Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, Dr. Hoffman will do initial consultations via these mediums. However, he will not diagnose or treat without having the patient travel to Calgary to undergo a thorough assessment workup by himself and his staff. Once you have been seen, Dr. Hoffman can continue to offer advice and consultations via these means as permitted by your respective licensing jurisdictions and privacy laws.

In order to establish a doctor/patient relationship with us, you must see us in our office in person at least once per year. If you do not see us in our office in person at least once each year, there will not be a doctor/patient relationship. Instead, our communications with you will be for educational purposes only. We call these communications telehealth/education services. These consist of information and suggestions that are intended to assist you and your healthcare provider in using natural means to support your health. Telehealth/education services are not intended to serve as a medical diagnosis or treatment of any kind. Our fees for telehealth/education services are the same as the fees that we charge for our telephone consultations and office visits. Please note that medical insurance does not cover telehealth/education services. You will be responsible for paying for all telehealth/education services yourself. We do not refund any amounts paid for telehealth/education services.

Please click here to be directed to our intake form. Once submitted one of our patient support staff will reach out to you within 24-48 hours.

Yes, Dr. Hoffman is a traditionally trained medical doctor who obtained his medical degree in South Africa in 1982. He has full medical licensure in Alberta and British Columbia. For twenty years he worked in traditional family practice and since the early 1990s he started to incorporate the principles of functional/integrative medicine into the way he managed patients. In 2008, he obtained his fellowship training in functional medicine, anti-aging and regenerative medicine. In 2015, Dr. Hoffman was the first Canadian medical doctor to be certified in functional medicine. The principles of functional medicine are firmly incorporated into his Seven Stages to Health and Transformation Model. In addition, Dr. Hoffman specializes in and practices many different approaches within the umbrella of integrative and functional medicine. View details of his qualifications and post-graduate training.

No, he is not. He is a licensed medical doctor.

Yes, Dr. Hoffman can write prescriptions.

Due to the complex nature of the patients Dr. Hoffman treats and the extreme demands on his time, he is unable to provide this service. His staff will answer email enquiries and when necessary, book an appointment with Dr Hoffman to address your concerns.

Dr. Hoffman’s original training was in family medicine as a general practitioner. He now concentrates and focuses his practice on functional and integrative medicine. He will not function as your family doctor or take over the responsibilities of your GP. It is imperative that you retain your GP for all your traditional medicine needs. If you currently do not have a family doctor, you may visit the Alberta Health Services website for more details on how to find a general family doctor.

No. You must ask your family doctor to represent you on all of these issues. Dr. Hoffman spends any free and available hours on research, consulting with labs on patient cases, and researching patient case files before each appointment.

The Hoffman Centre is primarily a private medical facility. The majority of our work is not covered under Alberta Health Care. Most of the traditional lab tests at Alberta provincial laboratories will be covered. However, these tests do not provide most of the data that Dr. Hoffman requires in order to investigate functional medicine pathophysiology abnormalities. The majority of the specialized, functional medical tests required for treatment at the Hoffman Centre are not covered under provincial health care. We courier the majority of the required tests overnight to laboratories in Germany, Australia, and the United States.

Dr. Hoffman has developed a reputation for assisting patients with chronic, complex, multisymptom, and multisystem disease determine what underlying factors have not been addressed by either traditional medical specialties or other functional medicine doctors, naturopaths, herbalists, acupuncturist, and similar medical professionals.

In Canada, certain medical expenses are deductible for personal income tax purposes as a non-refundable tax credit. If you incur medical expenses above a certain threshold of net income, you can claim additional medical expenses. There is also a maximum amount you can claim annually and this can vary from year to year. If you have a professional corporation, such as a business that is incorporated, please consult your accountant with regards to setting up a health spending account. Medical expenses incurred under a health spending account are mostly tax deductible. A consultation with your accountant is essential.

Functional medicine is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more systems approach, patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just isolated symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the possible root causes of symptoms and diseases and the interactions between genetic, environmental, mental, emotional, dietary, sleep, stress, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.

Privately charged fees vary based on the type of consultation, the type of service undertaken, and the length of time required. Please contact our office for more information on fees. Dr. Hoffman typically recommends an initial consultation lasting between one and three hours.

1. We do not have a long wait list as we intentionally keep two appointments open per week for new patient calls and bookings.
2. Upon making an enquiry, a staff member will contact you via email or phone to discuss your concerns.
3. Upon booking an appointment you will receive an extensive health history questionnaire, with intake forms to be completed before your first appointment. We will ask that you mail or email us all your health records at least one week prior to your appointment.
4. You will need to provide us with the names of all medical professionals you have seen, their consultation notes, which may be available on Netcare, and any imaging and testing conducted over the last few years.
5. The first step to consulting with Dr. Hoffman involves an appointment lasting approximately two hours, although times may vary depending on the complexity of the case. Dr. Hoffman will assess your intake forms, review previous tests and consultation notes, and go over your health history and illness timeline.
6. At the end of your appointment, Dr. Hoffman will recommend specific laboratory tests, imaging, referrals, and functional medicine testing as required.
7. Immediately after seeing Dr. Hoffman, you will then meet with our patient support staff to review test instructions and book your testing dates at both the local laboratories and at the Hoffman Centre. These are usually done within four days following your initial appointment.
8. Payment is required at this time as any laboratory tests cannot be shipped without prior payment.
9. Patient support staff will also arrange a physical exam after your tests are sent. At this appointment you will undergo a medical examination and there will be a preliminary discussion regarding your nutrition and recommended lifestyle changes.
10. Your test result will return within one to eight weeks, depending on what tests were done and whether these were performed at local laboratories or overseas.
11. A third meeting with Dr. Hoffman, known as the treatment session, will be arranged approximately eight weeks after your original appointment. The time allocated might be between two and three hours, depending on the number of tests to be reviewed and the capacity of the patient to absorb the detailed findings of the tests. All tests will be explained and a full treatment plan will be outlined.
12. After your treatment session, you will begin your treatment plan, which may include nutrition and supplementation recommendations, intravenous therapies in our IV suite, neuro and biofeedback, detoxification strategies, stress reduction strategies, prescribed medications if required, and referral to other practitioners and/or medical specialists as needed. You can learn more about our intake procedure here.

Costs vary considerably depending on a number of factors. These include how long you have been ill, the complexity of your presentation, the multiplicity of symptoms, pathophysiology and organ involvement, the age of the patient, and of course your budgetary restrictions. As Dr. Hoffman's reputation is based on treating patients with complex, multisymptom, and multisystem illnesses he will require an extensive list of functional medicine laboratories in order to create a diagnostic and therapeutic roadmap that does not simply duplicate what other practitioners and specialties have done to date. He relies on the insight that “you cannot manage that which you haven’t measured.”

The new client consultation is an assessment of your health and a comprehensive intake of your health history, along with recommendations on what tests are required to understand the state of your body systems. The new client consultation fee does not include any follow-ups, test kits, or supplements.

The number of lab tests that Dr. Hoffman may recommend AFTER your initial 2 hour intake interview will depend on your individual symptom complexity, the number of issues you struggle with, the number of organ systems affected and the length of time you have been experiencing them. Dr. Hoffman tests extensively, filling in the multiple gaps in testing that have usually been done by other practitioners. He cannot help you manage your symptomatology without first ensuring what may be imbalanced/abnormal in your lab tests. He does not guess and he does not treat without a thorough insight into your biochemistry/brain/mind-body systems. He measures. This thorough and comprehensive diagnostic (and hence therapeutic) roadmap will help fill in the gaps and uncertainties that you may have encountered to date. Once the test results are back he will also educate you regarding your diagnostic tests as they relate to your condition, assisting you in becoming your own patient advocate. He will then provide you with the treatment tools you need to recover, based on your history, physical exam and the confirmatory tests.

Depending on the lab test/chosen, the cost for EACH lab test is between $500 and $3,000 (this is the most expensive test run - the mitochondrial test sent to Germany) per laboratory kit. The number of laboratory test kits chosen will vary depending on the patient's complexity of symptoms. Typically, between 8 - 15 test kits ( sometimes more – rarely less, between $10,000-$30,000 or more) are required for Dr. Hoffman to uncover the root causes of a complex, multisymptom, multisystem patient. The number of labs that are required will be determined after the first patient appointment once Dr Hoffman has taken an extensive 2-hour history and has determined how many organ systems and pathological processes may be involved. The number of test kits needed CANNOT be determined before the 2-hour history has been taken. It is impossible to guess or estimate prior to this appointment. The front desk staff will have absolutely no idea of the number of test kits and costs involved, prior to this 2-hour intake.

Dr. Hoffman has learned over many years that the accuracy of your laboratory findings and the quality of the professionals performing the tests is the key to you uncovering exactly what is going on. All laboratory companies do not provide the same level of quality. Many times, we see ‘normal’ test results from regular laboratory companies while our lab tests find many ‘functional’ problems. The laboratory companies used for Dr. Hoffman’s patients have the highest testing standards and the most consistent results year after year. These are not replacements for regular medical tests. These tests are only used to detect ‘functional’ issues rather than medical problems and are not meant to diagnose or recommend protocols for diseases. We are attempting to detect problems with the functioning of organ systems prior to the onset of a disease.

The number of laboratories recommended will depend on your individual situation, including the number of issues you struggle with and the length of time you have been experiencing them. The more data that can be examined the easier it is to create a comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic protocol.

Yes, Dr. Hoffman will use tests conducted by other practitioners if these were done within the last three months. However, he will need to take a full history and do a physical exam (if able) in order to evaluate which tests are incomplete. He will assess accordingly and incorporate what else needs to be done. He will not formulate a treatment plan based on previous tests alone without a full 2 hours history and review of treatments to date.

Yes. We accept cash, cheque, Visa, and Mastercard. Please note that we do not accept AMEX.

Payment is due at the time of consultation and at the time of your laboratory test selection.

Dr. Hoffman recommends supplements from high quality and reputable manufacturers that can only be purchased with a practitioner’s recommendation. The personal treatment plan that Dr. Hoffman creates includes specific dosages based on the exact ingredients in that specific supplement. If you want to do your own research on different supplements, you are welcome to do so but we do not provide any other recommendations nor advise on other specific blends or brands. If you purchase supplements from other manufacturers, please research carefully. Not all ingredients are equal and there is no guarantee of quality when you purchase supplements elsewhere, especially on Amazon. Many supplements also contain contaminants and excipients that may trigger reactions such as mast cell allergies.

For our Canadian patients that require financial support, we suggest iFinance for their treatment plan. You can read about iFinance here in our financing section. For the patients outside Canada, we suggest checking with your local financial institutions. We do not offer payment plans at this time.

This is very difficult to answer as Dr. Hoffman is a clinician and not a research orientated practitioner that tracks outcome studies. Furthermore, the length of time that the person has been ill, their age, the number of symptoms and organs symptoms involved, the resilience and mental state of the patient, and the value the patient places on their health and wellbeing treatment plan, all play critical roles in the eventual outcome. The vast majority of patients are extremely satisfied with the extensive, in-depth approach that Dr. Hoffman employs. Please visit social media sites for reviews of patient experiences and the details of what they experienced.

We are not aware of any other functional medicine doctors that practice with the same in-depth approach as Dr. Hoffman. However, Dr. Hoffman is well connected with other practitioners, so may know of someone in your area with a good reputation for extensive assessments and treatment protocols.

Please see our website for a full list of conditions that Dr Hoffman treats.

There are no discounts available at this time.

We completely understand that on many occasions prioritizing a wellness plan requires major life changes. Our advice is to start with one product and take one day at a time. Often keeping a health journal allows you to remain on track and also shows the progression that we often forget when we need a little inspiration.

While retesting isn’t required, it is recommended that a client retest at the three or four month mark to measure improvement and adjust protocols if needed. Once a client has achieved their desired health results, we recommend annual testing to ensure that your body systems continue functioning at their best.

With regards to emergencies, after hours care, and disability requests, due to teaching, traveling, and research, Dr. Hoffman is not available on a 24-hour basis at all times. You must have a primary care doctor with whom you can consult in the event of an emergency or urgent problem. If you have a serious health problem that requires immediate attention, you should contact your other doctors, call 911, or have someone take you to the nearest hospital emergency room. If you notice an adverse effect from one of the components of your health plan, you should discontinue it immediately and contact the Hoffman Centre via phone or email message.

Yes, he does, please click here for more information.

Unfortunately, we are not able to review any tests that are not initiated and done through the Hoffman Centre. Once you are a patient under Dr. Hoffman’s care all testing must go through the Hoffman Centre.