Acupuncture Herbal Wellness Center

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FAQs

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient healing art of Chinese medicine. The acupuncturist inserts very fine needles into acupoints to balance the energy system of the body, which can significantly improve overall body condition.

Is Acupuncture treatment painful?

Acupuncture treatment requires an Acupuncturist to insert fine needles into the body. Therefore, many people think it is very painful. However, patients generally only feel a bee sting-like sensation and it is very quickly going away. Patients may feel a certain level of heaviness, numbness, or slight soreness on some acupoints. Occasionally, Acupuncturist may seek better results by stimulating certain acupoints to have the patient acquire a stronger sensation.

How quickly can I see the improvement from Acupuncture treatment?
Improvement may be seen after the very first treatment. Many patients have seen very good results with a few Acupuncture treatments. However, the level of improvement may be varied based on the patient's overall condition.
How long does an Acupuncture treatment take?
The first Acupuncture treatment usually takes about 60 to 90 minutes. The follow-up Acupuncture treatment is generally around 30 to 60 minutes. The actual duration may be different from other conjunction therapy.
Is it safe?
With adequate training, acupuncture is very safe. Our acupuncturists have over 3300 hours of training and are nationally certified. All needles are sterile single-use surgical steel. Acupuncture is very safe, but it is important to remember that the World Health Organization defines acupuncture as a surgical procedure and considers any technique using solid filiform acupuncture needles to be acupuncture. If someone offers to do “dry needling” or “medical acupuncture” it is important to ask about their training and experience. It is possible to hurt someone with these needles and to cause infection (by needling through clothing), organ punctures (needling too deeply in the wrong place) or nerve trauma (needling too aggressively seeking a “twitch response”) without appropriate training. Most states require 300-500 hours of training including supervised hands on needle technique instruction and clean needle technique training before any health practitioner can use acupuncture needles for safety reasons.
Do you have to use needles?
Surprise – nope, we don’t have to use needles. Acupuncture is part of a larger system of healing, and we can work through different pathways with pressure, ear seeds, cupping therapy, Tuina, etc. Healing generally progresses faster with the needles, but they are optional.
Do you do "Dry Needling"?
Yes, we do! In fact, the needling techniques used in Dry Needling are among the first we learn in school. Dry Needling is an Acupuncture technique and as such should be performed only by professionals with an appropriate level of training such as a licensed acupuncturist or medical acupuncturist. Knowledge of anatomy and physiology is only one portion of the required skill set to safely and effectively use needles as a therapeutic tool.
Will insurance pay for this?

Are you a disabled veteran under the care of the VA? If yes, we can often get approval for the VA to pay for treatment.

Been in a car accident? Your PIP may pay for acupuncture, massage and chiropractic.  The sooner you get in for treatment after the accident, the faster we can get you feeling better.

Otherwise—the answer varies greatly.  We can help you negotiate the confusing world of health insurance and help you understand your benefits. See our Insurance FAQ below for more information

Does acupuncture only work for pain?

No. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized that Acupuncture is a valuable and readily method through over 2500 years of historical practice. During clinical practice, Acupuncture can significantly improve many conditions, such as:

Common Cold,

Allergies,

Headaches and Migraines,

Diabetes,

Stroke,

Insomnia,

Fatigue,

Female Period Disorders,

Anxiety/Depression

PTSD

Athletic injuries

Fertility/Menstrual disorders

Chronic Fatigue

Fibromyalgia

Plantar fasciitis

Digestive Disorders

Dizziness/Balance issues

Neuropathy

Multiple Sclerosis

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Assist IVF procedures

Prepare for embryo transfer

Fibroids

Labor induction

Postpartum recovery

We assist with a wide variety of conditions with an average success rate of 85% (we define success as a long-term reduction in the chief complaint of 70% or more).

What is your cancellation policy?
Your appointment time is reserved just for you. A late cancellation or missed visit leaves a hole in the therapists’ day that could have been filled by another patient. As such, we require 24 hours notice for any cancellations or changes to weekday appointments and 48 hours for weekend appointments.
Common Insurance Questions

Navigating insurance can be complicated.  Hopefully, this information will help you get an accurate answer from your insurance provider.

There are a couple of cases where the answer is almost always YES:

Were you recently in an automobile accident and haven’t used all of your Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage? Kentucky requires a minimum of $10,000 in PIP for all auto insurance and this can be used for acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic in addition to other regular medical expenses. If so, we can bill your insurance, or you pay cash and submit the receipts for reimbursement in most cases.

Are you a federal employee who was injured on the job? If so, federal workman’s compensation coverage may include acupuncture. Contact us for more information.

Are you an employee with an open workman’s compensation claim? If so, you may be able to get acupuncture coverage with a referral from your primary workman’s compensation doctor.

There are also cases you have the answer just might be YES:

Are you a federal or state employee? If yes, your plan may include acupuncture coverage.

Are you a veteran under the care of the VA for a service-connected disability? We just might be able to get you a referral through the VA which will cover 100% of your approved treatments for acupuncture and massage.

Are you an employee of a health insurance company? Many of these companies have plans that cover acupuncture for their employees even if they don’t provide it to their customers.

There are several cases where the answer will generally be NO:

Tricare, Medicare, and Medicaid do not cover acupuncture and due to the abysmally low reimbursement rates, we do not accept any Medicare supplement plans at this time.

*Note regarding recent Medicare changes*

While Medicare does cover Acupuncture for chronic low back pain only, we are limited to being an out of network provider until Congress amends the law to include licensed Acupuncturists as providers. We are happy to guide you to the necessary paperwork for you to submit for reimbursement but have no control over Medicare's ultimate decision. In addition, we cannot accept Medicare supplement insurance plans due to the restrictive nature of their reimbursement criteria.

We need your help getting Congress to help make Medicare available to all patients who need our treatment services. Please see the links below to find out what you can do to help.

For further information regarding Medicare Coverage:

https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/acupuncture

Judy Chu’s bill HR1183 which is a good example of the kind of legislation that will be needed for Medicare to be covered by acupuncturists:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1183?s=1&r=8

Do you have a Health Saving Account, Flex Spending Account or similar?

If so, in most cases you can use these to pay for acupuncture.

My insurance says they cover acupuncture, now what?

In order to help make sure you get the coverage you pay for there are some additional questions you need to ask your insurance company:

Do you cover acupuncture? ______________ If yes: Are there any specific diagnosis codes required for coverage or excluded from coverage? __________________________________It is important to get the ICD codes, not just condition name!

Do you cover CPT codes 97810, 97811, 97813, 97814? These are acupuncture specific codes—some insurance will say they cover acupuncture but in reality, they only cover the office visits and not the acupuncture itself.

How many visits do you cover? ___________________

Does my deductible have to be met prior to my coverage being effective?______________

How much is my deductible and how far away am I from meeting it this year?____________

Do you require an MD referral
Some will say they only cover in-network providers or that they cover a higher percentage for in-network providers. Currently no insurance contracts with acupuncturists in the state of Kentucky so they are required to give you an exemption if you request it and treat us as if we were in network. It is not uncommon for them to “not be aware” of this but if you mention that you will “contact the state insurance board about their inability to provide an exemption” and they generally remember.
Do you bill my insurance?
With private insurance, we recommend you pay cash to get our Time of Service discount since most insurance covers a percentage of an allowed amount—which by law until they pay the bill they are not required to disclose (some do, some don’t). Since the allowed amount is often less than our billed amount and, in some cases, even our time of service discounted amount you get the most money for your coverage by submitting your receipt to your insurance and letting them reimburse you for the amount they cover. By law, we cannot reduce our billed amount after the time of service and you will be responsible for any amount not covered by your insurance if we do the billing—even if that is more than you would have paid at our time of service.
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