, and Vivo is not a replacement for primary care.

Any practice that wants to be your only doctor is asking for something it should not have.

8

What it costs to start, and what is included after

Getting started with Vivo includes a $200 onboarding and initial consultation fee. Once you become an active Vivo patient by beginning your care through Vivo, ongoing consultations and care-team support are included at no additional charge while you remain active.

If you complete onboarding but do not begin care through Vivo, you are not an active patient, and consultations, lab work or care-team access after that point are quoted separately. Beyond that, care is individualized, so Vivo does not publish a package price. Vivo does not bill insurance.

Availability in any particular state depends on clinician licensure at the time you enroll, so the team confirms your state when you get started.

Ask what the first payment buys, and what the second one is for.

Adapted from Vivo men's and women's education guides, approved Vivo process, pharmacy, pricing and FAQ copy. Educational information only, not a diagnosis or a treatment recommendation. What is appropriate for any individual follows a medical evaluation.

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