Let’s talk a little bit about something that I’ve gotten a lot of questions about. Let’s talk about, what if I get a bad Google review?

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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, colleagues. This is Sam Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture for you, for the American Acupuncture Council, and of course, for my AAC network members. Let’s talk a little bit about something that I’ve gotten a lot of questions about. Let’s talk about, what if I get a bad Google review?

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Let’s go to the slides. Let’s get into that. What if someone puts an online statement about you that’s false, bad, inflammatory, you name it? Let’s be careful. What if you do get a bad Google review? The first thing to do not let your emotion run away. When a patient makes a complaint or something less than flattering on an online platform, our immediate visceral response, of course, is going to be a little bit of anger because it is our integrity, and I do understand that.

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But you have to take a moment, take a breath, start to understand what’s going on and how to respond because no one’s ever going to have 100% good reviews. I’ve been to a lot of services and places that I think, “How did this person write a bad review?” Everyone’s experience is different, but remember, there’s a lot of reviews.

Here’s where we have to be careful. You are a healthcare provider. You are bound by HIPAA regulations, so be very careful. When the patient even identifies themselves and discusses their treatment, you should never, regardless of what they’ve done, even confirm the reviewer is a patient Don’t even get into it.

I saw that when you came today. No. You got to make sure that you do not discuss diagnosis, treatment, appointments, billing, or outcomes, nothing that I would identify them. So for the most part, it would be a very generic response, of course. Now, obviously, factual inaccuracies by revealing protected health information.

You may think that wasn’t true.” You can’t correct it. Again, you’ve got to always remember, your greater violation will be the issue of protected health information. You may have a much bigger lawsuit against you than just someone saying, “I didn’t like the office.” Be careful. Do not engage in any type of argument or back and forth.

It’s not worth it. It’s like arguing religion, politics. You’re not going to win that. So be careful. Always think of, “What is my best practice?” You get a bad review, you should have thousands of good reviews. Make sure they’re there. Make it available. Encourage reviews. Aid patients in making access. Maybe not the first visit they’ve come, but after a few, get a lot of reviews going.

I think something that a person can go through and see that there’s, hundreds of reviews, and you’ve got one or two that are bad, oh, come on. You ever been to a restaurant that was fantastic, but there’s still a couple of bad reviews because they didn’t like the waitress, or there was too long of a wait?

It’s a good restaurant. That’s why there is a wait. Now, sometimes the best practice is no response at all. But if a review is negative but not defamatory, okay. What if the reviewer is angry and likely to continue the dispute? Not worth it. You can tell by the way they’ve done it. They’re trying to prompt you a little bit.

And realize a response may draw more attention, and y- all of a sudden now, instead of there being that one response, you’ve got lines of responses, ’cause it’s gone back and forth, and they’re taking it even further. Realize often just putting something in there that just says, “We would love to address this with you.

Please, give us a call or reach out to us,” may be the best response. Prospective patients are more influenced by a pattern of reviews than a single review. I know that’s true for me. I don’t think I’ve ever not chosen something, oh, there was one bad review. I’m looking for a pattern. If I see a bunch, now I’m concerned.

But realize, never argue or be defensive. Never. Never. You’re never gonna win that. De-escalate it. Make them come to your side. When you choose to respond, first thing you do, take a breath Breathe in and think, “Okay, what’s the best way to respond?” Maybe give yourself a little time. Don’t respond right away.

Take some time. Keep your response brief, professional, and frankly, just generic. Being calm and generic will reflect well, as potential patients can see that the office remains professional even when you’re criticized. You ever see someone that when they’re being criticized, when they have a measured response, you’re like, “Ooh, wow.

That’s the type of person that I want to be.” I want you to be that way ’cause that’s what your patients are looking for. I don’t want a doctor that’s off the hinges. Now, what about someone that re- reported something that’s just false? Okay, demonstrably just way out of line. Preserve screenshots, okay? And then obviously check the platform policies.

Realize most are not gonna remove something. They really aren’t. Now, maybe something exceptionally defamatory, maybe, but I find most people have tried, they pretty much won’t, so that’s why I say always bury it. If you are going to say anything about, “I’m gonna sue,” or anything like that, please don’t do that until you’ve consulted legal counsel.

You don’t wanna make any statement you don’t already know the answer to. I’ll give an example. Both my son and daughter are attorneys, and when they’re in court, the one thing they’ve always told me is they never ask a question they do not already know the answer to. So before you start to make any statements about, “I’m going to sue you,” better make sure, “Do I have standing, and can I actually sue?”

Chances are probably not anyway. But I get it, because it’s your integrity. So make sure you stay calm, but also make sure your staff understands, too, because sometimes your staff is defensive for you. And remember, designate who’s gonna respond to these. Are you going to allow staff, or is it gonna be the doctor only?

Make a rule that no employee may disclose any patient information online under any circumstance. They’re not responding probably at all, but they have to follow the same rules, that responses should be approved by designated management, meaning by you. But again, I’m still gonna go back, should be us. And then when legal counsel should be consulted.

Before you make any statements, “Eh, is this something maybe I want some legal counsel.” Maybe you wanna check with your malpractice carrier. Remember, American Acupuncture Council does protect you for when there’s lawsuits against you or when patients… I’m not saying they’re gonna defend you for a bad review.

But should that person turn into something legal, they will be there to help you, and they are there to help. I will say responding to a bad review requires a calm, prompt however, and professional reproach. Your primary goal is not to argue, but to show potential customers, ’cause this one’s probably gone anyway, that you’re attentive, empathetic, and committed Focus on commitment to service and next steps to contact you directly.

Make sure they’re aware, “Oh, no, I- here’s how you get in touch with us.” More though, have a lot of other reviews. What I see too often is reviews get old. When you get a new patient or someone that’s come in that’s been helpful, encourage them. I know I certainly like to. If I’ve had a good service, I love to give them person a review.

Realize that is part of what we do in society now with the way we have online platforms. Give yourself a chance for that. The American Acupuncture Council, myself, we’re here for you. Network members, you’ve ever run into this, please contact me. Let’s do a one-on-one Zoom. If you’re not a member, think about it, because we’re really gonna be able to help you.

But wholeheartedly, we want to make sure you’re successful. Your practice is always gonna have challenges. We’re here to meet those challenges. Until next time, my friends.

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…talk about what type of practice protocols do we need to have when we’re navigating a challenging economy, because our patients are navigating it.

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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.

Hello to my acupuncture friends and family. This is Sam Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture and for you. Obviously, the American Acupuncture Council is always a resource for you as the American Acupuncture Council Network. Network members spay pay special attention, if you will.

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Let’s get into what’s going on in our world right now. Let’s go to the slides and talk about what type of practice protocols do we need to have when we’re navigating a challenging economy, because our patients are navigating it. We hear on the news every day, gas prices, grocery prices, everything. So we’re gonna be challenged now for that discretionary income.

When I say that, it’s for patients coming in, let’s face it, when they think of acupuncture, what are they really thinking about? When an economy tightens, an acupuncture practice that depends on cash pay patients needs to make some pivots. You need to make adjustments because shifting from a visit-based revenue to a value-based revenue is what you’re going to look to.

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And what I mean by that is shifting from something that’s value. Understand needs versus wants. This is something I’ll give credit to my mother, taught me when I was very young. People will buy what they want and beg for what they need. Think of how often you’ve had a friend that comes to you to borrow money to pay a bill, yet you notice they have on new shoes or they went out to a concert.

That’s, they wanted that concert, but they need to get their bill paid. I wanna put our category of care more to a want, the patient’s seeking it out, not creating that, “Oh, I need it.” ‘Cause I don’t think people often are gonna feel that need in the ways that we think it is. So keep in mind, though, discounting alone is a weak lever.

It really just compresses margin. You just, you make it cheaper, great, but it makes it more commoditized. I want a practice that focuses on doing things well, and these things are gonna be retaining a patient, repackaging and differentiating what you are that are different from others. Where do I get these?

Realize that often when you think of going out and marketing just to the public, that may not work as well. I start first with where’s the return on investment? It’s with existing patients. Think of retention first. Think of all these patients that have seen you over the years that are familiar with what you do, but they’ve just forgotten.

Acquiring new cash patients gets harder and more expensive in a downturn because where’s your marketing? I had a friend this week that said he was trying to post a job on Indeed and he wasn’t getting results. It just kept getting more and more costs from Indeed. So he had to think of what’s the return on investment.

The return is gonna come from your existing base. That’s gonna be your most reliable stream. Identify your patients. Reactivate who’s already there. Send them out emails, maybe a phone call, maybe a text message, and look for patients that have not been in for maybe 60 to 180 days. You could certainly go longer, but I would start there.

Think of the number of people who are familiar with that go, “Oh, yeah.” Make sure you use it as condition specific. Don’t just say, “Hey, come back in, get some acupuncture.” Get specific to your patient. Go into and get each one. Don’t send a blanket. Ask them how their low back pain is holding up, how maybe they’re dealing with home and work.

How about stress, anxiety? Realize acupuncture helps a great deal there. Patients often forget those changes. What about someone with headaches or how about athletes? A lot of athletes are realizing now recovery and their ability to participate in their sport comes to how well their body can maintain function.

So focus in on these types, whether it’s high school, club, or otherwise. There’s often a lot of help that you’re giving that I think sometimes we’re missing out on. Keep in mind, every professional team has an acupuncturist. Why aren’t you getting some of those patients, not necessarily maybe the professionals, but the other athletes who look up to them?

Now, I’m gonna suggest, though, outcomes. The beauty of acupuncture is its ability to work. Now, obviously, if someone comes in and they’re in a lot of pain, what is acupuncture going to do? Reduce the pain. I like that. But is that all they’re coming for? I don’t think so. This is why you wanna use simple outcome tools, whether it’s the Oswestry Dis- Disability Index, neck disability, or the PROMIS pain scales, or general pain ind- pain index.

I wanted you to in- demonstrate improvement trends, not just a reduction of pain. If all you’re looking for is to get rid of pain, that may go on a visit or two, they’re gonna think, “I don’t need anymore.” I want to see the progress so that the patient now understands the value. The value of the service makes price less of an issue This is the want.

Define the care. You’re taking them from acute to corrective to functional. Notice this is not about just getting them to maintenance. I want you to avoid terms like maintenance or wellness. That is where people don’t see the need. I want it to be their ability to function and maintain their ability to their lifestyle.

Maybe you wanna start to change your pricing, but pricing is not a race to the bottom. It’s not so much changing a price to make it the cheapest, but making it more affordable. Realize if you go to purchase a car, you’ll notice they never really advertise the price of the car, ’cause if they told you the car was eighty thousand, you would never wanna buy it.

But if they tell you, “Oh, you can get this car for six hundred and fifty a month,” all of a sudden now it seems affordable. So this is where it comes to you. What about monthly debits? Maybe where they get two to four visits at a preferred rate. Maybe with that, they join this package, they’re gonna get some priorities, maybe priority scheduling, maybe same-day visits, or discounts on other things.

Maybe they get discounts on your herb programs. But focus on the access and continuity of the care, not that it’s cheap. Tie it to a specific diagnosis, condition, or a goal. Maybe you have lumbar pain and stabilization program. Maybe it’s a stress program. Maybe it’s a headache program. Any of those are fine, but it’s gotta be anchored to the value of an outcome, okay?

Not just the cost of the visit. I’m looking more to the outcome, and don’t tie the outcome only to pain, but their ability to maintain their lifestyle and function. Now realize prepaid packages could be a good start to this. Realize in every state you can do it. Some states like Montana and Florida do require that you put money into a trust account.

But for the most part, just keep it simply compliant that the patient understands what they’ve purchased. Maybe the single price is eighty dollars a visit or a hundred. But if you buy a package of ten, maybe it’s only sixty a visit or six hundred, but that’s six hundred paid up front. Make sure it’s a good financial understanding, meaning if the patient knows what they’ve pur-purchased, they sign a financial document.

Make sure there’s expectations from you as the provider, what you’re gonna give to the patient, but also to the patient, the expectations of the visits, the, continuity of care, what happens if they miss a visit and so forth. I would just say, “Okay, good. We’re gonna extend it.” But do make a plan.

Don’t just leave it open-ended ’cause realize to be compliant, there’s gotta be some type of refunds. Now, refunds would be if it’s unused, they get it back. But I would suggest just p-push it forward to a different plan. Make sure you’re making clinical differentiation. Again, not just pain, but conditions.

Maybe they work at a desk. Maybe they have a neck or back issue from that. Maybe they’re a runner. Maybe they’re, again, headaches, stress, sleep. You can name almost anything that you deal with. Think of the myriad of services that acupuncturists can help someone with. Start to tie it to that, not just the reduction of pain, but how those increase function.

Realize if I’m reducing a headache and the headache is gone the headache’s not there, but how does that tie into their sleep or to their lifestyle, their stress level, how they’re dealing with relationships? What about integrating some care? Pair your services with other things. Maybe you’re gonna pair it with some type of exercise program.

Maybe you pair it with some massage. Maybe you pair it with stretching. But think of the myriad of things. It could be yoga, tai chi, qigong. Think of all the places you could go with this for a patient to go, they’re gonna come in and get this 30-minute visit, then they’re gonna get maybe some guided exercise or an ability to just have a p- a space in your office to do it, even if you’re not one-on-one with them.

Bottom line, though, is give me some outcomes and objectives. Give them something they can measure and see, not just, “I feel better,” but there’s things they can do that where they’re better. Expand your cash-friendly services. What about setting up a community acupuncture? Think of this is why the j- not the joint, but modern acupuncture.

Realize modern acupuncture is struggling. I’ve seen a lot of them close because I think more and more offices like ours are beginning to integrate that in that you can offer that style. But what about adding to it? Again, soft tissue programs, guided exercise, or how about short tune-up care plans?

Something that, okay, this is a three-visit care plan or a four-visit, but make it something that’s accessible. What I would avoid is across-the-board discounts, okay? That’s the death knell, because you’re gonna attract price shoppers. Someone’s gonna go, “Who’s the cheapest today?” That’s not the type I want.

Remember, you’re not a 99-cent store. You’re a doctor. When I pick a doctor, I’m picking a doctor because they’re good. Now, it’s gotta be affordable and reasonable, but I’m gonna pick you because of what you’re offering, that outcome. So make sure that you’re giving them function and necessity, not wellness.

Make an emphasis towards how your care gives them an ability to work, sleep, daily function, athletic function, and recovery. If you wanna get a good place to get patients, join a gym. Get in there and work out. Dress nice. But the more people learn that you’re an acupuncturist, trust me, you’re gonna get people that wanna come to your services.

Realize people who go to the gym generally have higher than average incomes if they have a gym membership. They may even have decent insurance. Realize this doesn’t negate using some insurance, but this means we’ve gotta pivot for these types of patients. Bottom line is your proof. Measure the outcomes.

Now, what I say about bottom line is not the proof of the patient, your outcomes. When you make these changes, anything you do, whether it’s taking insurance, not taking insurance, doing packages- Track your visit averages. Track your revenue per visit. What’s the retention rate? Did this really work? You’ve gotta have a metric.

Think of it, it’s like going onto Shark Tank a little bit. You have to go on and say, “Did this work?” And if it doesn’t, that’s okay. We pivot and adapt. Realize a practice is always changing. This is why we call it a practice. It’s not a perfect. You wanna start to learn what to works. What does your community look for?

What are your goals? Your goals are what my goals are. You have a good, successful, fun practice. Acupuncture works well, but often people don’t understand it because they’re tied to the pain model. Let’s get them going beyond that. The American Acupuncture Council is always your support. My network is the big support.

If you’re a network member with me, reach out. Let’s get into some details here. Let’s do a one-on-one Zoom. Let’s spend some time together. If you’re not a network member, take a look here. This is something we’re really here to help you. Our goal, make your practices successful because without you, I lack success as well.

Until next time, my friends.

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Click here to download the transcript.

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.

 

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Click here to download the transcript.

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.

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So what’s going on HIPAA 2026, because this is the email I’ve been getting, in fact, several. And it says, hi Sam. Hope all is well. I’m getting a sudden surge in emails about the new HIPAA laws going into effect.

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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.

Hey, greetings, all my friends. It’s Sam Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture for you, the profession, and of course, the American Acupuncture Council. But most importantly, really it’s just you and I wanna make sure that each time we’ve got something new, something that’s changing to make sure you’re up to date.

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If you’re a network member with me, even better, let’s make sure we always know what’s going on. Otherwise, even if you’re not a member, this is a place where we’re gonna give you the updates. Let’s go to the slides. Let’s talk about. What’s going on, and some of you may have gotten some emails to this and it’s always one that I’m always careful, hyperbole and if you have stress, it sells.

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So what’s going on HIPAA 2026, because this is the email I’ve been getting, in fact, several. And it says, hi Sam. Hope all is well. I’m getting a sudden surge in emails about the new HIPAA laws going into effect. Now, I do understand HIPAA is misspelled here, but I left the email just as it was sent and it says, is this accurate or is it just marketing hype?

And I’m so glad they reached out to me. As good as Google searches and chat, GPT can be, remember, those are still limited to the information they can gather, and is it always correct? No. So we wanna be careful and we also wanna be careful. Is it also subject to hyperbole as well? Potentially to some extent.

I always look at the context. Obviously HIPAA is a big deal. It is. But how big is it? It depends on the size of the office, what you’re doing. At the end of the day, what is hipaa? In a acupuncture office? Don’t let anyone have someone else’s records. Many of you’re using paper charts. That’s pretty hard to get records unless they break into your office.

So let’s make sure what are we really doing and talking about let’s update. There are changes that you have to make. Or potentially February 16th. However, these updates probably will have nothing to do with you. I will tell you, I’m gonna be very acentric when it comes to these things. Code changes, everything else.

I’m like, how does it affect us? That’s what I wanna know. These updates chiefly concerned, a heightened confidentiality, protections for substance abuse disorder and reproductive health privacy. And this is mostly related to. Reproductive rights of people that some states allow certain types of birth control, others don’t.

If you go to another state, they can’t get access to it. It’s just protection. All this is about protection of a patient’s information. Same for substance abuse, that if someone has, gone through some substance abuse treatment, that no one just can easily get access to it. In fact, the easiest way to keep everything private, always pay cash.

If you’re not aware, cash means you don’t have to disclose at all, and the patient has a right to. Now, with this update though, what if it does affect us? What do we really have to do? It’s really updating your privacy practice. I’m gonna say 99.9% of you won’t, but let’s say for some reason you’re doing some reproductive health.

Now, I’m not saying necessarily fertility, I’m talking about reproductive birth control and that type, but let’s say you were, what would you add in there? The patient has rights for reproductive protection and that these records will not be disclosed unless specifically requested. And even then you would make sure who’s the requesting party, who they have access.

In other words, you’re gonna exercise a lot more caution for records, particularly if they have things like substance abuse. Same applies with HIV. So what this really is a defensive way just to make sure patients are aware of their new rights now. Does this mean you need to change your privacy notice?

Probably not. But let’s say for some reason you did, you would update your privacy notice with this additional information of that protection. If you’re not maintaining records on reproductive rights or substance abuse, though change is nothing. So continue the same, which means I don’t update anything.

Now let’s keep in mind though, what if you did have to update it? Would you have to have all patients sign the new privacy practice? No, you wouldn’t. Once they signed one from years ago. That remains in effect. Do post up in your office if you’ve made an update somewhere where they can see it. Make people aware.

But for the most part, they do not have to sign a new one. This is more so just to make sure that if you have these, you’re gonna make the change. Chances are you don’t, and this is where I want to keep things with simplicity in mind. Avoid hyperbole. At the end of the day, what is hipaa? Oh, by the way, you know how you’re supposed to do a yearly HIPAA training?

This isn’t at the very least part of it. It may be for some of you, the whole thing, depending on the size of your office. The basics of HIPAA is that we are protecting protected health information. What does that include? Names, date of birth, social security number, their diagnosis, treatment. In other words, all the information you have on the patient, you’re protecting it.

What does it mean? I don’t let anyone have access but realize. There’s things that can make it more vulnerable. If you do all paper notes, it’s very hard for someone to get it ’cause you physically would have to send it. But what if it’s electronic? Could someone hack into your system? So we have to have other things in safeguards there.

And even verbal information. Be very careful by example. Here’s a common one, A friend recommends a friend and you start discussing things about it. Like someone’s recommended a friend and they said, Hey did my friend John come in? Do you know? You can’t disclose that. You better get permission from another person.

And this sometimes you go I just wanna thank them. Gotta have permission. ’cause maybe they don’t want them to know. So at the end of the day, think of it this way, HIPAA is about giving the least information that’s necessary. We use the term minimum necessary. So if someone’s asking for a very specific date on a patient and it’s a valid request.

You’re gonna limit it to that date. Don’t send everything. Don’t send extra things. Here would be the reason why if you send too much, you never get it back. You know the barn door’s open, but if you send not enough, it’s easier to send more than to try to pull it back. Make sure, of course there’s administrative safeguards in the office.

Again, that’s what we’re doing today. Who’s your officer? Probably you, but make sure you have things in place. Do you do a risk assessment? Have you looked recently? Hey. Have we done all the right things by example? Do all your employees or people you work with get some initial HIPAA training from you and is it done yearly?

Now, I’m not saying it has to be a big yearly thing, but enough to go over it again to make sure there’s no issues. And you should have some type of a written policy. It could even be a page. I’m gonna suggest some of you may have to have more than that, but for the most part it’s like just the protocols of how to deal with it.

Like when someone calls. How do we handle if someone’s asking for records? You know what the answer is? We don’t give ’em anything over the phone, not without a signed authorization. Remember, if you’re working with outside vendors, billers or other people, they have to sign up. A business associate network manager with me, we have that.

We’ve done so because everything, I have to keep private. Make sure that if you have any type of service that’s shredding documents and you’re not doing it yourself, they need a HIPAA notice and then make sure you have. Rules that what happens if there’s a violation? I don’t think you’re gonna have some big sanction.

It just means, Hey, we’re gonna reprimand that this doesn’t happen again. Put safeguards in place and it’s just gonna be, I did a reprimand. You’re not gonna say, I’m gonna suspend you for a damn I, I guess you could, but that doesn’t help us. And then make sure you’ve got reasonable physical safeguards, meaning secure the charts.

Now if you have paper records, that’s pretty easy. Don’t put ’em in a place where people can get them. Now what if you said I don’t have a locked cabinet. Do you need a locked cabinet? Not necessarily so long as it’s protected from the public getting to it. So if it’s in an open area behind where people can walk in, you’re always gonna have some type of safeguard.

It’s never left alone for people just to wander. And now patients are escorted back. Now obviously electronic could be a little bit more difficult ’cause now what if you’re sending an email that’s not secure, or you’re not sure because your system could be hacked? Make sure you’ve got the proper encryption on your computers.

But one simple thing is make sure just when someone comes in your office, they can’t look and see someone else’s information on the computer. It should always blank out. In fact, I’d recommend just the privacy screen. That way when you look only dead on, can you see it? Nope. Nothing from the side.

Okay. And then make sure, as I mentioned, restrict access. No, you can’t go back there. We don’t let you, those are obvious, but it’s something to remember. That’s part of the training that staff have to remember, Hey, we just can’t let a patient go to the restroom. And then they’re wandering around the office and trying to look at someone else’s chart.

Not that I think people. Do that. But every now and then you get a couple of people that are a little quirky that may try to do something like that. And then of course, make sure that you’re shredding documents when you discard them. You can’t just throw ’em out, shred them, okay, by a cross crutch shredder, or there’s a service out that’ll do it.

Remember, you do wanna keep the records timely. On the minimum time for many states. Could be five years, some or seven or 10. Know your state if you’re not sure. Contact me network members. I can make sure, but you don’t need to keep a bunch of records if you’ve been seeing a person for 20 years. You honestly don’t need all 20 years.

You need the last seven years, let’s say. Alright, now what about technical safeguards? Here’s something to make sure this is training with staff passwords. Everyone should have their own no shared passwords. That way we know who was on or what there was a problem. That way, if something happened, we can find out how it happened, who it happened with, and not everyone gets blamed.

If you will make sure there’s log off. The computer should log off after five minutes, maybe even shorter, depending. How about encryption? Now, it’s pretty hard to buy a computer without that, but check to make sure. Where I’d be more concerned are mobile devices and backups. If a staff can have access to records on their mobile device, let’s remember if you have Google or Microsoft, they look at everything, if you use email through Google, they’ve read it and they’re sending you ads based on it. Okay. And they’re selling it to other people. So make sure you keep things very private in that way. I would recommend no mobile devices unless we know it’s encrypted limit access based on job role. If someone’s job is only appointments, then they don’t necessarily need an EHR access.

Okay. It just lends to less people touching, less problem we can have. And then make sure, again, the personal devices. I have a concern because everyone does it now, and then you wonder what things have access. I had a friend that said, Hey man, I have a TikTok. I never had TikTok before. So I put it on, I watched the thing.

I thought it was pretty it’s not for me. I’m an older person, so I don’t wanna sound like I’m down on it, but the thing, I deleted it. Do you know, I get an email now and again from TikTok that says, Hey, this person’s on TikTok. We saw they were in your contacts on your phone. So again, there’s a lot of access there.

I would be really conscientious of. And then remember, patients have rights. Make sure they all do a privacy notice, do they have to sign that every year? No. Once is enough. If you amend or change it, then of course, put a post, a new notice. But at the same token, they have to resign. And if a patient wants, can they have access to the records?

Sure. Can they make amendments? Not really. They can’t amend it. What they can do is give what their opinion is. But don’t make them change the record. They can just write what they think. It should be a little odd. But on the medical side, you might see this. And then if they want confidential things like, Hey, I don’t want you to speak to my spouse, I don’t want you to let this person know, you have to honor it.

And in fact, I would say always simply, I don’t wanna say hide, but use that as your protection. I’m sorry. HIPAA allows me not to do that and just leave it at that. No excuses. That’s just what it is. And if they want any type of authorization, I want it in writing. From them. I don’t want there to be any issue later saying, I didn’t give you authorization to do that.

It’s not complicated in a small office, but you wanna make sure we have the right things in place. ’cause if someone does make a complaint, could that be a problem for us? Maybe which means other simple things too. Verbal discussions. Avoid, obviously if you go in a hospital, you ever notice everyone gets quiet when they get on the elevator.

You wanna make sure you’re not talking. You gotta be very qui quiet. My son’s an attorney and it’s interesting when they have meetings. They literally have soundproof rooms. A hundred that no one can hear anything. It’s really, in fact, if you sit in the room with no sound, it’s a little scary because there’s like anti sound in there.

But that’s how careful they are with the type of things they deal with. So use good discretion. If you’re releasing information and you’re not sure, or they’re asking, don’t release it. You can always get more information. Again, you can never get it back if you’re not sure where you’re sending it.

If you’re not sure. That was them on the voice. But don’t leave a voicemail. In fact, make sure they have permission for you to do so many patients will. And then if you’re gonna send a fax or an email, verify who it is before you send it. Because once you send, if it’s the wrong one, and I, when I say verify it, I mean I want you to send, my rule is you’re gonna send a test email first.

Make sure the respond back saying it’s theirs before you send it, okay? Because once you send it, there’s no coming back. The network, myself and the HJ Ross or American Acupuncture Council, we’re always here for you. We wanna be your support. If you’re a member with me and you want to go into some more details or some training, by all means do that.

Otherwise, for everyone else, use good common sense when it comes to hipaa. You always be on the right track and not saying things can’t change, but remember hyperbole often is just that it’s trying to excite you about something. We’re always gonna be that good and honest resource. So until next time, my friends, I wish you well.

And remember, acupuncture got a nice increase in fees this year. Go forward. Take care everybody.

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In 2026 for acupuncture, I’m pretty darn excited because of the changes to relative value units. Relative value units are set up each year to give the cost of a service compared to any other, and that value changes the amount of revenue because there’s a standard conversion they multiply by, and when that number goes up, you get an increase in revenue.

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Greetings, friends and colleagues. This is Samuel Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture, the American Acupuncture Council, and maybe more importantly, the profession. And you, as I warned you last month, there is gonna be changes. And of course there are. Let’s go to the slides and talk about what is coming, or frankly, what is here for the new year.

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In 2026 for acupuncture, I’m pretty darn excited because of the changes to relative value units. Relative value units are set up each year to give the cost of a service compared to any other, and that value changes the amount of revenue because there’s a standard conversion they multiply by, and when that number goes up, you get an increase in revenue.

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So this is applied by Medicare, the va. Workers’ comp, personal injury, and frankly, health insurance. Maybe not all health insurance. Let’s face it. If you’re dealing with a SH or some of these, they’re probably not using rvu. They’re just trying to set a fee. But the bottom line is we use RVU to help us convert.

So let’s talk about what has changed in 2026. Here’s a big list of it, and of course you’re gonna look, this has a little bit of everything. This is something you get in our seminars where we give you the whole detail and go through that. But I wanted you to at least see, what the RVU are for this year.

Where they have changed and in fact to see that better. Let’s really talk about for acupuncture, you’ll notice 9 7, 8 1 0 is now 1.44 conversion. That is literally a 4% increase. You’ll notice 9, 7, 8, 1 1. Now at 0.85 is a 7% increase, so therefore there’s been a nice change. Acupuncturists are really fortunate.

Do you know you’re the only profession that’s got this much of a raise in the last three years. You got about 8% two years ago, another 4% this year That’s doing good, but you only get an increase. If you increase the fee, think of it like owning a home. If your home increases in value 10% and you’re gonna go sell it, you’re not gonna sell it at the value it was before.

So I want everyone to start thinking, how do I use this? So let’s say by example this year, just with a 4% increase. That would mean if you’re charging $78, now I use $78 because that’s gonna be roughly the 4% increase based on a $70 if you will. And you can see here that 4% increase means if you’re charging 78 for the first set, additional sets are 46.

Wow. That’s a nice big difference. Think about that for a second. A VA patient, a Medicare patient. Now you’re looking at probably $170. Maybe not that high, 160 something per visit. That’s quite a bit more than it was. Notice the big jump up though for e and m codes, you’ll notice e and m codes here increased 4%.

They went from 3.37. To three point five, two. Big jump. Most of all of you are undervaluing. Now, you may look and go, but Sam, we had a decrease in the massage rate. Yeah. Body work did go down, but I want you to know the reason it went down. They kept everything else flat. Even though they raised rates on some codes or values, they increased the revenue value by 3.2.

So the conversion they have is 3.2 higher. So that’s a much bigger difference for acupuncture and e and m. And it’s about flat for the massage part. So for the most part, maybe some of those fees will stay the same. But if you’re not increasing your fees a bit, it’s gonna be a problem because every state uses a multiplier and here’s some.

Real prominent examples. Michigan, Florida, Indiana use 200% of Medicare. So you just go back, you just take this rate, 200%, you’re gonna go. Wow. Sam, are you saying 200% means 150? That’s what they would allow. Now, I’m not saying you should charge that much, let don’t get me wrong. I don’t necessarily say that, but would that be within reason?

Potentially. So notice in other states, like California, it’s 150%, or in other states you simply do a number 69, 49, realize the Medicare conversion is about $35. You can see all of these are well above that as a good rule of thumb. Probably 1.5 to two of your Medicare rate, though that may vary ’cause your practice may be dependent upon cash and how do you balance the cash discount.

What I’m highlighting though, is you better start to get online to make sure you’re not undervaluing network members with me, my platinum members. Please reach out. We need to get in a meeting in a Zoom and go through these in detail to know what’s good for your area. ’cause I will guarantee most are losing money.

And this doesn’t just include acupuncture, but exams and some therapies as well, we will do for non-members. I have a seminar coming up January 18th or 25th, east Coast, west Coast. Let’s go through this because the revenue lost by most acupuncturists by not understanding what something is worth is a tremendous crime to your practice.

If you’re billing someone 50 and they’re willing to pay you 75, you know what they’re gonna pay you. 50. Now, I’m not saying you have to charge 75, but shouldn’t it make sense that you should charge what the value is? Relative values bring you there. I’m hoping for all of you, you start to realize that you need to look at this as a business part and not just, it’s the same year after year.

Costs go up as a general rule. Fee should increase about 3% every year just based on cost of living. And sometimes if you haven’t increased it in five years. Maybe you need to do a little bit more. Now remember, this could be indifferent to your cash part of your practice, depending, particularly if you’re doing packages.

So realize you wanna start to really fortify your practice. We’re here to help because notice Medicare increased rates 3.26% just based on that, if they increased. The value by 4%, then increase the conversion by 3%. That’s a pretty big difference that you may not be aware of. And this is gonna be just off of standard Medicare rates, which by no means would anyone say that’s the highest.

So get in line. I hope that you come part to the seminar, particularly for members. Remember platinum members, it’s free for you. Just call in and sign up. Otherwise, everyone else would love to see. And I wanna make sure, is your practice thriving? I have an incentive for you. Your practice is important to us at the American Acupuncture Council.

If your practice is not increasing, we don’t have a business either because we support you. We wanna make sure you understand the business side and acupuncturists, you’re good at your acupuncture, but have you really looked at the business side, allow us to have a chance to help you, seminars our network.

Hope to see you all soon Until next month, however, take care.

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