A review of 9 studies assessed the effectiveness and efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of neck pain.
Seven out of nine studies yielded positive results.
In particular, the studies based on the primary outcome of short-term pain reduction found that acupuncture was more effective than the control in the treatment of neck pain.
This study also showed that acupuncture was significantly more effective than sham acupuncture for pain relief.
This review confirmed the short-term effectiveness and efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of neck pain.
Further studies that address the long-term efficacy of acupuncture for neck pain are warranted.
Healthcare continues to evolve toward less-invasive, natural, and drug-free methods, with acupuncture now becoming a first-line complementary healthcare choice.
Remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
There is a reason acupuncturists have trusted AAC with their business for 50 years.
Not an American Acupuncture Council member? Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you will save! Click here!
So how is AI changing search engine optimization? There’s really two ways that AI has impacted SEO, and the first is that the way people are able to search for the answer to a question has changed.
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Hi there. My name is Michelle Grasek. I’m a practicing acupuncturist and a marketing strategist and the host of the Acupuncture Marketing School podcast. And today we’re talking about how AI is changing search engine optimization and what we can do about it as acupuncturists and local brick and mortar small business owners.
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So before we get into that today, I would love to say thank you to the American Acupuncture Council for the opportunity to be here with you. All right, let’s get into the slides. So how is AI changing search engine optimization? There’s really two ways that AI has impacted SEO, and the first is that the way people are able to search for the answer to a question has changed.
So if you. Recall, and originally we would simply type a couple keywords into the search bar in Google and we’re gonna use Google as our primary example. I know there are other search engines, but really the one that owns everything as and is the most important is Google. So we’ll use Google as an example.
So we used to just be able to choose a couple keywords like acupuncture, frozen shoulder, or maybe. Frozen shoulder acupuncture near me, just a mishmash of keywords and put them into a Google search. And of course we can still do that, but that used to be the most common way that people would search.
Now people can use their Alexa and ask full sentences, so there are, they’re using a voice search or they can type full sentences into chat GPT. So instead of just saying acupuncture, frozen shoulder, they can say things like. Can you find me at an acupuncturist specializing in frozen shoulder near me, or can acupuncture help my tennis elbow and X, Y, Z?
So these are more conversational, they’re full sentences, and these are called high intent queries because they indicate that a person is really very interested. In what we have to offer, right? They wouldn’t be asking about, natural alternatives for frozen shoulder or acupuncture specifically for frozen shoulder if it was not their intent to pursue that line of treatment.
Okay? We know that the way we are inputting our query has changed. It’s a lot more long tail keywords. So when you’re entering a whole sentence or multiple keywords or big concepts, that’s called the long tail keyword, right? And these long tail keywords are often conversational in tone, right?
They’re phrased as an entire question. And then we also know that AI is changing the output, that social, sorry, that search engines are providing as an answer to a question. So you may have noticed when you search on Google that up at the top, Google will give you an AI summary of the answer it thinks is most relevant and most accurate to your query.
And. Google also has a specific AI search, so let me skip ahead here for you called AI mode where you get a much more comprehensive AI generated response to your query. So as an example, I typed into AI mode in the Google search. I put in. Acupuncture to manage celiac disease symptoms near me. So this is a longer tail keyword, and this is the response that it gave me.
So first it says, yes, acupuncture is likely to be helpful for celiac symptoms, and then it went ahead and it listed the local. Acupuncture clinics. So my practice is very close to my house, so I knew that my practice was gonna come up, but I was curious what the ranking would be. I have a lot of content on my website about digestion and I really just wanted to see are we ranking for these kind of local searches for symptoms that we like to treat?
You can see it’s listing five different clinics and we’re at the top and it provides the most information about my practice. And now why is that? If you take a look at this, it’s summarizing the specific answer to the question about celiac symptoms. At some point in creating content on my website over the past six years, I must have mentioned that I have Celiac and that I have been using acupuncture to help manage those symptoms for a decade, and that contributes to the reason that I love to help patients with a variety of digestive conditions.
I know that I wrote this content, I don’t remember when, I have no idea what page it’s on, but it’s very specific, right? And it is. A direct answer to this question that was put into the search query and Google found it. And there’s a specific reason that I am sharing this with you. So to review the two ways that AI is changing search is, one, it’s changing the way that we ask questions of Google.
So the questions themselves have changed. And two, it’s changing the way that the search engines AKA Google are providing the answer. Okay? So as you can see here, it says results are summarized with relevant points and fewer clickthroughs are necessary because if it’s summarizing your an answer to a question, you don’t actually have to click through to that website that it’s referencing to read the same information.
Okay. So all of this is important to keep in mind when we ask ourselves, okay, those are the changes. What can we do about it as local brick and mortar businesses, as practice owners, and truly high quality, detailed content that talks about your specific experience and mentions local keywords is going to be more important than ever.
This AI models is referring to any, aI that’s built into a search engine. So we just saw, if we skip back here, this is AI mode in Google, but different search engines have different names for it. But AI really prefers content that is detailed, that it feels is going to be authentic because it mentions a real person’s experience or background or expertise, and also incorporates local keywords.
All of this in addition to mentioning the keywords relevant to the symptom that the person mentioned in their query. Okay. And we’re gonna talk about an exact page structure for a new page on your website that you can create, where you can incorporate all of these things. But I think this is really interesting.
We’re emphasizing that. The AI search part of search engines wants to ensure that the content it’s providing as an answer to a question is authentic and relevant, as opposed to providing really basic, vague information that may have been generated solely by ai. AI generated content is not a bad thing.
When I’m creating new pages for my website, I absolutely use chat GPT to help me. The important thing to note is that. If you ask chat GPT to help you write any content, the quality of the output is going to depend on the quality of the prompt that you give it. So you need to tell chat GPT about your target market, your ideal audience, your expertise.
You can tell it the things you want it to include. The things you do not want it to include, you can even tell it that this is going to be content geared towards SEO. So you need it to mention a specific keyword or phrase and your location, et cetera. Okay? So this is not to say that you can’t use AI to help you write these pages, either the content or the outline, but what you wanna avoid is.
Content that sounds very basic and generic that doesn’t reference any particular experience or expertise where the examples are really vague and just not helpful. I think you’ve probably come across that sort of content before. That’s probably AI generated content. Instead, what the AI search is looking for is deeper, right?
It wants more detail, it wants more testimonials about the symptom on the page. It wants more information, okay? Because that’s indicating that it’s authentic and it’s relevant and it’s most likely a good answer to the person’s question. So before we move on, I wanna emphasize that search engine optimization.
And really Google’s goal, everything Google is doing. It is about the user experience and we can maximize that when we are creating pages for our website for SEO. And what do I mean by user experience? Google cares very much that the answers it brings up to a search query are authentic, relevant, and useful answers to the actual question that was asked.
It does not wanna be tricked into putting a website at the top of a search. That actually doesn’t answer the question, right? So it’s become very savvy in that way because it wants to provide the best answer to a question. Do you remember Ask j Eves? It still exists. Lots of people don’t even think it exists anymore, but ask j Eves algorithms.
To answer questions we’re simply not as good as Google’s, and so Google really took off and asked j Eves got left behind. Google does not want that to happen. Okay, so it’s like Google wants to help you. It really does. If you are the answer to a question that someone type in, it wants you, it wants your business, but we have to help Google understand.
When our business is the answer to a question that’s been put in the search, that is our responsibility. And so how do we do that? We build out our website with deep rich content that talks about our experience as practitioners, our expertise that mentions our location and. Can include testimonials, et cetera.
All of the things that help Google feel like the content is authentic and specific to the search query. Okay, so you know, one thing I always ask my marketing clients when they are a little resistant to. Adding more content to their website is, is the content that’s already on your website specific enough that Google would know what kind of patients you want it to send you?
And if the answer is no, then we have to write about those symptoms and conditions. Otherwise, Google will have no idea exactly who to send us and it’s gonna send those people somewhere that is specific. Okay. One way of maximizing the potential of your website for the new way that AI is impacting search engine optimization is to write these long form detailed pages about specific symptoms or conditions that you wanna see more of.
Now, there are lots and lots of SEO strategies that you can use that are very effective. This is just one, and I chose it. For today, because it doesn’t require us to have any technical behind the scenes knowledge of our websites, it doesn’t really even require us to have much SEO knowledge. We are just writing a really good, thorough, detailed webpage and including a couple key elements so that.
Google understands when our website is the answer to a question that someone entered into the search. Okay? And so let’s talk about the detailed format for these symptom pages. I’m actually gonna skip ahead. And just run through an outline of this page and then I’ll show you a real time example. So a really nice format and you can pause and take a screenshot of this, is to have the the title of your page be.
Acupuncture four. And then the symptom will say osteoarthritis of the knee, if that’s something you’d love to treat in Rochester, New York, or whatever your town or neighborhood is. And then each one of these bullet points would be a heading section for the page. So what is osteoarthritis of the knee? How can acupuncture in Rochester.
Help with osteoarthritis of the knees. How many treatments do I need? What to expect for osteoarthritis of the knee for acupuncture? Frequently asked questions about acupuncture and osteoarthritis. Why choose your clinic name? Why choose Ageless Acupuncture? Schedule your first visit today in Rochester, New York at ages acupuncture.
Okay, so keeping all of that in mind, let’s look at. And I apologize. I thought I had this, oops. Pulled up for you.
Okay, so let’s look at a real time example of this. For diverticulitis I mentioned I love to treat digestive conditions, so we try to have these pages for the various digestive conditions that I really enjoy treating and want more of those patients. So you can see acupuncture for diverticulitis relief, and son falls.
I’ve got my keywords, which are acupuncture, the symptom. And my location. Okay, and then I’ve got my headings. What is diverticulitis? I’ve got a call to action button here. Make an appointment. How acupuncture might help with diverticulitis. How many treatments? Another button to make an appointment. What to expect.
Why choose our clinic Is acupuncture right for you and ready to make an appointment with of course, another button. Okay, so if we hop back to the slides. I wanna go back one slide here. So really what you are thinking about is. Answering a long tail question that you think your ideal patient would ask, and you can actually like if you think the question is going to be, can acupuncture help with my frozen shoulder?
That could be one of the headings on your page, and then you answer the question, right? It’s okay to have the question be verbatim as a heading on your page. Okay, and what you wanna do to help Google understand that you are. An authentic business to build trust with Google. So it knows that sending traffic to you is a good choice.
You are a good answer to the query. You can mention your professional experience. You can mention testimonials. For example, you could say 10 years in business treating digestive conditions just like diverticulitis. Or we have been in business for eight years and we have 45, 5 star reviews.
Okay. You can talk about a case study, of course, where you’re scrubbing any patient information, but you can talk about the improvement that you have witnessed in similar patients in the past, giving Google an idea that your real person and you, again, you are just a trustworthy source to send people to for the search query.
Okay. And making sure that over and over again you are including the symptom diverticulitis, for example, and your location. Rochester Seneca Falls in the headings going down your page. Okay? And I pointed out that I had multiple call to action buttons saying book now you wanna have. You don’t want people to have to look around and figure that out.
You wanna have multiple going down the page. I also recommend having internal links. This is very good for SEO and can help improve the rank of this page in particular and the pages that you link to. So on your symptom page, you can link to other relevant pages on your website. For example, if you say, why choose Seneca Falls acupuncture and then say our our acupuncturists have a combined 30 years of experience. You could hyperlink that to the about page on your website. Okay? And this just helps Google understand the structure of your website better. And anytime we’re helping Google understand us, it has a better idea of when we are the answer to a question, and it’s more likely to send people to us.
Okay?
And Oh, I apologize. It looks like I didn’t quite finish this page. So to review, why do these detailed symptom pages work so well? So one, they match people’s new search behavior with the long tail keywords or the full question queries, like full sentence. They also position you as an expert, not only for potential patients, but also for Google.
And they improve your local search rank. So it’s not just about including the symptom, but also about including your location over and over again so that Google knows like within what range are you the answer to this question. So here’s what I would love for you to do. I’d love for you to write two of these pages.
The reason I say two is that it can take three to six months for these pages to really, bring you a return on your investment of your time and your energy for Google to start sending people to these pages. So the more pages you can write now, the like the better results you’ll have later on. Okay?
So if you can only write one page right now, that’s fine. Certainly better than nothing. But if you can, if you have time to write multiple symptom pages. Please do think about your ideal patients and two conditions that you love to treat and want more of. It could be it could be anything, right? It could be carpal tunnel and fertility for women with PCOS.
Okay, and just follow the outline that I provided. Ask chat GPT for help. That’s totally acceptable, and publish them so that you get an enormous benefit down the road. So I really hope this is helpful. As always, if you have questions, you are more than welcome to. Send me an email, michelle@michelleGrasek.com and I would love to invite you to a new marketing membership.
I just launched. It is a low cost membership. It’s called the Snack Size Marketing Club. The idea is about taking. Small bite size. I love puns. Small bite size actions every week, which done consistently really add up to practice growth over time. So you can visit the Snack Size Marketing club@michelleGrasek.thinkific.com.
I’d love to have you as a member. And before I sign off today, I would like to thank the American Acupuncture Council. One more time for the opportunity to be here with you today. Talk to you next time.
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Can acupuncture give relief to musculoskeletal pain?
Musculoskeletal disorders are major causes of disability, with some of the most common being neck pain, low back pain, osteoarthritis, shoulder pain, and myofascial pain.
Sixty-three studies looked at the analgesic effect of real acupuncture compared to sham acupuncture in over 6300 individuals for musculoskeletal pain.
The study concluded that acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture at relieving pain caused by chronic neck pain, shoulder pain, chronic low back pain, myofascial pain, and osteoarthritis.
Healthcare continues to evolve toward less-invasive, natural, and drug-free methods, with acupuncture now becoming a first-line complementary healthcare choice.
Remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
There is a reason acupuncturists have trusted AAC with their business for 50 years.
Not an American Acupuncture Council member? Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you will save! Click here!
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Hi, my name is Moshe Heller. I am from Moshen Herbs, and I wanted to thank the American Acupuncture Council for letting me speak today about Bones and Hormones in Chinese medicine. And so let’s go to the slides. So I wanted to speak about this subject because I actually had three cases that I had in the my office lately.
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And. Those three cases all had to do with bone and they were different. And we’ll talk about that in a second. But there were also some similarities that I wanted to bring out. So the first case was this 14-year-old little. Guy who came to me with this, with an a genetic issue where his mandibular condyle and the Corona process of the left side were underdeveloped and did not fully grow as much as the other side.
So there was an imbalance, and when he was chewing, it caused him a lot of pain. Actually on the opposite side, on the right side ’cause there was a little more pressure on that aspect. He also felt that he was smaller than his peers. He really had a lack of appetite. And although he and although he gets tired easily.
He does not really complain of being fatigued or having low energy. He has regular bowels, although he may miss a day here and there and he has some seasonal allergies, but hardly gets sick. So that was the presentation and it clearly shows an. Points toward a weakness in the spleen.
And that is something that we might address in this case as a main sort of issue. In the, in, in the case. The second case was a 6-year-old woman with a fracture. She fell and broke her wrist. Wrist and wanted came in to promote the healing and help in the healing process of her bone.
Although she had hot flashes and reported having gluten sensitivity and therefore bowels tend to be soft and and frequent, she was otherwise healthy. In that case although we might want to address this hot flashes, meaning that somehow points toward some yin vacuity and.
Issues of reg yin regulation and yin and yang regulation. The main point thrust in this case would be probably to promote the movement of qian blood to the area to promote healing. So we’ll see. Some more focus on moving qian blood. And the last case was this 45-year-old woman with osteopenia which means that the bones are becoming more.
Brittle and having less calcium in them. And she did experience early menopause. She was 45 and already had not been menstruating for a couple of years. Having hot flashes, sleep issues, low back pain, and tended to be constipated. So in general, what we see in her in this case is that we would.
Might focus on strengthening the kidney and and and yin in her case. So we see three cases here. All related to, bone structure and in all three cases we might use a different focus focal point to address them. And so I. I wanted to point out the similarities or the ideas similar ideas that we’re addressing in all three cases.
And for that I wanted to review the relationship of the bone to the organ organs and ubstance and substances in our body in Chinese medicine. And I, created these seven idea seven concepts that we need to maintain when we are working on. On Bones. The first one is Jing. We have, and we’ll talk a little bit about Jing in a second and what that means.
Jing and kidneys work together. The spleen is a, is energy needs to be evaluated and making sure that it is strong and effective because in order to build yin. Or Jing, the spleen needs to be strong. Then we also need to work on liver and heart. That also relates to circulation of Q and blood respectively.
So making sure the liver chi is flowing harmoniously and the heart chi is not blocked and therefore chi and blood. Are flowing and harmoniously in our body. That’s really super important to, to support bone growth and also of course, evaluating the chi and blood is sufficient and not deficient in any way, shape or form.
And also the last point. Is the triple burner, which ties everything together. The triple burner function should be very also in in balanced and uninhibited in order for it for the triple burner to control or support the formation of Yin and bone and Jing. And that is also through the relationship of the triple burner.
To the Yuan Chi. So it is the distributor of Yuan Chi throughout the body, and that’s an important concept to remember. I also wanted to make sure that we are remembering that their, the cycles of Jing are really especially significant in the beginning and at the end of our cycles. We have in the females a seven year Jing cycle and and for males of course, eight year cycles, and we can see that we’re the idea, the concept is we’re born with a hundred percent Jing and then we’re at, when we at the end of life, we end with. Zero Jing. So we are expending Jing throughout our life. And by the way, there’s an opposite curve where sheen on the other hand, we are born with zero sheen and end up when we end up our life with a hundred percent.
She. So it’s an opposite curve, but the most important thing I want to say is that. Especially at the beginning and at the end of this Jing Cycles, when we when we have issues with those aspects, we should be thinking of. So when there are issues with a Jing cycle, especially beginning and end whether there’s a somebody born with a weakness of Jing or.
The Jing has not been or has been expanded and there’s not enough jing at the end of life. Always the herb of choice or my thinking is always because it deals, it is addresses these imbalances in the be begin, beginning and end of life. When we’re thinking of building jing, usually it requires a multifaceted approach.
So Jing is very deep. Therefore we cannot just, put a few points and expect an increase in the gene. And although we believe that we are born with a certain amount of prenatal gene, there is a concept of postnatal gene. And postnatal gene is is influenced by or can be created when our life is balanced in all aspects.
Whether it’s diet, rest, activity, emotional, everything is balanced, then we have surpluses usually in production, and therefore we can keep them or make postnatal jing that supports and reduces the amount of the. Prenatal gene that we use on a daily basis. So when we’re thinking about this multi faceted approach, we should think of both acupuncture, herbs, diet and exercise, and emotional balance in life and how we can support that.
Acupuncture wise, we always think of. UB 11 as the point we, it’s influential point of bones and essence. So when we’re trying to bring more essence to the body, UB 11 is a point to we might think of and of for of course also. The influential point of essence is gallbladder 39, and of course we need to think of kidney points.
Kidney three as more of a yin point. Kidney seven is both yin and young. That’s why I always think of her as a supported support that it supports. Jing Postnatal, Jing Production and Kidney Nine helps to also support postnatal kidney Jing production. Herbs. We look at herbs that are usually black and dark.
And because then that points towards this kind of ability to support the Jing. As I said, Sudi Huang is one, but also HW. And Huang Jing. Huang Jing is a very important because it’s actually a chee to, and it allows the spleen chi to produce more jing. It’s a very powerful herb that we should always remember when we.
When we’re addressing Jing, Ruon, GR is another one, and Gu, both are Jing tonics and strengthen the kidney and the Jing. And are very important to, to include also from a dietary point of view, bone broth is extremely important and balancing this activity and rest and emotional state are all part of this process.
If the spleen is weak, nothing happens. Meaning we cannot transform our food and our tea and our thought and our anything. It creates a stagnation. And therefore, when we are addressing Jing, we cannot forget the spleen, especially when we’re talking to kids. Especially in this first case, although he’s 14-year-old, he’s in his moving him to his.
Second, he’s in the end of the second cycle of life. Still his spleen is showing weakness and therefore we need to fortify the spleen and work on, on strengthening his spleen so he can actually, I. Transform the Gucci and make actual excess high quality, separating the pure from the impure and creating high quality product that can be also transformed into postnatal jing.
So we think of points like spleen three, stomach 36, CV 12, and new B 20 to strengthen. The spleen as well as formulas example, formulas like Ong Ichi, tongue to uplift the spleen, qi or ling ba tongue if there’s a dampness hindering the function of the spleen. I. So these are just example. We always need to support diet and make sure that they’re not that they’re eating spleen strengthening food and supportive lifestyle for that.
So we also need to make sure that chi and blood are not deficient and are flowing freely. Chi and blood is something that we should have abundance of, and if there’s anything hindering in the production or the circulation, we need to address it. Making sure that the liver and heart functions are ble balanced and that’s something you need to check.
And we also, in terms of herbs, we might include things in a formula that we are addressing in each one of those cases. For example we could use a thing orb call, herb example is Git, which moves the blood and also can be used for cases in cases of va vacuity or Hui, which is another very important blood mover that helps with bone repair and building.
Woo. Yao is another QI regulator that I wanted to also point out ’cause it helps to move the qi, but it also warms the kidney. And if we want the kidney to be able to support bone building, that’s another herb we might be thinking of. And to conclude all this what we covered the triple burner ties, everything together makes everything possible.
So the it ta it, it plays an important part in the process of regulation, distribution, especially when we’re talking about kidney function. We can use herbs that affect the triple burner open or regulate herbs like WWE Zoo. We can include that in a formula that builds bone to help that things move freely.
Or a point like bladder 22, which is the black shoe of the triple burner. That to help that. Triple burner function and to regulate all three burners and making sure the kidney is gene is distributed where it needs to go. So the relationship between bones and hormones, that’s that’s another link between in the triple burner and from a Chinese medical perspective, there’s a close relationship between those two concepts.
I always think that essence and Jing. Has a relationship to the hormonal balance in our body. And a lot of times when we see hormonal shifts, we’ll see temperature fluctuations. And so it’s really important to understand that the manifestation of imbalances of hormones will. Manifest with heat, usually whether it’s deficient or excess somewhere in the body.
And we see that very clearly in, beginning in adolescence. There’s, we are seeing it in the beginning of life. We’re seeing it clearly in adolescence when there’s hormonal changes in heat, comes up. And we have acne and and a lot of smelly sweating as examples. And then in menopause, again, hot flashes of feeling imbalances in temperature.
So balancing in and yang in the end is what is important for all these things. I would like to again thank the acupuncture council for letting me present this. And I have the information here in the slide if anybody wants to connect with us with more information. And thank you again for the time.
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Can acupuncture reduce the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome?
Carpal tunnel syndrome impacts 4 to 10 million Americans (average age between 40 and 50 years old), according to the Rheumatology Research Foundation.
In a study 80 participants with carpal tunnel syndrome were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: (1) electroacupuncture to the more affected hand; (2) electroacupuncture at “distal” body sites, near the ankle opposite to the more affected hand; and (3) local sham electroacupuncture using non-penetrating placebo needles.
Both local and distal acupuncture were better than sham acupuncture at producing desirable changes in the wrist.
Healthcare continues to evolve toward less-invasive, natural, and drug-free methods, with acupuncture now becoming a first-line complementary healthcare choice.
Remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
There is a reason acupuncturists have trusted AAC with their business for 50 years.
Not an American Acupuncture Council member? Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you will save! Click here!
That they’re not paying for exams and they’re also still recouping. We’re gonna talk a little bit about that, but we have to update from what we did in April.
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Greetings, friends and colleagues. It’s Sam Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture, the profession, of course, the American Acupuncture Council. Of course, I’ve got a little update coming up because obviously many of you have been contacting me, network members, and even others have contacted me.
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Say, Hey, Sam, what’s going on? I notice. That they’re not paying for exams and they’re also still recouping. We’re gonna talk a little bit about that, but we have to update from what we did in April. So let’s go to the slides. Let’s talk about what’s going on with recoupment and standard episode of care specific to acupuncture and frankly non-physician providers.
So you’ll see here is a letter dated June 23rd from Tri West and it says, we received the above claim. Let me bring it so I can blow it up. And it says. Try West. Receive the above-mentioned claim for your offer. And notice I highlighted and yes says evaluation and management procedure codes are not paid for this rendering provider specialty.
This is the latest thing we’re seeing. It appears, and I’ve seen it absolutely published way that to me would make it more, but it appears they have taken the ability for acupuncturists to be paid. Separate exams when it comes to the va. That of course is very frustrating because of course is an exam necessary thing.
Of course, I to determine the need for care, to determine the continuation of care. So what’s recurring I think is maybe a Leo GE cut here at they’re eliminating the payment for exams. That doesn’t mean you don’t need one, they’re just not. Pay for it. I think it’s probably worth seeing the patient for the overall payments, but they’re not covering it.
We’ll see directly. Now the word that they did this in April, what I’ve seen when their newsletter is not quite clear enough for me. So I’m waiting to see the full publishing standard episode of care, but I’m sure many of you have met. Now. Here’s gonna be the pushback if the exam after April when they published it.
They’re gonna be am behind it because published, however, then I want you all to think of standard episode of Care for Acup Occupy. Whenever you notice the standard episode of care, you’ll notice whether it’s going to be initial chronic follow ups. They include e and M codes. You’ll see really, 9 9 0 2 to 2 0 5 9 9 2 1 to 2 1 5, and I bet pro your authorization has so my argument’s gonna be, they’re saying they’re not gonna cut well, if it’s after April, send an updated authorization, not listed, I’m waiting to see that, then I would say, okay, but if it’s prior dispute’s gonna be, how did you send me an authorization?
Clearly indicates exams and they’re, now, I’m not gonna pay for it. Now, it appears April. This is gonna true. But prior to, it’s gonna be a pushback. Now, is that very frustrating? Of course it is. But I’m gonna ask you, is it worth it to still be part of it? I do, because think of the overall payment on a VA patient.
You’re getting 12 visits to start, probably eight and eight to follow up. Assuming you’re doing three sets of acupuncture and a therapy or two, that’s maybe 110 to $150 of reimbursement. Am I going to take away potentially, three to $4,000 a payment? Because they’re not gonna pay for a couple of exams.
I prefer they do, but I’m gonna say I’m not gonna go that far. It’s something I think though we’re gonna be fighting. I shouldn’t say think. I know we’re gonna be fighting as a profession on a national level along with chiropractors and physical therapists, because this affects them too. Because this goes against the equality provision.
Equality says that if it’s within scope and you pay, other providers have to pay you because this is not Medicare. Now that’s gonna be a little bit of a fight, and that’s not gonna happen in short term. So when you get this, I do think we should dispute it. I would certainly push back if it were pre-AP April, that they should, if it’s after April, not so much.
Of course, if you’re a network member with me, reach out. We’ve got some letters for that as well. But I do wanna highlight also beyond that, just a couple of quick updates. Let’s talk about what’s happening and what’s gone on with doing. Things with 9 7 0 3 9 or 1 3 9, and that’s of course what a lot of offices have used for cupping.
Remember that was removed more than a year ago, so please do not use that code for cupping. It is not appropriate. I. Do not list it. They may pay it, but they’re gonna recoup it. So do not, if you’re gonna do cupping, use 9 7 0 1 6, which is a vaso pneumatic device. It’s not a high payer. It’s about 11 to $15, but at least you are being paid for it.
But again, do not use 9 7 0 3 9 and if they are recouping that, if it’s pre 2024. I would argue they can’t, but if it’s after 2024, they can. Now some people have argued. What about statute of limitations? Statute of limitations, I would argue certainly does apply. Unfortunately, you know what I’ve realized or what I’ve learned, the statute of limitations for the VA is actually six years, so we’re not gonna win on that one as far as this goes.
The other thing here is, and this has come up recently because obviously a lot of you are using pain indexes or similar. To verify how the patient’s improving. I recently had an office, or actually a few that they were denied few further care because they weren’t showing at least a seven point difference on the general pain index.
I really like the general pain index. It’s certainly the similar to the pain interference. Make sure though, if you’re using it. If you’re doing it once a month, there’s gotta be at least a seven point change to be considered significant. Now, most of you, I hope, are getting bigger than seven point changes, frankly, but if you’re not realize it’s going to be a problem ’cause they’re gonna push back, which means you also have to focus in what if I’m using the pain scale?
That also has a limitation, which means it’s gotta be three points or more. Obviously if I say I’m a seven, I go to a six. That means I’m better, but it’s not considered significant. So if they start at seven, the next time you do it to really be considered significant, say on re-exam, it’s gotta be four.
So a three point difference, I would say. Then obviously those two factors are important. If you’re not getting at least one three, you better focus in on something about activity, particularly a home or work activity that couldn’t do before. What they care about is the getting better. Because remember, once they’re stabilized, they have to be on a continua care with flareups.
So keep in mind, acupuncture works well. We need to demonstrate it. Show me on this general PEX pain scale or function, how much improvement there is. Now, this brings me to, for some of you, and I’ve had this question a lot, is being part of the VA worth it? Does it cost anything to join? No. Do the patients sometimes have some hassles getting authorization?
Yes, that’s true. But when you’re paid. Let’s go over it. If you’re getting a standard episode of care for 12 and eight visits, just say the first two 20 visits in a year, considering just the treatment, that’s probably 2000 to $2,500 now, even with taking out exams. Is that worth it to me? Absolutely.
However, am I frustrated with the exam part not being paid? I am. But at the same token, that’s not gonna stop me, but this is where if you’re not part of your state and national association, this is where we need to belong. ’cause this is where we need to push back because how are they treating us differently?
Now the downside is they are doing it to chiropractors. I. To physical therapists as well as massage therapists. So it’s not just you. But at the same token, I think it’s valid to say that it should be covered. ’cause how are you supposed to determine care without an exam because they’re doing this based on a Medicare rule?
Medicare only sets the fees for the va. It’s not the protocol. ’cause if that were true, they shouldn’t pay for acupuncture at all unless it were chronic low back pain and under supervision. So we know that they’re just. Choosing and picking certain ones. So I think we’re gonna have a pretty good pushback, but I do still, it is worth it if you’re thinking, I’m not so sure we are doing next month in August, a whole seminar on the va, what to do, how to make it work for you, make sure you tune into that.
Otherwise, I’m gonna say to everyone, we always want to be resource. If you’re having issues, reach out to American Acupuncture Council. The next specifically, we highlight updates right on our website. And if you’re a member, it allows you to have direct interaction with me via calls and zooms. And otherwise, until next time to my friend, be well.
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