From our Experience
Kristen Porter
(for those of you at the panel, much is a repeat from what I said on the
panel):
1) Reimbursement rates we have negotiated with insurance companies have been
appropriate- we get paid approximately $47-55 for an in office visit and
$100 for a home care visit.
2) Insurance companies have not limited our scope of practice in any way.
3) We as individuals or as employers pay high insurance premiums...why
shouldn't it go to pay for our healthcare? (especially since we can show it
lowers the insurance overall costs as shared at the meeting from our pilot
study)
4) Not all people can afford even a sliding scale rate-- Pathways needed to
give away $250,000 of free treatments last year for people who could not
afford the $15 lowest fee. Why should our donors (and many of you are
donors!) need to subsidize what our healthcare should pay for?
5) Health Disparities are growing and our profession COULD play a major role
in addressing.
What percentages of your practice is filled with Caucasian patients? If the
answer is the majority, we are failing at making our treatments accessible
to all.
6) We have an active Client Advisory Board that meets monthly. This voice
continues to tell us that insurance reimbursement is essential. They are
available to make public testimony as needed. (It was this same group that
testified successfully to remove the MD letter of referral in MA)
Acupuncture should be a right for all, not a privilege for few.
Kristen E Porter, MAc, LAc
Executive Director
Pathways To Wellness
LonnyJ
Acupuncture should be a right for all, not a privilege for few.
think of "rights" I think of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness
and the right to live a life with dignity and free from fear. Any
profession could argue that it's services are vital to that goal and I
think it's a dubious argument. I appreciate the impulse for the
practitioner to consider our medicine a "right" but that can only be
backed up by providing free service or sliding scale now (as you and I
are doing) and not be seeking a state mandate.
That said, I do think it would be nice if CM was more readily
available but I don't see a mandate from the state as the most
wholesome way to achieve this. If we are going to back a bill it
should specify parity for all the reasons I listed in my article
above. Reimbursement of $47-55 for a 45 minute session is
insufficient to fund the depth of healthcare that CM is capable of
providing. It might be good in a clinic with many practitioners
walking from room to room treating symptoms but it is wholly
insufficient to provide for those taking time to do an integrated CM
diagnosis, pulse diagnosis, and herbal prescription with an eye toward
wellness and a depth of vision that can support the evolution of a
patient's health for years. While I'm sure some practitioners will
take whatever they can get I don't think that such a low rate of
reimbursement will be good for the profession. It's just not enough
to fund real preventive medicine which is what CM at its best is.
Especially considering the cost and time it will take to collect that
money. For the practitioner in private practice $55 (best case
scenario)will translate into $40-$45 dollars by the time the money is
collected. -Regards, Lonny Jarrett
LonnyJ
practice. I've charged sliding scale $50-70 for the last 15 years or
so and treated anyone who could not afford that for what they could
afford. I can see the benefit of securing deep penetration of CM into
health care. But I don't think it's fair to brand those who practice
CM with depth and give quality time to practice the medicine to its
fullest with each patient as practicing "boutique" medicine or as
working only for the privileged. Among other reasons listed parity is
important because it will fund CM across the board whatever tradition
a person happens to practice.
I think labeling acupuncture as a "right" is an emotional
appeal that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. People have a right to
receive healthcare without losing their homes and putting their
families at risk. But is acupuncture a "right"?I really am not
sure..............It is an interesting conversation though.