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Education · Observation · Preparation — not diagnosis or medical care
Prepare questions

Claire Elise Wellness

Provider Question Map

A printable map for organizing goals, facts, unknowns, benefits, risks, alternatives, costs, follow-up, and the questions you want answered at an appointment.

Available resource

Consultation Literacy

What to ask, and what to write down before you forget it.

Bring a clearer question into the room without turning a worksheet into a self-diagnosis.

How this page is used across one appointment Three stages left to right, joined by arrows. Before the visit: your purpose, the facts you can document, and what you do not know. In the room: the three questions you marked as the ones you would be sorry to leave without. After: the consultation receipt – what was recommended and why, alternatives, risks, timeline, cost, what you need to verify, and the next review date or trigger. BeforeIn the roomAfter Your purpose for the visitThe facts you candocumentWhat you do not knowThe three questions youmarked — the ones youwould be sorry toleave without.The consultation receipt:what was said, what wasruled out, what it costs,when it gets reviewed. Ten questions are here to choose from. Three is what a conversation holds.
The receipt on the right is the part that still exists a month later. Everything to the left of it is preparation for being able to fill it in.

My purpose for the visit

The decision or concern I want to address:

The outcome I am hoping for:

What I do not want overlooked:

Facts, observations, and unknowns

Current facts I can document:

Changes I observed and when:

Information I do not have:

Claims or service descriptions I want translated:

Questions that change the decision

Ten questions in three groups, sorted by the kind of answer they ask for, and a cost block to fill in afterwards. You are unlikely to need all of them. Mark the three you would be sorry to leave without.

Evidence and reasoning

  1. What reasonable explanations or categories are you considering, and what makes this one the most likely?
  2. What evidence supports this recommendation, and how strong is it — trials, guidelines, clinical experience, or expert opinion?
  3. What information would narrow the possibilities, and what would you expect that information to change?

Options, risks, and doing less

  1. What are the benefits, limitations, and material risks of the proposed next step?
  2. What alternatives exist, including a different approach, a different professional, or doing less?
  3. What happens if we wait? Is there a cost to waiting a week, a month, or a season — and is there a point after which waiting changes the options?
  4. What would make this option inappropriate for me specifically?

Timeline, monitoring, and review

  1. What is the expected timeline — when should I notice something, and when would you expect to know whether it worked?
  2. What monitoring is needed: which follow-up, tests, or check-ins, how often, and who arranges them?
  3. What symptoms or changes should alter the plan or prompt urgent care, and when should the plan be reviewed again regardless?

Cost and coverage

Not questions to ask so much as answers to write down, because these are the ones that get quoted once and remembered wrongly.

What does this cost, including follow-up, repeat treatment, and maintenance:

Is this covered by my insurance, and has it been checked for my plan specifically:

What would I owe if coverage is denied, and what is the appeal or prior-authorization process:

Is there a lower-cost option that would answer the same question:

My consultation receipt

What was recommended:

Why it was recommended:

Alternatives discussed:

Material risks or limitations discussed:

Expected timeline and monitoring plan:

Cost and coverage as stated:

What I need to verify before acting:

Next review date or trigger: