1st Optimal Review: Price, Pros & Cons

1st Optimal sells GLP-1 care as a membership. Its entry Optimal Health membership is $39 a month. It lists medical weight management among its services and includes required supplies, shipping, a half-hour monthly coaching session, a provider consultation for approved medication, and preferred pricing on follow-up labs. Ask which membership your treatment needs.

The medication is priced separately from the membership. Members buy treatments at what 1st Optimal calls a reduced members-only rate, and it doesn't publish those GLP-1 prices. Ask for the monthly medication cost at your dose, and what it becomes as the dose rises, before you commit. First-time members are offered 25% off a first purchase by email sign-up. It's all cash pay, no insurance needed, and HSA and FSA cards are accepted.

This is a lab-led clinic, so expect more steps than a quick questionnaire. You start with a free intake call, then do lab testing at home or at a local lab. A provider reviews the results, meets with you, and builds the plan. Its weight loss pages list once-weekly injections and daily oral tablets as options.

That adds time. 1st Optimal says most lab results take 5 to 7 business days, and some of its more in-depth tests take 10 to 14. After the results are reviewed, a treatment order usually takes about 10 to 14 business days to be processed and shipped, because it's made to order by a partner pharmacy. It doesn't name the pharmacy. If you're transferring from another clinic, it accepts outside lab results and offers transfer discounts.

Memberships are month to month with no long-term contract, and they renew automatically. Billing runs on either the 1st or the 16th. Sign up between the 1st and 15th and you're billed on the 1st of each month after; sign up later and it's the 16th.

Medication is billed on a different clock. New patients are invoiced right after the provider appointment. Existing patients are invoiced about three weeks before each refill date, so a cancellation needs to land before that invoice if you don't want the next shipment. You cancel through a membership change request form, and member perks carry on for about a month after your last payment.

• 1st Optimal doesn't publish a list of states. It asks you to contact the team for the current list, so check yours first.
• It's based in Clarkston, Michigan, and also sells hormone, peptide and menopause plans, which you'd pay for separately.
• Ask which pharmacy fills the GLP-1 and whether it's compounded.
• Get the medication price in writing, since membership is only part of the cost.