November 2004

Acupuncture codes now available

Acupuncture has been given its own reimbursement codes. Four new CPT codes have been published in the Federal Registrar. Previously only two codes were available for acupuncture services.

According to the American Chiropractic Association, ACA’s voting privileges on the AMA’s CPT panels helped gain this reimbursement recognition.

“The ACA takes a very proactive role in dealing with coding and reimbursement issues,” says Dr. Anthony Hamm, chair of the ACA’s Coding and Reimbursement Committee. “We have worked diligently to ensure that ACA members may utilize the codes for the services they provide like acupuncture.”

The four new codes — two for electrical acupuncture and two for needle acupuncture — allow for billing of an initial 15-minute period and then for additional 15-minute periods. A doctor can bill more than one 15-minute increment, whereas the prior acupuncture codes were billed once per encounter.

The ACA worked with the American Association of Oriental Medicine and the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture to develop the codes, which were presented to and approved by the AMA.

According to Chiropractic Economics 2004 Salary and Expense Survey (vol. 50, #6), 18.8 percent of chiropractors perform acupuncture.

Source: American Chiropractic Association, http://www.amerchiro.org

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