Clinic Onboarding

How to run RootSignal™
— from first lead to flagship care

A start-to-finish walkthrough of the platform, the science behind every number, and exactly how to run a scan. Built so anyone on your team can do it — no clinical background required.

Use arrow keys, or the buttons at the bottom, to move through the slides.

Before we start

Who this is for, and how to use it

👋 This is for everyone on the team

Front desk, MA, nurse, provider — anyone can run a RootSignal™ scan. You do not need to be clinical. If you can follow a recipe, you can run RS.

We define every term from scratch. Nothing is assumed.

🧭 How the deck is organized

  • Part 1 — The big picture (what RS is, the patient journey)
  • Part 2 — The concepts (every score & term, in plain English)
  • Part 3 — Do it (click-by-click, running a real scan)
  • Part 4 — Cheat sheet & troubleshooting
The one promise of this deckBy the end, a brand-new team member can take a lead, get them scanned, walk them through their results, and set up the follow-up — confidently.
Part 1 · The big picture

RootSignal™ in 30 seconds

RootSignal™ turns a 2-minute scan and a short symptom form into one simple, branded health score — the Vitality Index — plus a map of where a patient's body is under strain. A $199 saliva panel then completes the score.

The hook

A number they care about

One 0–100 score that says, in plain terms, "how well is my body actually running?"

The map

Where the strain is

7 body systems, each shown Low / Moderate / High — so care is targeted, not guesswork.

The engine

An open loop

The first score is deliberately incomplete. The saliva panel closes the loop — and that drives the visit and the care plan.

Why this matters to your clinicRS gives a patient a concrete reason to act today and a natural next step (the panel → the care plan). That's the path from a curious lead to your flagship program.
Part 1 · The big picture

The patient journey — lead to flagship

Every clinic runs the exact same 8 steps. The rest of this deck teaches each one.

STEP 1
Lead opts in
Your CRM sends them the LIFE form link.
STEP 2
LIFE form
Patient fills it out, gets a Reference Code.
STEP 3
Awaiting scan
They appear on your Dashboard.
STEP 4
WOW Experience
The scan — the standout moment.
STEP 5
Complimentary scan
The free 2‑minute scan.
STEP 6
Review deck
Walk their results together.
STEP 7
Report + panel
Report emails; order the $199 ASI panel.
STEP 8
Convert
Review results with client + spouse and convert.

Parts 2 explains the science. Part 3 shows you the clicks.

Part 2 · The concepts

Who benefits from knowing their Vitality Index — and why

In plain EnglishAlmost everyone. Most people "feel off" but have normal basic labs. The Vitality Index puts a number on that feeling and shows where it's coming from — before it becomes a diagnosis.

Who it's for

  • The "tired but tests are normal" patient — finally an explanation.
  • The proactive / longevity patient — a baseline to optimize and re-test.
  • The overwhelmed patient — one clear number instead of a pile of jargon.
  • Existing patients — to track and show progress on re-tests.

Why it lands

  • It's personal and visual — not a wall of reference ranges.
  • It's actionable — it points at systems, which point at a plan.
  • It creates a before/after — patients come back to watch it improve.
Why it mattersPeople act on things they can see and measure. The Vitality Index is the emotional hook that turns "I should probably do something" into "let's start."
Part 2 · The concepts

What is the LIFE form?

LIFE = Longevity Internal Function Evaluation. It's the short form the patient fills out before the visit, on their phone. It has three parts.

Part 1

Symptom Index

7 short sections about how they've been feeling. (Detailed in the next slides.)

Part 2

Recent Life Events

A checklist of major life changes — the stress the body has been carrying.

Part 3

Consent

A short privacy consent so you can use their answers to prepare their results.

In plain EnglishThe LIFE form is the patient telling their story in a structured way, so the scan and report are personalized to them — not generic.
Part 2 · The concepts

Why those questions? The clinical backbone

The LIFE form isn't a random survey. Each part is built on an established, published instrument — so it stands up to scrutiny.

Symptom Index → body-system clusters. Questions are grouped by the functional-medicine systems a clinician already thinks in (stress/HPA, hormones, metabolic, mood, digestive, inflammation, toxic burden). This mirrors how symptom-cluster questionnaires are used in functional medicine to localize the drivers behind vague complaints.
Toxic-burden items → CH2OPD2. Two items are adapted from a published clinical exposure-history tool (Marshall et al., CMAJ 2002), including its definition of a "linked" symptom — one that starts within ~48h of an exposure and eases when it's removed.
Recent Life Events → Holmes-Rahe SRRS. A landmark, widely-validated stress inventory (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) that correlates life-change load with the risk of a stress-related health change.
The scan → HRV & coherence. Heart-rate variability and coherence are decades-deep, peer-reviewed measures of how the autonomic ("automatic") nervous system is coping. (Defined in the next slides.)
Say it to a patient like this"These questions come from validated clinical tools. Together they give us a 3-D picture — how you feel, what you've been through, and how your nervous system is actually responding."
Part 2 · The concepts

The Symptom Index — what's evaluated & how it's scored

In plain English28 quick questions across 7 body systems (4 each). Each is rated 0–3 (0 = never, 3 = severe/daily). The more a system is bothering someone, the higher its "burden."

How it's scored

  • Add up a system's 4 answers → divide by the max (12) → a 0–100 burden for that system. Higher = more strain.
  • Each system's level: High ≥70 Moderate ≥45 Low <45
NotePatients see neutral "Section 1, 2, 3…" — the body-system mapping is RootSignal™ IP and stays behind the scenes.
The 7 systems (and their weight in the score)
🧠 Stress & Recovery (HPA axis)×1.4
⚖️ Hormonal balance×1.3
🔥 Metabolic / weight×1.2
💭 Mood & nervous system×1.1
🌿 Toxic burden & detox×1.1
🍽️ Digestive×1.0
💥 Inflammation×1.0

Stress/HPA is weighted heaviest because the scan directly measures it — so it carries the most signal.

Part 2 · The concepts

Recent Life Events — the Holmes-Rahe scale

In plain EnglishA checklist of big life changes (past 12 months). Every change — even good ones like marriage or a new baby — asks the body to adjust, and adjustment is stress. More stress load = higher health risk.

Why each is scored the way it is

Each event carries a Life Change Unit (LCU) value from the original 1967 research, ranked by how much readjustment it demands. The patient's total is the sum of what they checked.

What the total means

  • Low ≤149 low susceptibility to a stress-related health change
  • Moderate 150–299 ~50% chance of a major health change within 2 years
  • High 300+ ~80% chance within 2 years
Sample LCU weights (43 events total)
Death of a spouse100
Divorce73
Personal injury or illness53
Marriage50
Business / work readjustment39
Change in financial state38
Vacation13

Notice even "good" events (marriage, vacation) count — because the body still has to adapt.

Part 2 · The concepts

The scan: 2 minutes of heartbeats

A small sensor reads the patient's pulse — on a finger, ear, or wrist; wired or Bluetooth. RootSignal™ measures the tiny gaps between heartbeats and reads a lot from them. The next slides define each number the scan produces.

Coherence
1.27
rhythm order
HRV · rMSSD
27 ms
flexibility
SDNN
59 ms
total HRV
Respiration
6 /min
breathing
Heart rate
75 bpm
pulse

Every one of these comes from the same thing: the inter-beat interval — the time (in milliseconds) from one heartbeat to the next.

Part 2 · The concepts

What is HRV — and why it matters

In plain EnglishA healthy heart does not tick like a metronome. The gaps between beats constantly speed up and slow down a little. That built-in flexibility is Heart-Rate Variability (HRV). More flex = a body that adapts well to stress and recovers quickly.

Think of it like…

A car's suspension. A stiff, rigid ride (low HRV) feels every bump. A responsive suspension (high HRV) absorbs the road. HRV is your nervous system's suspension.

Why it mattersLow HRV is an early, sensitive sign the "automatic" nervous system is stuck in stress mode — often before a patient feels truly sick. It's one of the most-studied markers of resilience and recovery.

RootSignal™ reports HRV two ways — RMSSD and SDNN — on the next two slides.

Part 2 · The concepts · HRV detail

What is RMSSD?

In plain EnglishRMSSD measures the quick, beat-to-beat changes in your pulse. It's the cleanest read on your "rest & recover" (parasympathetic / vagal) system — the calm brake pedal on stress.

The bands RootSignal™ uses

  • < 20 ms — Low nervous system under strain
  • 20–39 ms — Reduced some room to improve
  • ≥ 40 ms — Healthy good recovery capacity

Higher is better. Measured in milliseconds (ms).

Under the hood (for the curious)

RMSSD = the root mean square of successive differences — take the gap change between each pair of beats, square it, average it, square-root it. It highlights the fast, breath-driven wiggle that the vagus nerve controls.

You never calculate this by hand — RootSignal™ does it live from the pulse. You just read the number and the band.
Part 2 · The concepts · HRV detail

What is SDNN?

In plain EnglishSDNN measures the overall amount of variation across the whole 2-minute read — the total HRV, from both the "stress" and "recover" branches combined. It's the big-picture number.

RMSSD vs SDNN — the simple version

  • RMSSD = the fast flicker → your recovery / calm system.
  • SDNN = the whole spread → your total adaptability.
  • Both in milliseconds; for both, higher generally = more resilient.
Under the hood (for the curious)

SDNN = the standard deviation of all the inter-beat intervals — how widely the beat-to-beat timing spreads out over the recording. A tiny spread means a rigid, "flat" heart rhythm; a healthy spread means a responsive one.

How to explain it"RMSSD is your recovery in this moment; SDNN is your overall adaptability. We like to see both healthy — it means your body can both handle stress and switch off afterward."
Part 2 · The concepts

What is Coherence — and why it matters

In plain EnglishWhen you're calm and breathing slowly, your heart rhythm forms a smooth, even wave instead of a jagged scribble. That smooth, ordered wave is coherence — the heart, breath, and nervous system moving in sync.

What the number means

  • High ≥ 2.0 heart rhythm is smooth & in sync
  • Medium 1.0–1.9 building toward coherence
  • Low < 1.0 jagged, stress-pattern rhythm

Higher is better. It rises when someone breathes slowly (~6 breaths/min).

Why the breathing pacer on screen?Coherence only climbs with slow, steady breathing near 6 breaths a minute. The glowing "breathe in / breathe out" orb on the scan screen paces the patient to exactly that — so the scan captures their best rhythm, not a random one.
Under the hood: RootSignal™ looks at the heart-rhythm wave, finds its dominant frequency, and measures how much of the energy sits in a tight, ordered band vs. scattered noise. A tall, tight peak = high coherence.
Part 2 · The concepts

What "Time in Coherence" means

In plain EnglishDuring the 2-minute scan, the rhythm drifts in and out of that smooth state. "Time in Coherence" is the share of the scan spent in Low, Medium, and High coherence — like a stopwatch on how much of the read was calm & in-sync.
HIGH

Rhythm was smooth and ordered — the target state. More time here is better.

MEDIUM

On the way to coherent — partially in sync.

LOW

Jagged, stress-pattern rhythm — not yet coherent.

Why it mattersA snapshot coherence number can be lucky or unlucky. The distribution — how much of the whole scan was High vs Low — is a truer picture of how easily this person can reach a calm, regulated state. A patient who's mostly Low has a nervous system that's stuck "on."
Part 2 · The concepts

What is Respiration — and why it matters

In plain EnglishRootSignal™ can read your breathing rate (breaths per minute) straight from your heartbeat — no chest strap needed. Your heart naturally speeds up a touch when you inhale and slows when you exhale; the pace of that rise-and-fall is your breathing.

Why it matters

  • Slow breathing (~6/min) is the on-ramp to coherence and calms the stress response.
  • Fast, shallow breathing keeps the body in "fight-or-flight."
  • Seeing their number teaches patients the single easiest self-regulation tool: slow down the breath.
Under the hood (for the curious)

This is called respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) — the natural heart-rate rise/fall with each breath. RootSignal™ finds that oscillation in the heart-rhythm signal and converts its frequency to breaths per minute.

It's why the pacer targets 6/min — that's the rate that maximizes both coherence and HRV for most people.
Part 2 · The concepts · The headline number

What is the Vitality Index — and how it's calculated

In plain EnglishOne score, 0–100, for how much hidden strain the body is carrying. 100 = firing on all cylinders; lower = more burden. (Note: for the Vitality Index, higher is better — the opposite of the per-system "burden" numbers.)

How it's built (plain version)

  • Each of the 7 systems gets a burden score (from symptoms + the scan + intake + labs).
  • Those are blended into a weighted average (heavier systems count more).
  • The Index = 100 − that average burden. Less burden → higher vitality.
What a patient sees
72
Vitality

One glance = "how am I doing?" The systems map tells them why.

What the score representsNot a diagnosis — a vitality signal: the combined weight of everything pulling the body off-optimal, inverted into a single, motivating number they can improve and re-test.
Part 2 · The concepts · The open loop

Why the first score says "Preliminary"

The scan + form give a real score — but it's deliberately incomplete without the hormone panel. So RootSignal™ shows it as Preliminary and holds it back by ~10%. It's an honest "we're not done yet."

PRELIMINARY

Scan + LIFE form only

The picture is missing the objective hormone data, so we present the score conservatively — under-, never over-stated.

COMPLETE

After the ASI panel

The real lab values resolve the score to its true number. It usually rises — but will drop if the labs reveal a real driver. That honesty is the point.

Why it matters for the clinicThis "open loop" is the engine: the patient wants to close the gap and see their true score — which is exactly the saliva panel and the follow-up visit.
Part 2 · The concepts

The ASI test — and how it changes the Vitality Index

In plain EnglishThe ASI (Adrenal Stress Index) is a simple saliva test (DiagnosTechs lab, ~$199). The patient spits into tubes across a day at home. It measures the cortisol curve (your main stress hormone at 4 points) plus DHEA — objective proof of how the stress system is really running.

How it changes the score

  • Out-of-range markers add real, weighted burden to the matching systems.
  • The score flips from Preliminary → Complete and resolves to its true value.
  • Usually the score rises (the 10% hold-back is released); it drops only if labs expose a genuine problem.
What the ASI reads
Cortisol — morningin range
Cortisol — noonlow
Cortisol — eveningin range
Cortisol — nighthigh
DHEAlow

The daily pattern matters as much as any single value — that's what saliva timing captures.

Part 2 · The concepts

What is the LIFE Reference Code?

In plain EnglishA short 6-character code (like FEYSR6) that ties a patient's pre-visit LIFE form to their in-clinic scan. It's the "claim ticket" for their form.

How it works

  • Created the moment the patient submits the LIFE form.
  • Shown on their confirmation screen and on your Dashboard.
  • Used at scan time: you type it into "New Scan" to pull up their exact form — no re-typing, no wrong-patient mix-ups.
Built to be foolproof
  • No confusing characters — it never uses 0/O or 1/I.
  • Random & unique — every patient gets their own.
  • Not sensitive info — it's just a lookup key, not personal health data, so it's safe to say out loud or text.
If a code ever "won't load," it's almost always a typo — check for the letters vs. numbers, then re-enter.
Part 3

Now let's run a scan —
click by click

The next slides mirror exactly what's on your screen.

1

The lead opts in → gets the LIFE form

What happens

  • A lead opts in through your marketing (ad, page, or front desk).
  • Your CRM automatically texts/emails them their personal LIFE form link (app.myrootsignal.com/fif/your-clinic).
  • They fill it out on their phone in a few minutes.
RootSignal™ · LIFE form phone
Your Longevity Internal Function Evaluation
About you — name, email
Section 1–7 · symptom sliders (0–3)
Recent life events · checkboxes
Consent ✓Submit
2

They appear on your Dashboard → "Awaiting scan"

app.myrootsignal.com/dashboard
⧗ Awaiting scan · pre-visit forms to review
1  Christen Schneider   FEYSR6Review intake →
Demo Charlie   T8ESVPReview intake →
Recent scans
Carter Schneider · Vitality 81Preliminary
1
Awaiting scan lists every patient who finished their LIFE form and is ready to be scanned — with their Reference Code right there.
"Review intake →" lets you preview their answers before they walk in (optional).
Recent scans below shows completed patients and whether their score is still Preliminary (panel outstanding) or Complete.
3

Start a New Scan → enter the Reference Code

app.myrootsignal.com/new-scan
New RootSignal™ scan
1  Reference codeFEYSR6
Load form
2  ✓ Christen Schneider loadedBegin Scan →
1
Click + New scan (top-right of the dashboard), then type the 6-character code and press Load form.
2
The patient's name appears — confirm it's the right person, then press Begin Scan.
TipMake sure the clinic's heart sensor is connected in Settings before you begin.
4

Run the 2-minute Live Scan

RootSignal™ · LIFE Scan NOW SCANNING
Breathe with the orb · 2:00
Coherence
1.27
HRV
27ms
1
Attach the sensor, ensuring correct contact/placement. The heartbeat trace should start moving within a few seconds.
2
Have them breathe with the glowing orb — in as it grows, out as it shrinks (~6 breaths/min). This is what lets coherence build.
3
Watch the live numbers fill in. At the end, press Next → to open their results.
If a number looks stuck at "—", reseat the finger and keep still — the scan rejects noisy, non-pulse signals on purpose.
5

Walk the Results Review together

What it is

Pressing Next opens the Results Review deck — a guided, glowing-body walkthrough you present with the patient, system by system, ending on their report.

How to run it

  • Turn the screen toward the patient.
  • Move through each system — connect their symptoms to what the scan shows.
  • Land on the Vitality Index and the open loop: "here's your preliminary score — the saliva panel completes it."
Results Review · their Vitality Index
72
Vitality
Land the walkthrough on their headline Vitality Index.
This is the moment that convertsThe review is where a curious patient becomes a committed one. Slow down, make it about them, and let the open loop create the next step.
6

Report emails automatically → Accept or Decline the panel

The report

  • The moment the scan saves, RootSignal™ emails the patient their branded report automatically.
  • It shows their Vitality Index, the systems map, and their own flagged symptoms.
  • They can reopen it anytime via a secure link.
If a patient says "I never got it": check their contact isn't set to Do Not Disturb in the CRM — that silently blocks the email. Fix that, then resend.

Close the loop — Accept or Decline

Right on the results, the patient chooses — and the system routes them automatically:

  • Accept → an order form opens for the $199 ASI panel; you place it on the spot. Payment auto‑triggers the fulfillment workflow (kit, instructions, results reminder).
  • Decline → a follow‑up sequence starts automatically, working over the next days to bring them back to the panel.
You never chase it manually — completing the panel flips the score to Complete and sets up the follow‑up visit.
7

The follow-up → your flagship care

The complete Vitality Index + the systems map are the perfect springboard into your clinic's core program. RS did the hard part — it made the invisible visible and gave the patient a reason to go deeper.

Then

Complete score

Review the true number and what the labs revealed.

Now

Targeted plan

Point the plan at the highest-burden systems.

Next

Re-test & retain

Re-scan later to show progress — this is what keeps patients.

The whole pointLead → LIFE form → scan → review → panel → flagship program. Every scan you run is the top of that funnel.
Part 4 · Reference

Cheat sheet — every number, and which way is "good"

MetricWhat it is (plain)Better =Bands
Vitality IndexOverall "how well the body runs," 0–100Higher ↑Preliminary until ASI, then Complete
System burdenStrain in one of the 7 systems, 0–100Lower ↓Low <45 · Moderate ≥45 · High ≥70
CoherenceHow smooth/ordered the heart rhythm isHigher ↑Low <1 · Medium 1–1.9 · High ≥2
Time in Coherence% of the scan spent High/Med/LowMore High ↑watch the High %
HRV · RMSSDFast beat-to-beat flex (recovery system)Higher ↑<20 Low · 20–39 Reduced · ≥40 Healthy (ms)
SDNNTotal variability across the readHigher ↑ms — bigger spread = more adaptable
RespirationBreaths per minute, read from the pulse~6/min for calmslow & steady = coherent
Life Events (LCU)Holmes-Rahe life-stress loadLower ↓Low ≤149 · Moderate ≤299 · High 300+

Remember: a higher Vitality Index is better; a lower system burden is better.

Part 4 · Reference

Quick troubleshooting

🩸 Scan won't read / numbers stuck at "—"

  • Reseat the finger; keep the hand still and relaxed.
  • The scan ignores noisy, non-pulse signals on purpose — give it a few seconds of a clean pulse.

🔑 Reference code "won't load"

  • Almost always a typo — codes never contain 0/O or 1/I.
  • Confirm you're in the right clinic account.
  • Re-type carefully and press Load form again.

📧 Patient didn't get their report

  • Check the contact's Do Not Disturb setting — it silently blocks emails.
  • Check spam; confirm the email on file is correct; resend.

📉 Score seems low / patient worried

  • Reframe: it's Preliminary and conservative on purpose.
  • The panel usually raises it — and either way, it's a starting point to improve.
You've got this

Take a lead. Run the scan.
Show them their number.

That's the whole job — and now you know the science behind every step. This deck lives in your Provider Portal for whenever you need a refresher.

RootSignal · Answers from the root.
RootSignal
1 / 31