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Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance – Spleen and Kidney Channels and Lumbar/Abdominopelvic Dysfunction

And this is part two from a presentation I gave on the stomach channel. So we’ll compare the anatomy of the stomach channel with the spleen and kidney channel.

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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.

Hi, I’m Brian Lau, I’m with AcuSport Education, also with Jingjin Movement Training. We’re going to be looking at the anatomy of the abdominal region of the spleen and kidney channel today. And this is part two from a presentation I gave on the stomach channel. So we’ll compare the anatomy of the stomach channel with the spleen and kidney channel.

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So just a little bit of a heads up I have multiple hats like many of us do. One of my main hats is I’m an anatomist. I lead dissection with AcuSport Education, but also with the University of Tampa. Physician Assistance Program. So I do a lot of exploration in human anatomy. So that’s the lens that we’re going to be looking at as we delve into these Fascial layers of the spleen and kidney channel.

But of course all of that gives a lot of clinical relevance So we’ll talk about it from a clinical perspective also. So let’s go ahead and go to the PowerPoint We’ll start looking at initially the spleen channel. So I have these, Additions to Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy. They don’t have the acupuncture points on this.

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Like I put these on manually. Netter is just one of the gold standards of anatomical illustrations, and it’s just such great illustrations that I thought I would add the adapt it by adding, in this case, the spleen channel. And as we know, the spleen channel is on the lateral edge of the rectus abdominis so useful information, but we can talk about the significance of that in just a second.

As we travel down to the lower portion of the spleen channel on the abdomen, we have spleen 12, spleen 13 at the inguinal ligament, spleen 12 also, but it’s on that lateral border of the femoral artery. So this will be our first window into understanding the depth in the fascial layer that makes up the spleen channel.

So keep that one in mind as we go to the next image. So what this next image is showing, also from Netter’s Atlas of Human Anatomy, is the arteries. There’s another image for the veins. They run together, but the vascular structures of the anterior abdominal wall. First of all, notice that this epigastric artery in the vein, like I said, runs together.

directly with it. That’s in a separate illustration for Netter, but that’s fine. You get the general idea that it’s running along here. That branches off of the femoral artery, or excuse me, the iliac artery in that region where it’s connecting with the femoral artery. So it’s branching off of that region of spleen 12.

And where does it go? It goes deep to the rectus abdominis, behind the rectus abdominis, And that’s the territory that it travels. In my mind, this is the Chiang Mai. This is the the vessel that you can palpate on the front. You can often feel a strong pulsation, especially if people don’t have good circulation in the aorta.

More blood shunts through this area. So it’s like a reservoir. It can open up or close up depending on the needs of the body. And it runs and follows the trajectory of the Chiang Mai. It branches into the thoracic artery and vein, which go to the breast, kind of one of the functions of the chong mai.

Sends out branches along the intercostal arteries and veins, and then eventually it branches into cervical arteries too that go up into the face. So That’s the territory that we’re looking at for the spleen channel. We’ll look at another image in a second on that. Also the chong mai follows the kidney channel points.

So again, we’re looking at a fascial layer that lives behind the rectus abdominis. And that’s going to be the deeper yin channel territory of the spleen and kidney channels. So here’s the kidney channel points. The kidney channel points are going to be on the medial edge of the rectus abdominis, pretty close to the linea alba, 0.

5 sun. And it’s going into the rectus abdominis muscle, but my target tissue is not at the rectus abdominis, but that posterior rectus sheath. So when we compare that to the spleen channel on the lateral edge of the rectus abdominis, same thing. It might be into the muscle, but posterior rectus sheath is going to be my target.

So this would be an easier image to look at if we can see a cross section to understand that layer. So here where we were last time, when we looked at the stomach channel is following these fascial layers of the external oblique, a little bit of the bifurcation of the internal oblique fascia going on top of the rectus abdominis.

The needle can get into that anterior rectus sheath, maybe potentially into the muscle. But that’s the territory, that’s the depth, that’s the region that I want to address when I’m treating it. Whereas, if I’m in the spleen channel, or the kidney channel, we’re looking at the internal oblique fascia, transverse abdominis fascia that goes posterior to the rectus abdominis.

So this posterior rectus sheath. So if I’m coming in at the spleen channel at that semi lunar line, I’m into this window of tissue that goes deep to the rectus abdominis. If I’m coming at the medial edge of the kidney channel, again, I want that needle to traverse down to that posterior rectus sheath. So I want to affect this layer here, multiple importances of that, but one very simple one is if I look at this bigger cross section, rectus abdominis.

Spine, erector spinae, quadratus lumborum. Is that fascia layer is continuous with the transverse abdominis and the internal obliques? And that’s going to continue to come into a seam at the thoracolumbar fascia as a structure called the lateral raphe. And that lateral raphe is going to separate into a deeper layer that goes between the quadratus lumborum and rector spinae, and a superficial layer that goes above the rector spinae.

So point is when I’m treating this deeper fascia layer, I’m speaking to, communicating with. The musculature like the quadratus lumborum and rector spinae. So there’s a lot of fossil communication between the front and the back through these abdominal fossil layers.

If I follow that posterior rectus sheath up first of all, let’s go back to the anterior rectus sheath. If I follow the anterior rectus sheath, part of the stomach channel, that’s going to go superficial to the ribcage. So I’m looking up at the diaphragm, there’s the xiphoid process, the stomach channel would go on the anterior surface of the ribcage.

If I’m following that posterior rectus sheath up, that’s going to blend in with the diaphragm. So it’s a different layer, only separated by, an inch and a half, two inches, pretty small distance. But but it makes a big difference internally if I’m going deep to the ribcage, and wrapping around to the back versus going superficial to the ribcage.

So this is my interpretation with the spleen sinew channel. It connects with that ribcage, excuse me, connects with the diaphragm, loops around and attaches to the spine through these attachments of the diaphragm called the cruciate the diaphragm. So when I’m treating this fascia layer, I’m going to have a much bigger impact on breathing much bigger impact on spinal health also.

Kidney channel, the kidney sinew channel doesn’t really travel through the abdomen, so I didn’t use that image, but there’s a lot of discussion with the kidney channel of how it loops into this region of related fascia. Especially with the lower rectus abdominis, it has a lot of connections into the pelvic floor, through the abdominal layers, into the multifidi.

This is the low connecting channel. It talks about that channel coming up that layer. We’re talking about posterior rectus sheath following the kidney channel to a point just below the, um, pericardium. The pericardium sits right on top of the diaphragm. So that’s exactly what it does. It comes to a point right to the, just below the pericardium, and then it loops around into the lumbar spine.

Like I said, a lot of anatomy, you don’t have to get in the weeds with it. But there’s much more of a connection with the diaphragm, much more connection with the pelvic floor, much more of a connection with the lumbar spine when we’re treating that posterior rectus sheath. That’s the take home. So let’s look at some pain patterns that are common when you’re treating the rectus abdominis.

We looked at this one with the stomach channel also because you could get trigger point formation in the belly of the muscle or at stomach 25 and this tendinous inscription between bundles of muscle. But very frequently. When there’s dysfunction here, it’s more on the edge of the muscle at that semilunar line, maybe a little bit of the obliques, maybe a little bit of the rectus abdominis fascia.

It’s like a triad between the muscle groups of the obliques, rectus abdominis, and that fascial seam where all of that fascia comes together. That can be a very prominent area for trigger point formation that can give a very gassy, distended feeling when you palpate it. Maybe that’s what patients are complaining about.

They often want to stretch that area sometimes that can refer all around to the back it can refer deep into the pelvis, it can feel like it’s internal in the pelvis. It’s a pretty broad distribution of pain that patients might either complain about or might be a component of their low back pain, for instance.

Or distention, bloating, et cetera. So along the spleen channel is the very frequent aspect of where these trigger points form. Anywhere from spleen 15 to about level of stomach 27 is pretty common. So you’re feeling at that semilunar line, feeling for fibrosity. I usually push a little into the edge of the rectus abdominis.

Another region where there’s common trigger point formation would be the medial edge. Now we’re at the kidney channel. So if I’m at that medial edge, it’s like I can scoop deep to the muscle and, I’m palpating slightly into the rectus abdominis, but I’m really feeling more for that posterior rectus sheath.

It’s like I’m going through that medial edge to get to the posterior rectus sheath. I can direct into the rectus abdominis itself, or I can direct into the linea alba along the REN channel. And same thing, a lot of pain, especially below the belly button umbilicus, maybe halfway between the pubis and the umbilicus is a common region.

It’s not going to always be exact. But along that kidney distribution is a very common area of trigger point formation for deep abdominal pain, especially abdominal pain that’s related to menstrual pain, dysmenorrhea. So for those patients who are having very difficult sensations during menstruation, this is a key area to look at.

You also have this paramedis muscle, which attaches to the linealba. That’s going to be at the lower kind of kidney 11 region that you’d have access to that. That can give a certain amount of pain in that abdominal area that can spread up to the umbilicus. The lower portions. We talked about this one of the stomach channel could be at the lateral edge along the stomach channel because this muscle narrows quite a bit as it gets to the pubic bone.

There’s not a whole lot of space on the muscle left here at the pubic bone, but really often it’s in that mid belly just off the linea alba. That’s where you frequently get this deep radiation bilaterally into the lumbar spine. And iliac crest region that can be its own pain pattern driving lumbar pain, but it might also be a component of things like lumbar facet pain.

Very important area to palpate, usually just above the pubic bone. Sometimes you even have to press the muscle into the pressing it into the pubic bone to elicit this sensation. But it’s a common area where there’s trigger point formation that could be a big component of lumbar pain that you wouldn’t necessarily think if you didn’t know the referral patterns.

Obviously you’d be palpating in the iliac crest, gluteal muscle, sacral area, lumbar spine. There might also be trigger point formation there because of its communication front to back. But don’t forget about this area. Alright, just a good netter image to see that. Spleen channel runs along the lateral edge, stomach channel runs in the middle, but as I get lower down, that line of the stomach channel really takes me to the lateral edge of the rectus abdominis.

If I move over a little bit to the kidney channel, that’s frequently where I’m going to find that trigger point formation right up against the pubic bone. Whoops.

I’m going to go back to this muscle. The other kidney channel points will take me through that medial edge so I can get to the rectus abdominis and feel into that posterior rectus sheath, spleen channel points. Again, I can through that lateral edge of the muscle at that union where it’s going to then dive deep underneath the rectus abdominis.

So any aspect that I’m needling through kidney and spleen, my tendency is to think into that posterior rectus sheath, which is slightly deeper than the muscle. So last time we looked at the motility of the stomach organ. This is looking at the kidney organ because movement in this area, if we can free the movement and control the abdominal movement we can get that flexion extension.

The kidney organ itself moves along the psoas. As I take a deep breath in, that drives the kidney down, it creates a certain amount of rotation in the kidney also, and the exhale and the diaphragm rises, the kidneys rise with it. There’s a movement from diaphragmatic breathing that if I can open that up by working on the the channels, increased breathing, that can be helpful, but it can also allow me to get a more more, efficient movement that can help mobilize the kidney organs, which is going to have good impact on the kidneys themselves, but also with lumbar pain and abdominal type situations that could be involved with the channels.

All right. So let’s look at a exercise that I do and I teach quite frequently. It’s called the spinal wave. I have a video for it. I can talk through some key points. This will be on the PowerPoint. Let me get to that slide. And this is on my YouTube channel, JingJinMovementTraining, if you want a reference, I also go into more verbal instruction on it.

But this one doesn’t have any narration, but I’ll narrate over it. Spinal wave is engaging the rectus abdominus. lengthening it. Engaging, ribcage comes closer to the pubic bone, so posterior tilt, neutral to anterior tilt, posterior tilt, anterior tilt. Same time, that ribcage drops, so this is a different variation where I bring that wave up to the whole spine.

And chest opens, but same spinal wave.

And this video shows variations with the arms and sending that energy out the arms, but whether you get that aspect of the patients, that initial one with the hands on is really the key starting position for patients, there’s a rotational version, et cetera. So you can build on it. Like I said, there’s this instruction is on my YouTube channel if you want to look at it a little bit closer.

All right, so maybe I have a few moments to go over that in my studio. I’m going to exit the PowerPoint and let’s back up and we’ll look at that real quickly.

All right, so let’s look at the spinal wave. I often, when I’m working with patients, I have them put a hand, and I do it myself this way too, put a hand on the lower rib cage and put a hand just below the umbilicus. So lower dantian. The hands aren’t doing anything. The hands are just helping me find that movement in the abdominals.

So the idea is I want to initiate that movement by pulling the pelvis up in the pubic bones. I’ll take me into a posterior tilt. Ribcage descends. Expand. Press. Expand. So I’m using the abdominals to drive spinal motion, drive kidney motion. Inhale, fill that area up. Exhale, compress starting from the pubic bone, rib cage follows.

Inhale, exhale. So you can also start this seated with patients, because very frequently patients are stiff with the spine, or yourself if you’re doing it for your own health. Sometimes they just want to do it with the knees, so they just move the knees or they move the hips or something like that.

But they have to engage the center. So pulling up the pubic bone, down the rib cage. Top hand shifts back, expand. Bottom hand shifts back, top hand shifts forward. Press, expand. Press, expand. So it takes control, takes practice, you’re engaging the front, expanding the front. You actually engage the transverse abdominis quite a bit, this one.

That’s why I like this one for the kidney and spleen channels as you’re starting to engage. Those deeper abdominal areas, exercising, massaging, increasing circulation between the front. Very nice. Thanks for checking this webinar out. Also, thank you to American Acupuncture Council, I always appreciate the opportunity to go over this information.

A lot of fun for me very exciting stuff in my mind hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you guys another time.

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Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance – The Concept of Yin Fire in Pediatrics Part 2

I’m going to be, this is going to be part two of YinFire

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Hi, my name is Moshe Heller, and I’m from Moshen Herbs, and also Jingshen Pediatrics I’m going to be, this is going to be part two of YinFire, and I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for hosting me. And so let’s go right into the slides. Okay, so the first herb of of this formula, or, and the emperor herb, is Huang Qi radix astragali, and it really works on supporting the, helping the spleen raise the clear qi up, and so it is it actually addresses the main mechanism, and Lidongyuan really like this herb to be included because it also helps support the lung qi and and the exterior and regulate the the opening and closing of the pores, meaning that it helps to close and prevent spontaneous sweating because of this relationship between the spleen and the lung.

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Li Dongyuan said that when the spleen is when the earth is deficient, then the suffering next phase will be the metal or lung. Therefore by support, by choosing Huang Chi, not only are you supporting the main mechanism that’s failing in the spleen, but you are also supporting the lung.

It’s also very interesting that I remember learning with Ted Kaptchuk this learning about Huang Chi, and he said and stressed the idea that if you want. Something. You wanna take something to help you do something? Take one Q. If you try to take RenQian for that thing, it won’t make you do anything, it’ll make you stop and think.

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So RenQian actually works more on this kind of ability to process thought, whereas HuangQi actually activates and make you, helps you, give you energy to do things. So that’s like at the core of this formula Baichu again is another minister that helps in the transformation of dampness and for, and the transport, transportation and transformation process of the spleen Zhegansao supports that too and helps in harmonizing.

It’s very interesting that DongWei is included in this formula because DongWei actually provides a balance for RenShen and FengQi and allows them to be more balanced by supporting the ying qi aspect of the, um, the process. And as we know, dang gui is the herb that supports the qi of the blood.

So it’s the more yang aspect of the blood. And that’s why dang gui is really important in supporting balancing qi and blood. And and harmonizing the functions of formula. ChenP is included also to support the transfer, moving the qi and supporting the transformation and transportation.

Meaning that the tonifying, cloying nature of the above herbs are mitigated by ChenP. And then the most interesting part of Buzongi Chitang is the last two envoys, the Shengma and Chaihu, which together are, they’re both in the warm acrid section and of herbs. So you might think, oh, this is not a great formula or combination for fevers, but Actually, Buzhou Nishitang is a very important herb for combination for fevers, as that’s what Li Dongyuan made it for.

And the idea is that the warm, acrid nature of Shengmai and Chaihu, other than lifting the yang and supporting that kind of uplifting effect it also helps in warming and helping with the issues of the spleen vacuity. So this is an amazing formula. It has a lot of variations and can be used for a wide variety of symptoms.

As when we read about it in Bensky, there are three main symptoms. Patterns that yeah, that it addresses, one of them, the collapse of the central gene, meaning we know it for collapse of organs like hemorrhoids and stuff like that. But originally that was that was an expansion of this formula, but it’s an amazing formula, as I said, and has a lot of application, a lot of variations.

I invite you to check it out. explore it and use it. And it’s it’s quite an interesting combination. Thank you for listening. And please visit first of all, Moshen Herbs. This is my herb, the herb company, which I Buzong Mi Qi Tang is not there, but there are many herbs that you can use and also Jingxuan Pediatrics is where we might present some of those lectures.

So this is the end of part two of the concept of yin Fire in Pediatrics. I would like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for hosting this talk. And I hope to see you soon. Thank you.

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Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance – Secrets of Marketing Your Facial Acupuncture Practice PT2

So there are a lot of different facets to marketing facial acupuncture. And some of them are very similar to marketing any acupuncture practice. Some of them are very unique.

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Hi, my name’s Michelle Gilles. I am an acupuncture physician practicing in Florida, and I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for this opportunity to speak to you today about marketing your facial acupuncture practice. Now, last time I spoke in part one, I did an introduction to marketing your facial acupuncture practice, and if you missed it, you can check it out.

And today, I am going to pick up where we left off last time, so if you can go to the first slide.

So there are a lot of different facets to marketing facial acupuncture. And some of them are very similar to marketing any acupuncture practice. Some of them are very unique. So today we’re going to talk about mailing and newsletters. blog posts, community engagement, workshops and seminars, and collaboration with other wellness practitioners.

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So when we think about marketing, one of the things, one of the terms that is used is lead magnets. And what that means is ways that you can bring people into your practice, things that will attract more business. So podcasts are a great idea. Things like we’re doing right now, where you either through a short or a long version of a podcast, give some information about a particular topic.

Doing happy hours is a great way to bring business into your facial acupuncture practice. Now, these do not have to involve alcohol. You can do a happy hour where you maybe teach your clients something. And you would have refreshments. And then you can provide Maybe something small like a serum or a little takeaway for them and you would educate them as to the benefits of facial acupuncture.

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You could offer free treatment. Red light treatment or maybe a quick hand microneedling. That’s another way to attract more people into your practice. Creating a book like an actual physical book or an online book with information about facial acupuncture, tips for self care at home. Also, on your website and in your social media, you can do surveys and quizzes.

People love to answer those things and that can bring more business in that way. Additionally, having A webinar where you do something longer online or a workshop where you might perhaps teach your patients how to dermaroll or do facial cupping and gua sha. Those types of things where it’s self care and you’re giving them a useful tool.

Also, going to health fairs is a wonderful way to attract more patients, because you can have people fill something out for a prize, you can do a skin assessment, you can do a health assessment, feel their pulses, look at their tongue, and talk to them about skin care for their particular. constitution type.

For the health fairs, as I mentioned, you can do a skin assessment. You can do little promo cards, and on the promo card you might give a discount on maybe a product that you sell, and then also list the benefits of facial acupuncture. You could give those away. You can have. Other promotional items, little collagen eye masks, massage pens, the one in this picture, where people can roll it on their face, and then the name of your practice would be on there.

You could do a spin the wheel, have one of those wheels, and people spin the wheel, and they get some sort of a prize for winning. Next slide.

Additionally, use your website. On your website, you can have all of your blog posts, testimonials, before and after photos, an ebook. So on your social, you would have a link to your website where people can see on your social. If I click here, it’ll take me to the website and I can see the testimonials, the before and afters, read the blog posts, etc.

Also, you can do mailings. Now, these can be actual in the mail mailings, or you can do mailing through email, and there are several different elements to mailing. You want to have a hook, and the hook might be a question, such as you why do people go to facial acupuncture? That might be the hook, and then people will open it, And maybe on the second line, it’ll say, click here to learn more.

And then once they’re opened, the logo should be on the top. And then in the body of the email, you might want to ask a question, state how you will solve their problem, maybe how they’ll feel after they’ve had a treatment, but always have a call to action. Don’t just provide information. and not tell them what to do.

So the what to do might say call our office, go to my website. Those types of things would be a call to action and always have a link to your website and any social in the email.

So here are some examples of marketing hooks that you might have in your email, like in the subject. So examples are three smart, three things smart people do when trying to, and then you would put in the outcome, tighten their skin, three things smart people do when trying to lose dark spots, or three mistakes people often make when trying to.

And then you put in the outcome. And also magic keys. Giving them like some kind of magical key to fix whatever their problem is. The one thing that I finally did to And then the outcome. Get rid of my dark spots. Tighten my loose skin. This is one thing my patients do on a regular basis. So these are the types of things that are going to cause people to want to click on your email.

Some other ones for your Maybe your blogs or your website or some promotional material that you might hand out. So reveal your natural beauty, rediscover radiance, unlock your skin’s potential. And all of these types of hooks will have a first part and a second part. So goodbye to fine lines and wrinkles Embrace, embrace youthful skin through facial acupuncture.

Shorter hooks can be helpful. Not everyone wants to read a very long hook. So having something shorter, unlock the secret to glowing skin today. And if someone sees that in their email, they’re more likely to click on something that sparks their interest. Your key to radiant beauty awaits. Revitalize your appearance.

Just one click.

When you’re working on your newsletter, there are a lot of different ways to put one together. Many mailing things like Constant Contact or MailChimp have their own way to design a mailing or you can just design it in Word or in Canva and it’s You want to include either part of a blog post or a link to a blog post that will take them to your website.

Have the testimonials in there. Do the before and afters. Write in your newsletter. You can have a contest. You can have famous quotes. These are all things that can, when put together, can really make for a really nice newsletter that you send out. Blog posts should be short. People should be able to read it.

in less than five minutes and sometimes if you put at the top how long it’s going to take to read it that helps as well. You can embed it right into your website and make certain that there is an image and that the image has attributes to it and says what it is. And these are all things that help Google to find your blog post.

Put this in your social and in your emails. So when you take the time to create a blog post, you want to have links to it in as many different places as possible. But the most important thing is that you optimize it for SEO. So don’t just write the blog post and think, Oh, it’s done. You want to make sure that your SEO is optimized so that the when Google is looking for a keyword like melasma, it can find it because you’ve included that in your keywords, but your keywords have to actually represent what’s in the article or it won’t work.

Community engagement is also important. Providing donations to different organizations, advertisements. If there’s local fundraisers going on, join a Rotary Club or any business networking groups in your area. Things like Women’s League. All of these types of organizations can connect you with more people.

And people do business with people that they know and they like. You can also do collaborations with other wellness practitioners. So go to a spa and tell them about what you do. See if they’ll hold on to your business cards. Salons, OBGYNs, they’re all about women’s health and wellness. Massage therapists.

And. You take their cards as well, and cross refer to one another.

This is a list of some of the classes that I teach if you want to learn more about facial acupuncture, and how it can help you to bring more business into your practice. Facial acupuncture is a great way to expand the scope of what it is you do. It’s very popular, and I teach classes. I have a certificate course.

I have an advanced certificate course, and I teach facial cupping in Gua Sha, derma rolling, skincare, microneedling, ethics, safety, neuromuscular treating neuromuscular conditions and even self care for acupuncturists. So once again, I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for this opportunity, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

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Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance – Diversify Your Practice and Increase Your Bottom Line

So I want you thinking along the lines of where are my patients coming from? Where might I seek some additional patients that I’ve never thought of?

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Greetings, friends and colleagues. This is Sam Collins, your coding and billing expert for acupuncture and the American Acupuncture Council. We’ve always tried to help you a way to enhance your practice, make your practice better. What is always going to make a practice better is your ability to provide what you do.

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But you need patience. So I want you thinking along the lines of where are my patients coming from? Where might I seek some additional patients that I’ve never thought of? Where is that market? You always have to think of you are a business. You are a CEO. Are you doing things to make your practice enhanced?

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So let’s talk about where you’re getting your patients. Let’s go to the slides. Where are your patients? Your patients can be a lot of different types. Obviously, we have cash, but in my opinion, there’s three types of cash patients. Cash, prompt pay, prepay can be done. And then for insurance, there’s nine different types of insurance, but what I want to focus in on are veterans.

Acupuncturists are not tapping the market for veterans. Now, sometimes it’s more just they’re not aware, but realize the VA could be a very good add to your practice. And I’ll give you an example. The average VA patient payment to an acupuncturist for the number of visits they get is going to be about 3, 000 for every one of these patients you get.

Imagine you get two a month. How do we do this? Let’s focus in on that and where does this come from? Because realize, acupuncture has been accessible to veterans for quite some time and I think this is where maybe the problem is. Many of you aren’t aware that it’s covered. Imagine how many veterans aren’t aware that there’s this benefit.

So I want you thinking of, when you have a practice, you’re going to do a little bit of both. I want you to have a cash practice, but I would say that doesn’t mean you don’t take some insurance. In other words, cherry pick. If I get an authorization for a VA patient, I have no problem taking them because it’s guaranteed payment.

Now, some insurances I don’t want to take at all because it’s a little risky, but you need to have a bridge. Don’t assume one without the other. Here’s the part I’m bringing up. For veterans, how many are aware that the VA gives you marketing tools? This is available on the VA site, allowing you to use this, whether it be on your website or any other type of business, badging, social media, to make people know that you care for veterans.

I would bet if you put a sign like this in front of your office saying, we care for veterans, I bet you might run into a lot of people coming to your office going, what do you mean you cover veterans? There’s no veteran coverage for it. Because they’re simply not made aware. When’s the time you’ve seen a commercial or any type of marketing for someone that’s a veteran who’s having pain management or other issues that they could seek acupuncture care?

If they’re not doing that, why aren’t we? The offices I’ve seen that have embraced this have really increased the value. to their practice because they’ve increased the value to these patients. VA community care is what we’re talking about. Community care is stuff that the VA can’t do in their own place that they need to do outside or don’t have enough.

Now realize VA does have some acupuncturists that work in some of the facilities, not all. The VA community care program is provides medical care to eligible veterans and their dependents. Now let me be careful. Dependents aren’t going to be covered for acupuncture. So that’s out, but it’s going to cover the veteran for services that are not offered at that facility or aren’t accessible at that facility.

So here’s what we have. Notice here, this is the VA community care network. Notice what it covers. It covers acupuncture, but wait. It covers massage. Now, again, I want to be careful as an acupuncturist, so long as massage is within your scope, the VA will pay you to do it. But in addition, what if you’re a massage therapist?

Think about this for a second. Do you know massage therapists could apply and treat veterans and the VA will cover it? Get this though. You want to see where traditional medicine fits? They literally cover Tai Chi. So wait, can you imagine a Tai Chi instructor who learned about this? They could think, Hey, I could do a class for veterans.

and be paid by the VA? Here’s the problem. This has been around for quite some time, but we don’t have enough people aware. So I think part of it is making people aware that you do it. And I think the access for you is one that’s pretty good. Here’s what the VA says. Acupuncture is often associated with pain management, but it is also useful for other conditions.

In the body of literature for acupuncture effectiveness is growing. Acupuncture may be effective as a stand alone treatment or as an adductor treatment for other medical congestion interventions and notice the evidence map developed by the VA itself. It says this systemic review identified evidence of potentially effective Effect of several pain conditions, including chronic pain and headaches, mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, as well as indicators such as insomnia.

So they’re really broadening here for the types of things people have. I had one patient. Or one office, I should tell you, that got referred a VA patient to treat weight loss. I kid you not, because they felt it was going to be helpful. It was, and they paid. It wasn’t even for pain management. So imagine this being available.

If you could start making patients aware of it, they have expanded non pharmacological treatments available to veterans by providing acupuncture services. Yet, yet. Yet, acupuncture use remains very low compared to other populations. It’s less than 1%. If you can increase it 10%, you wouldn’t have enough acupuncturists to handle these people.

Who in here, who of you probably could take 10 times your patients? So I’m thinking the VA could be something where we could really get you to access. But here’s the problem. Does the average veteran know that they’re even entitled to this service? They are. We’ve got to make them aware. We need to know they’re aware because what do they cover?

They cover acupuncture. Yes, acupuncture. Up to three sets of needles per visit. It covers the exams, whether new patient exams, subsequent, and so forth. It covers therapies of many types. Hands on therapies, exercise. Massage, Manual Therapy, Tuminog, Gua Sha, and so forth. In addition though, it covers something many of you are going to go, What?

Yes, the VA covers for acupuncture laser. This is actually new for 2024. It always and continues to cover cupping. So if you think of it, the VA is probably the most conducive to allow acupunctures to what you really do. So including cupping. So would this be a patient I want to see? I would. Why? Because they pay pretty decently.

They pay at Medicare rates, but hold on. Don’t get too down sided thinking Medicare rates are better than ASH, by the way. But notice, set one is 40 and subsequent sets about 30 on average. So that means if you’re doing three sets of visit, that’s 100. Your exams are going to be between 120 to maybe 80 or 90, depending on the lower levels for established patients.

But again, within that, supervised modalities, like an infrared heat, pretty cheap, More hands on, or I shouldn’t say hands on, but more modalities that require more expertise up to 25. They pay about 20 for cupping, again, an average. And then therapeutic procedures, hands on, massage, manual therapy, exercise.

Those are going to be between 28 to 40 and those specifically in the mid 30 range. So you can imagine when I talk those numbers, if you’re looking at the number of visits you might get, This is a pretty good patient. You know what they’re looking for? Make them better. Help them. Are you going to cure them?

No. You’re going to help them manage. Help them get better. Help them be allowed to get out in society and be functional. What do they authorize? When you do get these, they do have to be authorized, but they pay for 12 visits within the first 60 days. And what they’re going to look for is, did the patient improve?

If they’ve improved, they will allow up to 8 more visits every 90 days. And they even have one that once you’ve gotten within that, they’ll allow chronic pain management for the patient to use as is, if you will, after they’ve reached PNS or medical MMI, maximum medical improvement. to allow them to treat as they get a little bit of a flare up.

But let’s assume here you’re looking at probably at least 20 visits. And if you’re thinking it’s a hundred plus per visit, that’s where I said 2000 plus exams, a little bit more. So certainly something I’d want to get access to the, here’s the key. If you join and you don’t get a patient, that’s the worst thing that happens.

You don’t get a patient. But if you don’t join, for sure you’re not. What if you join and get a few and make people aware that you help, that you’re helping them? Think of how many patients that are existing veterans or have family members that are. You do have to join. Here’s a map. Notice if you’re Texas or west of Texas, it’s with a company called TriWest.

And if you’re in north of Texas or east, it’s going to be the company OptumHealth. There’s no cost to joining, just have to register. So to me, it’s a no brainer. Worst case scenario, you join, you don’t get a patient. You know who I blame if you don’t get a patient? Us. You. How do people know what you do?

Here’s my problem for acupuncturists. Ask the average person, what does an acupuncturist do? And I think you’ll hear a lot of ignorant answers. And I’m not blaming anyone, but I’m saying we’ve got to do a better job. Because how many people know you can treat anxiety, depression, PTSD, insomnia? Not to mention back pain, neck pain, all those things.

People aren’t aware. They think one thing, make them aware of more. And of course, as you well know, once a person has been to an acupuncturist, very seldom do they come back, Oh, that didn’t work at all. In fact, how many times have you heard them say, I’ve been to so many doctors and I went to the acupuncturist and after one visit, or maybe even just a few, my pain or my problem improved 50%.

That miracle happens all the time, but you got to create access. You’re so anxious to join so many of these other plans that pay you very little. Why not the VA? Understand how the VA works. What do they pay you for? They pay to make the patient feel better, meaning give me a pain decrease. Give me functional improvement.

If I make the pain go away, am I going to have more function? Absolutely. Can I show that they’re probably using less medication, even if it’s over the counter? And bottom line is demonstrate it objectively. If you go through the last time I did this program for you, I did one on authorizations, that kind of focused in on that.

Show me you’re making the patient better. That’s at the end of the day. That’s all that’s really cared about. The VA will look there. I’ve had people say Sam, I’m not getting additional visits when I request it. Did you follow this? I’m the expert that can help you with that. This is just a thumbnail.

We’re doing a seminar. We also offer a service called The Network where we’re going to help you. Don’t feel alone. Know that there’s a lot of sources out there and we’re one of the main ones for you. I wish you well and I want you to be prosperous. Be well, my friend.

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Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance – Acupuncture Preauthorization

One of the things that’s come up recently that I’ve had some issues with is people dealing with pre authorizations. This could be a pre authorization whether it’s a I don’t know, health insurance like ASH, maybe Optum, maybe a VA client.

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Greetings, everyone. This is Sam Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture, the American Acupuncture Council and you. One of the things that’s come up recently that I’ve had some issues with is people dealing with pre authorizations. This could be a pre authorization whether it’s a I don’t know, health insurance like ASH, maybe Optum, maybe a VA client.

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And it’s always, what are they looking for? So let’s go to the slides. Let’s talk about that. What is required for a pre authorization? What in the heck are they looking for? How do we make sure to kind of streamline this? Make it easier for ourselves and ultimately know what are they looking for. And I think that’s what’s really important.

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So when you’re talking to pre authorization requests, you got to think of who does this come from? Well, number one, I think people think of the plans similar to ASH, American Specialty Health Network. That’s all over. And of course, those require pre authorization, particularly unless you’re a tier six. It could require authorizations after the fifth visit or eighth visit.

So what are they looking for? But we’re also running into issues. Optum Health, who manages United Healthcare is requesting, and we’re seeing it obviously from community care, meaning the va. And this includes Tri West on the West Coast, or Optum on the East Coast, which of course already is there ’cause we know Optum does require that.

But then there’s other plans, I’m sure you’re noticing Aetna, blue Cross, blue Shield, Cigna, and others. are beginning to put this in place. Not everyone, but whenever you run into this issue, one of the difficulties is trying to understand how do I make sure to get the care authorized, make sure I’m not running into a hassle and creating much more work for myself.

So what do they want? Why do they want it? Well, what they want really is a plan of care. What are you expecting to do? What are they expecting outcomes? So you do have to really write up a plan. I want to see this patient two times a week for three weeks or whatever numbers, but it has to be specific. It cannot be open ended.

The ultimate thing that they’re going to realize or look at though, is are you making the patient better? With pre authorization, it often is not the first visit, but it’s follow up visits. Even ASH will allow you about five. So what they’re looking to see is that, well, is this care working? Is it going to make the patient any better?

And they’re looking really, if nothing else, the why? They’re looking to avoid maintenance, supportive, or palliative care. It’s care I believe and I think is useful, but insurance, of course, So they’re always concerned that it’s going to give them just feel good. Now what I find funny about that is how much care that’s medical, meaning medicine, that’s curative?

Or is it maintenance? I mean, if you think of it, if I take blood pressure medication, am I curing it? Or am I just maintaining it low? Well, think of pain management. Well, maybe I’m not curing the reason for pain, but if I can maintain it, isn’t that a good thing? Kind of interesting how that kind of works in that way for us.

However, what I want to focus on is what are they looking for? So when you start doing a pre authorization, there’s some highlights you want to have. Medical necessity, when we look at this from American Specialty Health, and now this is not my opinion. This is taken directly from their guideline. The number one thing they rely on is your diagnosis.

And this is going to be true for anyone. Make sure your diagnosis is one that they cover. One big reason things aren’t covered is you don’t have the proper diagnosis for your care. Notice that they don’t cover everything, but know the things that they do cover and focus in on that. They do pay attention, however, to the past medical history, severity, complexity, Acuity, is it recurrent or chronic?

That does make a difference. When that is in play, it can create a greater need for care. But they also pay attention to comorbid factors. What are things underlying? Maybe I’m not directly treating it. But it’s causing the patient to be more difficult to respond. Maybe they’re diabetic. Maybe they have MS.

Maybe they’re very overweight. Maybe they’re very deconditioned. Anything you can think of that is causing it to take longer is important because otherwise they’re assuming everyone gets well in a few visits. And they do look at your exam findings, whether it’s range of motion, palpatory, orthopedic testing, orologic testing.

And remember for acupuncture, they do pay attention to tongue and pulse. Those are important, but you know what they really want to know? Within all these factors, what are the functional limitations of the patient? What is it causing the patient to have difficulty doing? Because pain always inhibits function.

So I always think along the lines of all these things leading to how are we making the patient better? And better means functionally, not just, I feel better. And think ultimately of what the goals are. So if you kind of start putting this together as a template, this is going to allow you to start to think of what things they’re looking for.

Now this is just American Specialty Health. Let’s take a look. This is the one from Cigna. Now I’m showing in big format here, but notice Cigna says, medically necessary services must be delivered toward defined, reasonable, and evidence based goals. That’s that first bullet. Medical and assessed decisions must be based on patient presentation, diagnosis, severity, and documented clinical findings.

Continuation of treatment is contingent upon progression towards defined treatment goals and evidenced by significant, objective, functional improvement. Do you notice how much they’re bringing in that function? That’s what you want to focus on. So notice it says, examples, outcome assessment scales, range of motion.

So notice, is this very different? From what we saw with ASH, not really. In fact, take a look at the last bullet. It says, medically necessary service, including monitoring of outcomes and progress within change in treatment or withdrawal of treatment if the patient is not improving. So notice the outcome is what they’re looking at.

Show me what they’ve gotten so far, how they’ve changed, what are the expectations, or what are the expectations based upon guidelines? Here’s more of it from Cigna. And you’ll notice again, the emphasis here, measuring progress. Pain scales. That helps. But a pain scale without context is not very good. We want to have interference with daily activities, functional outcome measures, length of relief after treatment.

And you know how a lot of patients feel better for a few hours, a lot better. But by the next day, they feel the same. If you just report how they felt the next day. Your care doesn’t appear to be working, but highlight those factors. But notice tenderness, palpation, range of motion. Here’s what I’m highlighting.

It’s not very different. Maybe semantically there’s some differences, but ultimately the same things they’re looking for. Even the VA jumps in on this. The VA says significant, durable pain intensity decrease. So we want to see pain decrease, but not pain by itself. When pain is better, function is better.

So when a person says they feel better, ask the question, what can you do now that you couldn’t do before? Maybe tying your shoe, driving the car, whatever the case may be. But notice it says meaningful improvement on validated disease specific outcome instruments. Acupuncture works well. Let’s make sure to demonstrate that.

Not just by what we verbally hear from the patient, but validate it. So we want to also highlight any documented elusive, documented lesser use. I don’t care if it’s over the counter or otherwise. If they’re taking less, that’s helpful. And then also look at any objective measurements. Again, things on your objective exam.

And again, you’re going to notice, well gosh, this is the VA, we did Cigna, we did ASH. Does it all kind of come out to be the same? Yeah, in fact, they even say here, include any barriers to recovery such as complicating conditions or comorbidities. But also how the patient has changed to date and how the care will continue the same trajectory.

At the end of the day, show me the patient is getting better. I think the simplest thing to do is always have outcome assessment tools at the ready. Whenever a patient first visits, that should be the first visit, and probably once a week or every two weeks at least, because your care is working. We want to show that it’s gaining.

by having direct measurements. Now you’re going to hear the term data driven care. It’s the data of what you collect. Tracking restrictions on activities of daily living is probably the best way. So you’re going to use what are called patient reported outcome measurement instruments. And there’s lots out there.

General pain index, specific functional scale, the short form for pain interference. There’s a long form. And then pain rating scales. Those are good. Oswestry, but everything has to fit within a goal. Now, some of you who are members in our network, remember our AccuCode has these on there all for you to use and how to use them, but ultimately let’s take a look at how they set up.

Here’s the general pain index. To me, one of the simplest, but most effective. Notice this is not a pain scale. It’s not about how much the person’s in pain, but how the pain affects their family and home responsibilities. They’re recreation, social activities, employment. In other words, if it’s a 0, they’re doing fine.

But a 10 means they’re a mess, and all we’re looking at is a number. The higher the number, the more dysfunction. As the patient improves, the number should reduce. Now you’ll see at the bottom it says the threshold score is going to be 5, meaning that if a person’s score is 55, they’re not better until at least they’re 50 or lower.

It’s got to be a 5 point difference. What you should notice initially, It’s a high number that will drop a lot, at least at the beginning, and then it begins to trickle. Now, that doesn’t mean because the trickle is happening you’re going to stop, but it just shows you’re continuing. An easy way of demonstrating it, because if you rely on the patient saying they’re feeling better, that’s not really going to give us enough evidence, because feeling better in what way?

You ever had a person tell you it’s a 10 but they’re almost functional and another person’s 5 is dysfunctional? So that’s why the pain scale is not as accurate. It’s the pain scale with function. So General Pain Index. In fact, the VA has one they prefer now. It’s called the Pain Interference Short Form.

In fact, you know what this is? It’s the short form for the General Pain Index. Notice, it’s the same six questions, but it just has a five answer. This is what I would say you probably do once a week, maybe the other one every two weeks. All this is doing, though, is giving evidence of how your care is working.

When you are seeking an authorization of care, the best way to authorize more care is to demonstrate how much the patient has changed. And then what the continuation is going to continue, the projection, if we’re improving 10 points or so each time we do this, there’s no reason to discontinue until it begins to flatline and there’s no further improvement.

Bottom line is they’re looking, are you making the patient better? That’s what they care about. Not about how they state it, but notice every single one focused on function. If someone says they want function, Give them function. Use an outcome assessment. Make it part of your daily note. In fact, there’s some new rules that are going to help us with pre authorization.

Now, these rules technically don’t take effect until 2026, but this is the movement. This new federal rule requires that they streamline and disclose more information. Do you ever notice sometimes, They don’t give enough information, I’m providing a lot of it here, but we want to see a process where if you’re participating in any federal plan, this doesn’t include VA and others, they must now respond to an expedited process within 72 hours.

But never greater than seven days. Now, many of them say, Oh, yes, we respond within, you know, five days. We know how that works. I mean, think of some of these VA claims you’ve probably requested. They can take a month. Now, they’re requiring that they respond sooner. ASH can respond pretty quickly, but it’s almost always negative.

So, if that’s the case, they must also include their reasons for denying. Often, when I deal with an office on getting pre authorization when they’ve been denied, The best way that can help them is I take a look at what was denied and the why to make sure when we make the next request, we hit the points that they want.

Remember, when someone wants A, B, and C, give them A, B, and C. I don’t care what you think, get what they want. Now that doesn’t mean if you like doing A, B, C, D, E, and F, great, but their focus is A, B, C. Give them that as the primary. Realize now you’re going to have a little bit more of a framework to look at.

Most often when they do give a denial, they’ll give a little bit of this. Now under federal rule, it’s going to be required. Don’t be afraid of it. Your care works. Demonstrate it. As always, the American Acupuncture Council Network is here to help. If you need some one on one help, want to make me part of your staff, join our network.

I hope to see you. Otherwise, everyone, I wish you well.

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Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance – Secrets of Marketing Your Facial Acupuncture Practice

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Hi, my name’s Michelle Gellis.

And I am a License Board Certified Acupuncture Physician. I will be presenting today on Marketing Your Facial Acupuncture Practice. Can we go to the first slide?

So a little bit about me. I am currently on the doctoral faculty at Yosan University, and I am a former faculty member and clinic supervisor at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. I have been teaching facial and cosmetic acupuncture classes since 2005.

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So today’s lecture is going to be part one of a comprehensive lecture on how to market your facial acupuncture practice. And part of this is from my upcoming book on Treating the Face and some of the material I learned from Dr. East Phillips and she can be found@dreast.com. So the topics today are I’m going to do a quick marketing 101, talk about social media, the power of testimonials the importance of before and after photos, and how to set up some accounts.

programs for your facial acupuncture practice. So the first thing to think about when you’re thinking about marketing your facial acupuncture practice, and this really is not just for a cosmetic acupuncture practice, but this can also be for if you’re doing facial acupuncture for, Neuromuscular facial conditions.

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It really falls under the umbrella of educating your audience. When most people now, nowadays, when they think about aging, there’s more of a push towards holistic aging, and aging in a healthy way. We can’t stop the aging process, but we all want to look and feel as good as possible. And the nice thing about acupuncture and Chinese medicine is that we’re not just treating the outside, we’re treating the inside.

So when you are Putting together your brochures or your online presence, any infographics that you’re putting together to talk about your facial acupuncture practice. You want to not only talk about how effective it is, but also The full range of benefits as far as physical health, emotional health and wellness, relaxation, and how it is a holistic approach, you’re not putting anything into the body or taking anything out of the body, as is frequently the case with Western medicine.

When we’re thinking about our marketing in general, one of the first things that we can be struck with is where do I come up with content? How often do I need to post? How much information does someone want at one time? And for a lot of us, we are healers, we are business owners, but we may not have a marketing department and or a background in marketing.

It’s important to know that consistency is the key. It takes the average person about seven times of seeing your ad before they actually take some sort of action. If you’re consistent, then people know that you’re not going to disappear. They can count on you to be there. And if they can’t buy right in that moment, then They’ll see your post again.

So it really is a matter of being in front of someone often enough so that when the time is right for them, they’ve been educated, they like you, get your message, they understand what you’re selling, and that’s when they’re going to hit the button to either call you or to sign up and make an appointment.

So marketing when you’re trying to think of marketing ideas, it can be overwhelming. Like I am just burnt out, I can’t think of a single other idea of what can I do for my marketing. So one idea is to market by the season, right? So each season you are going to come up with a new idea for marketing. So when we’re talking about the skin, maybe it’s a spring detox for the skin or summer skin.

Is your skin getting. Overcooked by the sun or dried out or is the humidity affecting your skin? Is your skin dry in the fall? And what about your winter skin? How is your, how are you tending to your skin during the winter? So you can set your marketing. by the season. Another way that you can set your marketing is holidays.

There’s so many holidays and for each holiday you can work your marketing around that holiday. Also every month of the year, and sometimes for every week of the month, there’s different awareness. So there’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Different awareness things that resonate with you, your message. You can look them all up and then you can gear your marketing towards that and offer specials geared towards that.

You can also do your marketing so if you choose a month, or you’re in a month, you’re coming up on a month, let’s say January, you would come up with different discount codes that would relate to January. And then when you’re offering discounts on your services or your products, I strongly recommend if you’re going to be offering cosmetic acupuncture, that you do offer products.

So For example, for January, you could do New Year, or New You, or Beginnings, or New Beginnings, and then that discount code would be worth a certain amount of money. And within the month of January, you can also offer different challenges. This can be on your social media, where you offer a challenge for your patients to to have different activities related to their skin, whether it’s derma rolling or cupping and gua sha at home, or a product maybe that you’re launching.

You could offer a flash sale during the month that only happen during certain times, like if it’s snowing or if the temperature goes below a certain temperature. So this is another way that you can. Set your marketing and come up with different marketing ideas. You can also do it by days of the week.

Motivational Monday, Therapeutic Thursday, Feedback Friday. For example, on Therapeutic Thursday, you would have a discount or a promotion or something related to a specific topic. service that you offer. Maybe it’s red light therapy and Feedback Friday. You can invite people to provide feedback on, the experiences that they’ve had and people love to write and comment.

This also boosts your rankings on social media because the more traffic there is in your website or on your social media, the higher you’re going to rank. And it will also give you an opportunity to gather up testimonials. Something else that is wonderful for your to promote, help to promote your business, to drive people to your website and learn more about you and your practice is to develop a QR code.

And this is actually, Very easy. If your phone is near you right now, you can pick up your phone and scan that QR code and see where it brings you. But a QR code can easily be generated for free if you have Canva. You within Canva there is a QR code generator and Adobe also has a QR code generator.

And then there are a lot of programs and apps that will generate QR codes and you can even, at the bottom, You can even have a, like a little title, the name of your business, so people know when they’re scanning what they’re scanning.

As far as your social media I strongly recommend that you have a presence everywhere. I know a lot of my students say they left Facebook during the pandemic or they just got tired of being on Facebook. However, a lot of your customers, your patients are going to be 45 to 65 and they are on Facebook.

So if you don’t have a presence on Facebook for your business, you really should. And when you design your social media, you don’t want it to always be. the same thing. So it’s good to rotate between something a little more personal because people will like and follow people that they like. So if you make them laugh if they resonate with your message, then they are going, if you’re genuine and authentic people.

are really looking to connect with people that they can relate to on their social media. And so you can have something personal, not too personal. I strongly discourage my students, anyone from complaining on social media. Way back when Facebook was first created if you remember, there was only a like.

So it was really about making people happy. And if you’re complaining, no one, people have enough problems. They don’t want your problems. Keep it personal, not too personal. Educational, teach people something in a short bite within 15 seconds. 30 seconds max. Entertaining is great if you can make people laugh or if you have a skill or a talent and you want to show it to them.

Again, this goes into the personal. Something sales related. It’s okay to promote something that you’re doing. And This is a great place for your before and afters, your testimonials. Always have the closed captions because most people don’t have their sound on their phone when they’re scrolling on their social media.

And then everything that you post on social media has got to link back to your website. Because otherwise people will look at it. They don’t know how to find you. And I actually don’t have my social media on here, but you can find me at facialacupunctureclasses. com. So let’s talk about Instagram and this lecture is part of a much bigger lecture that I do in my masterclass on on marketing and I have my students do exercises and we really go into depth.

We do a deep dive on all of these, but like we’re just going to get some really good ideas now. So for Instagram, you, there is no way for someone to click on a link directly through your Instagram posts. So with Instagram, you have to open up. Linktree account. And in your Linktree account is where you can put links to your websites, your products, anywhere you want to direct your patients.

And that goes up in your bio. And then with your, in your post, you say, go to the link in my bio, and they can click on that. And that will take them to where you want them to go. Stories tend to be seen a lot more than posts, which are just stagnant pictures or reels, because someone has to actually go on to your profile to see that reel, whereas stories get shown.

So I always encourage to, if you’re making a reel, you can also redo it as a story. So having them in both places and having the stories more often. We don’t have time to get into how to make a reel, but reels are a great way to do something that’s a little longer than a story and to really present your message.

Facebook. I like Facebook because in Facebook you can have a conversation. So you can have videos, you can make reels reels. And you can also have direct links to your website, but you can really have conversations with people for better or for worse in Facebook. And it’s a lot more participatory.

There’s a lot of different ways to do you can have a poll where you ask people questions and you can have your personal Facebook and your business Facebook. And for my facial acupuncture classes, I have a group. With over I think we’re at 8, 000 acupuncturists in my Facebook group and it’s called Facial Acupuncture.

And people can ask questions and the nice thing about groups is whenever someone posts something in a group, everyone in the group is going to see it. Whereas posts, you have, they have to be light in order for people to see them. Whenever you’re doing Facebook posts, always have links to your website in there.

TikTok is a little different. You might not think about TikTok for your social media, but a lot of people are using it now. And you just make short, little, videos, you can show something that you’re doing or even something that you have on special. But again, if you make one video, then you can take that same video and show it on your YouTube channel, on your Facebook, on your LinkedIn.

You could just show it across all of your platforms. And the nice thing about TikTok is. It has a huge repertoire of music and the editing is really good within TikTok. And you can also do these things called duets. So you can find like an expert in our field and if they’re doing something like, let’s say I was.

presenting a technique and I allowed for duets in my TikTok video, you could put that up and you don’t even have to make the video. You could just be sitting there pointing to it or commenting on it and you have instant content.

Testimonials you have to check with your the state or area where you’re practicing, not All places allow testimonials. I know they don’t allow them in Canada. But if you’re practicing in a place where you allow them, they are great to have on your website. They’re great to have in your social media and in your waiting room.

If you have a book of articles and information for people to look at. And sometimes people just want to take a break from their phone when they’re sitting and they’re waiting to see you. And if you have a book with letters from patients and testimonials, some before and after pictures, this is wonderful.

But just make certain you have permission and you want to keep the testimonial very specific. What exactly was it that did that person like about the treatment? Did their eyebrows become more raised or their crow’s feet became reduced? If you can get your patients to speak to that, and especially if you have a picture, then that is wonderful.

When you’re taking before and after pictures I always take before pictures. I don’t always remember to take the afters, but it’s great if you can get them. But the important thing, because there’s so much photoshopping going on now, they’re not as credible as they were 20 years ago, but When you’re taking your before and afters, you have to make sure that they’re in a HIPAA compliant app and that the lighting is the same for the before and the after.

So if you’re Treatment spaces, windows, close the curtains. And you have to make sure you’re at the same distance and angle. I always have my patient sit on my treatment table, and if they’re taller, I will raise the camera up so that It’s always at that same angle. And the last thing I’m going to talk about today are programs.

And again, this is a state by state thing. Not every place allows you to sell a program or a package is probably the more common term. But what You can do in many places, you can set up like this is my standard program. With the standard program for this much money you get 12 treatments and Dermaroller for self care.

And then for the silver treatment you get everything in the standard treatment Plus, you get products to use with the roller. And then, you can go a step further, and then the gold treatment. This is everything in the silver, plus red light, etc., etc. And then, You would say to your patient which program interests you, and you can even have a little arrow.

This is our most popular program. And people like to be given choices, not too many choices. And they’re going to choose whichever is in their budget and whichever kind of resonates with them. That is the end of Part 1. And next time in part two of Marketing Your Facial Acupuncture Practice, we are going to talk about direct mailing either through email or through actual mail, and blog posts, community engagement, workshops, and collaborations.

So I look forward to seeing you in part two and thank you for coming today.