Community Acupuncture: making healthcare accessible

Chinese acupuncture clinics tend to be housed in large rooms filled with straight-backed chairs; using recliners is a distinctively American touch that enhances comfort and relaxation.

by Kim Blankenship — 

Acupuncture in America traditionally has been available only to a small percentage of the population who can afford to pay out-of-pocket expenses or who have insurance covering alternative medical modalities. This is changing now thanks to the grassroots Community Acupuncture movement that began in Portland, Ore., about five years ago.

The Working Class Acupuncture (WCA) clinic — founded by Lisa Rohleder, Skip Van Meter and Lupine Hudson — has taken acupuncture back to its Chinese roots and made it available to a much larger segment of the population. As the first Community Acupuncture clinic, the WCA has spawned a movement that is spreading rapidly across the country. As of today, over 65 clinics have opened nationwide, with more on the way.

Community Acupuncture clinics differ from the more traditional American clinics in two fundamental ways. First, patients are treated in a communal space while seated in comfortable recliners. Chinese acupuncture clinics tend to be housed in large rooms filled with straight-backed chairs; using recliners is a distinctively American touch that enhances comfort and relaxation. Patients in China initially come in three to five times a week in order to facilitate healing. The fact that this is not cost-effective for most Americans necessitated the second major difference — the use of an economical sliding scale.

In order to be a member of the Community Acupuncture Network, each clinic’s sliding scale must range between $15 and $40 per treatment, with the patients determining how much to pay within that scale at each visit. This enables patients to come in often enough to successfully address their health issues and has made this treatment modality available to millions of people who were previously unable to utilize it.

Some physicians and chiropractors familiar with this model have also begun to implement economical sliding scales in order to become more accessible to members of the community who have been financially unable to address health issues. This appears to be the beginning of a hopeful new trend in American healthcare.

Kim Blankenship is a licensed acupuncturist at Jade Spirit Community Acupuncture, 3520 E. Indian School Road, Suite A in Phoenix. 602-957-3675 or www.jadespirit.info

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number 4, August/September 2008.

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