Acupuncturist Chapel Hill, NC
As the popularity of acupuncture treatment for many conditions grows, more insurance plans offer acupuncture benefits. This is terrific news for patients who need care for conditions such as headaches, back and neck pain, shoulder aches, carpel tunnel, infertility, insomnia, and many other disorders acupuncture helps. Nonetheless, insurance coverage for acupuncture must be more consistent between plans, and coverage guidelines may be hard to understand. At Acupractic Natural Healing Center, we know this and strive to help each patient with insurance questions related to our acupuncture and chiropractic.
Patients may need to go into their insurance plan’s online search database to determine if acupuncture is a covered benefit. Four principal codes are available for acupuncture benefits, as indicated by the following ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) codes. 97810 means the first 15″ of acupuncture treatment, 97811 is the second 15″, 97813 indicates the first 15″ of electro-acupuncture treatment, and 97814 is the dual 15″. One can use these codes to determine if one’s plan covers acupuncture services.
An insurance carrier may list acupuncture treatment as a covered service under a particular plan. However, when one searches for an acupuncture provider, they often do not find any listed providers. An insurance plan may cover acupuncture treatment provided by licensed acupuncturists, but they do not contract with any licensed acupuncturists. Instead, they cover acupuncture services when provided by certain providers- Participating medical doctors or doctors of chiropractic, for example, certified to practice acupuncture and participating with that particular insurance plan.
Alternatively, some insurance plans cover acupuncture services for licensed acupuncturists (LAc.). In this scenario, one should be able to find a list of LAc. Participating providers when searching for their plan for LAc. Or acupuncturists.
Acupuncture is a recognized therapy for a wide variety of health conditions, ranging from pain to infertility, insomnia to stress. However, few insurance plans pay for all treatments for all diseases. Be sure to ask about this and any other coverage limitations.
Call our office today at (919) 929-1400 to learn more about how acupuncture can help you and about insurance coverage. At Acupractic Natural Healing Center, an acupuncture and chiropractic healing center for the Triangle since 1995, we love to help people get well and stay well naturally. Our helpful front desk staff will assist you and verify your insurance benefits before care so that you know what to expect. Visit us online anytime to learn more about how natural medical care improves health and well-being, reduces aches and pain, and schedule an appointment.