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Remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
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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.
Greetings, my friends, members of the network, and all of you. It’s Sam Collins, your coding and billing expert for acupuncture, really, and for you in the profession. I always want to make sure you’re successful, because quite frankly, you’re not. We have a vested interest as a company. The American Acupuncture Council not only does malpractice and all that, but we do continuing education and do services to support you because we’ve learned.
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If you’re not well supported and it’s successful, you don’t need what we’re selling. So we want to make sure that we’re symbiotic. I want to begin starting for next year, getting to be proactive. So let’s go to these slides. Let’s talk about what do we need to do for 2025. And I’m saying it’s going to be proactive 2025.
And the reason I’m indicating that it’s got to be proactive is because too often acupuncturists are simply reactive. Something happened. What we’re going to do as a network director, if you will, I get a lot of information well before often you may see it. So one of the things I would encourage you to do is always be around AAC network to know what’s happening, what’s changing.
So let’s talk about what’s going to change for next year, but how do we really become proactive to keep our practices successful and the things you want to do with that in mind, what I want you to think, start to think of is for 2025, what is going to be my practice success? How am I defining it? What does that mean?
Is it a certain number of patients I want to help? Is it a certain monetary figure I want to hit? Is it going to be getting to just simply more people? There’s lots of ways to define it. I don’t want it to always be about money, but part of me says that. I’ve learned that you really have to make sure that this is a business.
And you do have to have a business mindset. Certainly you want to care for your patients. That’s primary, but there’s got to be payment for it. My goodness, everyone can treat someone. But what if you’re not getting paid for it? How do you continue doing that? So I want you to think of how do you define your success?
What does that really mean? And when you get there, tell me what you start to realize are some of the barriers if you look at how did I define success last year? Was it going to be for this coming year? What things stopped me from getting there? What are the barriers? What can I do a little bit better?
Because if you are not growing even a little bit, your practice is failing. Because if you grow a little bit, you’re just keeping your head above water. You have to grow just to keep your head above water. Remember economy, 3%, 4%. If we’re saying inflation may be higher, so you’ve got to probably do at least 5 percent better just to be at where you were this past year.
In fact, I’ll say maybe you’re sinking a little bit. So what are these barriers? How are people coming to the office? Is the barrier one that people just are getting to you? Is the barrier because people can’t afford it? There’s all types of things, but you want us to think of how do I. One of the barriers I think often is people are not sure what you do.
So have you created something that people know if they looked at your office, what you actually treat? Too often acupuncturists will go, I do acupuncture. What does that mean to most people? Nothing. Define to them what it means for you. I can help you with headaches or sciatica or anxiety or depression or whatever it is.
Because that barrier is often they’re just not knowing. Of course, a big barrier is always going to be money. www. circlelineartschool. com So we got to start to think of how do I make sure that I create value to what I do. Notice I didn’t say cheaper. Cheaper is not always necessarily the way people choose a doctor.
I’ve never chosen a doctor because it was cheap. I’ve chosen it because I felt there was enough value. If it’s too expensive, of course, no, but be careful. Always follow something I’ve always held true. People buy. what they want and beg for what they need. You’ve got to put yourself in a portion where, yes, they need it, but they want the care.
You’ve got to make sure that you’re creating that type of value. So what is your model? Have we set up a model that where if people are looking online, they can find me? If they’re needing to, what’s my cost? Is there a way of figuring that out? Oh, that’s affordable. That seems reasonable. Are there, pay plans and things I can do?
So start to really lay down that pattern for yourself to say, how do I want to start to make this work for next year? It shouldn’t be by hook or crook. Write some things down because at the end of the day, it really makes a practice successful no matter how you think of it. Even if it isn’t money, it’s about patience.
Helping people. But when they come in, how do they come in? Are they cash patients? There’s three types. Someone pays straight cash. How about a person that gets a discount if they pay cash? Or how about you offer so called prepaid plans? That kind of modern acupuncture style where it’s Multiple visits bought at a cheaper rate.
Realize that’s one of the ways that you can help it more affordable Is by doing that. If you’ve ever attended a continuing education seminar with me, we’ve talked about that. But how about members that are with me one on one? We have a network where, as you’re a member, we can get into it. How does it work for your office?
What’s specific to your state? By example, what if you’re in Montana? We have to have a escrow account. Other states, you may not. Is there any limits? But I think it’s something that we should all explore because always I think a barrier is money. Are there some ways we can help that? I think so. One of the ways and barriers is when people have insurance, let’s face it, do people go to the doctor more often?
Here’s a good thing for all of you to do. You may sit back and say, I don’t want to take any insurance. I agree. I don’t want to take any bad insurance, but I’m not going to turn away insurance that pays me. And I think that’s where you’ve got to start to think differently. Realize and ask your friends.
How many of your friends, how about yourself, have gone to the doctor and pay cash? And then, your answer is no. But then you expect everyone else to do it. Now, I’m not saying there isn’t a part of that, but I want you to realize, when you ask most people if they’ve been to the doctor and used insurance, it’s going to be 99 percent of them saying yes.
So you want to start to think of what some of these are better. Obviously people who have the good, standard, high level insurance with small deductibles, those are great. For But those aren’t common. What about PPOs? That’s the very common one, but here’s one thing to keep in mind. A PPO, do you have to join?
By example, and I’ll give you three. UnitedHealthcare through Optum Health, Cigna through a SH, and Aetna, often used through a SH or sometimes secure, don’t require an acupuncturist to be in network to be paid. You may not be aware, but when you’re out of network on these plans, even though it’s a PPO, oh wait, preferred provider, that means they can still go where they want.
Do you know they get paid more? So before you join something, check to see whether or not it’s exclusive. Non exclusive plans, I won’t join unless somehow it’s much more attractive because can you live off of a 40 visit? Maybe you can’t. What about an HMO? That’s the ones that are strict. They only can go there.
That’s that strong ASH, but is it worth it? My general rule is an insurance has got to pay at least what would be my cash rate. And if it doesn’t, I don’t think it’s worth the work. So if you belong to these, know that, okay, I can make it work because I can be efficient. It’s difficult for acupuncturists though, because unlike a physical therapist or a chiro that can use an assistant, you can’t.
Everything that’s billed you have to do. So all of a sudden now that makes that barrier tougher. So maybe that is one you shy away from. But what about health savings accounts? How many of your patients are even aware they can use their health savings accounts in an acupuncture office? Many aren’t.
And they’re going to go, oh, I didn’t know, because you didn’t tell them. Same would apply with, have you ever thought of, could I treat people in an auto accident? Outside of Florida, you can. These are great patients, they’re hurt, need your help. It pays really well, it pays the real fee schedule. By the way, have you ever thought of working with other providers, like an M.
D.? That you become their pain management person. Do you know they’re looking for you, because what do M. D. ‘s do? They refer. What about auto cases? What about workers comp? In many cases, you can be the primary provider. Have you ever checked into people being aware that they can see you? My goodness, in California, an acupuncturist is considered a physician in the work comp world.
But how about the VA? Have you ever thought could I be part of that? Is it worth it? I think so. It doesn’t cost anything to join and you get well over a hundred dollars a visit. That sounds like a really good patient with no co pays, but have you ever ventured? And even if you belong to the VA, how do people even know you treat the VA?
You see where I’m going with that? Often people go I treat VA patients. How do I know? I drive by your offices that says acupuncture. Are you doing anything on your social media? Any way of marketing? So when someone looks up, I’m hurting and I need to, care for pain and I’m in the VA, does your name pop up?
Is there anything on your site that would direct them there? Remember how Google works. It takes information and scrubs from different sites. And if your site has that information, your name is going to come up. By the way, if you were to Google acupuncture, coding and billing seminars and programs, I’m first.
My company is first. You know why? We don’t pay for it. But we have so much data out there because we want you to be successful. So make sure people are aware. Now, what if you treat Medicaid? I’m not a big fan because it doesn’t pay well in many States pays horrible, but some areas can pay better. So it’s something that’s worth looking into.
There’s some areas in New York, quite good. What about Medicare? And you’re going, oh regular Medicare Part B, still the same thing, chronic low back pain only with MD supervision, so not great. But what about Medicare Advantage policies or plans? Now, I’ve heard some people going, I heard all the plans aren’t going to have that new or the routine acupuncture.
Not true. It’s no longer automatic. You want to start to check. I will tell you what the plans are doing. I can tell you UnitedHealthcare is still going to have routine acupuncture. The only difference. is it’s going to limit it to 30 visits per year. So it will still be available, but you do always want to check.
Does a person have that benefit? So at the end of the day, it’s about patients getting in your office. And what is it? That’s the bottom line. Have you ever thought of if I join ASH, I’m getting 40 a visit. Does it make sense to me? In many instances, it may not because I want you to start to think of what does it cost to treat a patient in your office?
Have you ever actually thought of that? What does it actually cost me? I want you to do this by taking your overhead, all your related costs. By the way, I would include your student loan payments as part of that. I really would. And then you divide that by the average patient visits you get per month.
So let’s say you add up everything your rent, your, cost for gowns, needles, and so on. And that total is 4, 000. And you see about 25 patient visits a week or 100 visits per month. That means you’re getting 40 per visit. So if that were the case, let’s think of that for a second. If I’m treating an ASH patient and it’s one of this 100, you’re making 2 for that visit.
I don’t think that’s worth it. I don’t think you could survive on that. Now, if all of a sudden you go Sam, because I’m seeing ASH patients. I can see 200 patients a month. That drops to 20. Okay. But here’s the difficulty. How do I increase it 200 or double it? Keep it in mind that most acupuncturists are treating most people for 30 minutes, sometimes more.
There’s a limit to how much you can do. So you got to be careful of devaluing your service and falling into the trap of some of these plans by looking at really what you’re getting. Now, if you told me, Hey, Sam, I joined because I get 10 extra patients per month. Which means, Hey, I’m getting, 10 visits.
Maybe that’s going to be about four or 500 extra or more. Okay. I like that. It can’t be the bulk though. It’s got to be a value add, like taking up a spot that wasn’t already filled, but I’m not going to trade a high paying patient for a lower paying patient. So you really got to start to look at doing a fee schedule review.
This is 2025 proactive. When was the last time you made an increase in your rates or for that matter, have you ever looked at. Having your rates make sense. Understanding what is the actual value. What is the cost in my area? What resources do you have to figure out what is in my zip code? This is what I do for my network members.
Members of the American Acupuncture Council network service directly with me. It’s one of the things we do. We do a fee schedule review and we talk about, let’s talk about what’s going on in your zip code. I don’t care what your friends charge. Because they probably don’t know what they’re doing either.
I want to look at real charges. I want to start to look at what we call relative values to understand true fees. Because I find often acupuncturists devalue probably three quarters of the services they bill just getting less money. Because I want you to think of when was the last time an insurance company raised rates they allowed?
ASH has it in years, but what about other plans? I don’t think it’s so much worrying about how much have they raised. Some don’t, and it may stay stagnant for a while. But how many of you are aware that you’re billing below what they allow? I’ve seen this happen. An office bills something for 30.
The plan allows 50. Now, if you call them and say, do you allow 50? They won’t tell you, but there’s ways of figuring that out. But anyway, if you bill 30 and they allow 50, what are they going to pay you? 30. So I’d like you to start to take a look at understanding relative values. Have you ever reviewed your rates based on that?
This is federal government. This is not made up. This is what a service costs based on something else. So what you can do is start to tell me what some one thing cost and i’ll tell you what other things would cost based on the relative price of that one. So by example, this is how you would use relative values.
Let’s say by example, you said, Hey, Sam, I charged 60 for a 9 you know, for a set of acupuncture manual. Great. I’d say that’s fair. Is that very high? No, that’s probably about 170 percent of Medicare, give or take. So needless to say, if I charge 60 for that, what’s going to be my fee for my second set, third set?
Or what about other therapies? And this is where I find a lot of discrepancy. Okay. I’ve seen people charge the same amount for first and second set. Makes no sense. The additional set should be 50%, 15%, or excuse me, 30 percent lower than the primary set. So let’s give this example. If I bill 60 and insurance pays me 60 for the first and the second, you know what this tells me?
I’ve way undervalued the primary. Because if you bill below, they pay it to you. But if you bill above, they’ll reduce. So by example, let’s use this. If I take 60 as my fee. And again, this is if you’re saying, Hey, Sam, I know 60 is fair. It’s what I charge. Good. Let’s base everything on that. The value of a 97810 is 1.
15 relative value. So I take 60 divide by its relative value and it gives me 52. 17. Now this multiplier is what insurances do. And they take that number. And then they multiply it by the RVU of every other code. So by example, to give you a way to look at this, Medicare allows about 33 to 37, depending on your region for this.
So what we’re going to do is take 5217 multiplied by the RVU of the additional set of 0. 85 gives me 44. So notice 60. And then I would round this up, by the way, make it 45. But you’ll notice, oh yeah, Sam, that is about 30 percent different. In fact, it’s exactly 30 percent different. But here’s where I find it’s often the biggest misnomer.
Notice the exam price. Relative value is 1. 15 for 97810. Notice the relative value for 97, or excuse me, 99203, new patient mid level exam, 3. 35. Will we all agree that’s approximately three times the rate? Not quite, but close. So if it’s three times the rate, notice it’s 60 here, 174 here. Notice three times the rate.
I can’t tell you, at an office last week, that was charging 75 for this. That literally meant, yeah, you’re losing 100 when it comes to this. What about things like massage? Massage actually has a higher value than does an additional set. Not by much, but notice the value is 0. 91. So that means massage is 47 compared to the additional set of 44.
Please make your fee schedule make sense. If you’re a network member with me, it’s time to get ahold of me. Let’s do our one on one Zoom. It’s part of your service. Let’s take care of that because you weigh under value. If you’re not a member, it may be time to join and start to go, wow, I’ve really messed this up.
And I find that to be often true. Start to really look at a fee. Now, I’m not going to be against you saying, Sam, I chose this fee for a specific, if you’ve got a reason, of course, but is the reason when that’s bad business. Remember, there’s a time for you to put your business on Shark Tank. Is this really viable?
Here’s an unfortunate statistic for a lot of acupuncturists. Generally, close to 50 percent of acupuncturists within five years of graduation no longer practice. Now, I don’t think it’s for lack of understanding the business of acupuncture as far as how to treat someone, but not how to make a business out of it and create value.
Some people do that really well. My goal for any acupuncturist, by your third or fourth year of practice, you better be making 250, 000. You’re going to go, Oh, that’s not that complicated. If you start to understand where patient values are. So I want you to do these things for 2025. Please take a look at any plan changes of anything that you normally have billed out.
Start looking now. Don’t wait. Start to look now. A lot of things can be done online. What’s changing? As I mentioned, a lot of people said, I heard there’s change to the Part C plans. Please read more. Please make sure, make your patients aware that if the existing plan they have doesn’t have it, there’s probably choices for them to have a new one help them do that.
Realize that time is coming up. December, I believe, 7th is the last day for them to change, so make sure your patients are made aware. What about deductibles for next year? I know Medicare is going up to 254, and you’ll say big deal. But that means other plans may do that, but keep in mind, what about deductibles?
Sometimes deductibles, if the patient has used their insurance in the last three months, That may fall into the next year. What about Assignment of Benefits? Many of you have contacted me saying, Hey Sam, I had an Assignment of Benefits thing came from OptumHealth and TriWest regarding my VA patients.
What is an Assignment of Benefits? I don’t understand. Or they’ll use the term AOB. The Assignment of Benefits is something that you need to have current on file. It’s what directs the insurance company to pay us. It’s block 13 of the 1500 where it says please pay the undersigned provider of services. By doing that, you get the check.
If the patient’s already paid you in full, leave it blank. Why I’m bringing this up is that VA wants a new one every year. So get in the habit, new year starts, patients sign a new form. That way there’s no confusion. They understand, yes, payment’s coming to you. They should, of course, because they’re not paying directly.
But that applies, I think, to other consent forms. I know you may have had the patient sign a consent to treat, but what if it’s two years ago, a year ago, and it’s a new plan of care? Have them sign a new one. Don’t leave any risk there by not having a patient saying I didn’t sign a current one. Have it re signed for the new year.
Same would apply with financial agreements. When the new year comes, make sure people know, here’s what the cost is, here’s how we plan to do it, and here’s what we do. If you want to, we also offer a prepay plan. Or we offer some other type of discount for time of service. It’s not very large, but something that can be there.
Make sure patients are aware because that’s the barrier. What does it cost? How about credit card fees? Have you reviewed that? Look at your credit card fees. They’re often higher than people realize. Now, what can we do about that? It’s part of doing business. However, businesses are allowed. to disclose there’s going to be an additional fee for use of a credit card.
You just have to do it before you do it and tell the patient, if you choose to pay with a credit card, there’s an additional 3, 4, 5, whatever the fee you charge. That fee can’t be based upon the amount of purchase, by the way, but it simply comes down to a credit card transaction fee. I think that makes sense.
And of course, the other thing, please review your fee schedules. I’m going to suggest you may want to do it with an expert like me, but at least do it with some level of semblance of information. Realize in many states, what they’ll do is they look at the Medicare fee schedule, which by the way, will update in early 2025.
By the way, network members get in touch with me. I’ll keep you updated there. And start to look at a percentage of that. Realize that many major health insurances, such as Anthem, use 1. 75 of Medicare. And I will guarantee most of you, you might have one or two services, 1. 75 of Medicare, the rest are probably not.
So keep in mind, often I find for offices, they’re losing 10, 20, maybe 40 a visit by not understanding the value. Now you might say Sam, I belong to this plan and they cut the fee. I get that. But that’s something you signed up for. And that’s what I want you to start to think of in that review. Is it worth it?
Realize the American Acupuncture Council is here to help. This is our website, our phone number. We’re the resource to help you get paid and understand the coding and billing. We do lots of courses for continuing education and network members get those for free. So I’m going to suggest let’s make a good 2025 by having a proactive plan.
I hope to see you all soon. Take care of my friends.
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Today I am going to be doing part two of a two part lecture. on how to choose safe and effective cosmetic tools for your treatment space. So last time I did an overview of some tools and I went through some safety.
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, my name’s Michelle Gellis. I am an acupuncture physician and I teach facial and cosmetic acupuncture classes internationally. Before I get started with today’s lecture, I wanted to talk really quickly about book that I’ve just written and the name of the book is Treating the Face and it is a 500 page hardcover book with over 350 color illustrations all about treating the face Everything from neurological conditions to some five element and also cosmetic.
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So, if you can go to the first slide.
Today I am going to be doing part two of a two part lecture. on how to choose safe and effective cosmetic tools for your treatment space. So last time I did an overview of some tools and I went through some safety. And today I am going to talk about some Practical considerations, things like ease of use and functionality, how to match tools to different skin types, and then how to set treatment goals, and also how to integrate different technologies using these different tools into your treatment space in order to get the best results.
So the first thing I’m going to talk about are microneedle pens. And I have a microneedle pen here. And the microneedle pens when you’re thinking about ease of use microneedle pens are great. They typically you want to look for ones that have both a, like a Battery that you can use or a plug that you can use.
And also you want to be able to adjust the depth of the needles. So you might wanna go to me for this. So these needle cartridges click on and then there is a little adjustment ring here where you can adjust. The depth, these numbers signify the depth of the needles on the, how deep the needles will go.
And then on this particular model, this is an AccuLift micro pen. On this one, the This end shows you how fast. It says number four. Sorry, trying to catch the light here. You just adjust, you push the, whoops, this way, you push the button on the top, and then it lets you know how fast The needles are going up and down.
You can go back to the slides. So you want a pen that has an easy to use dial for your depth adjustment. And that way, when you’re working in different areas of the face, neck, chest, hands, back any parts of the body. You can adjust the needle depth and then having it either recorded or cordless gives you some versatility and lightweight pens.
If you’re doing a lot of microneedling, you don’t want something that’s too heavy in your hand and a really simple cartridge adjustment. So the needle cartridge, you should be able to click it in, snap it on and make sure that it’s something that will stay securely attached. And replacement parts should be easy to get as well.
Just like with any. electronic device batteries can wear out on these over time, over years, and being able to get replacement batteries, cords, things of that nature is very helpful. So derma rollers, you can go to me again. This is a derma roller and they have this head. You want to get one with a smaller head that’ll fit in smaller areas.
And I like the ones that have needles that are shaped like little pyramids. They tend to not bend as easily. And these are actually integrated right into the head of the Dermaroller. And the handle has a design that makes it easy and comfortable to grip, to get a good grip on it and to hold in your hand.
And these have 540 microneedles on them, and they come in different lengths. These are also made by AccuLift. You want to make sure that any microneedle device that you have comes in a nice case to keep it clean, and that it’s protected. Pre sterilized. You can go back to the slide. The nice thing about derma rollers is they perform a lot of the same functions as a microneedle pen, but they don’t require any batteries.
You just take it out of its case and you don’t require any numbing cream. You just roll it on the face and you can rinse it after you use it. They are for single person use. But you can use them over and over again, and then you can sanitize them once a week just to make sure there’s no bacteria or anything on them.
Go to the next slide. Let’s see. I can do that. Hydra needles and Hydra rollers are very similar. Can you go back to me again? And these are great because, so this is a hydra needle, you can see, let me see if I can get those needles up here, tiny little needles right in the tip. and it has a plunger and when the plunger is depressed, serum comes out of this glass vial.
So you press it on the skin and it’s infused into the skin, whereas the HydroRoller, which is very similar, has these gold needles on it also, but this one you roll onto the skin. So these are great. They’re very versatile. You can build them. They cap, keep the contents from evaporating and you can travel with them, which is really nice.
Okay, go back to the slide. Just make certain whichever products you choose have steps and instructions. And again they don’t require a lot of pressure. The needles are very short. And they travel well.
Facial cupping sets are also wonderful. Oh, I’m using mine to hold my computer up. Hold on one second. Let me let me grab the cups. This is funny. I’m just gonna grab these out. And so this particular set comes with two cups. of two different sizes and two, so two cups and a large one and a smaller one and then two jade gua sha tools and the facial cups are really I like the ones that are glass and They’re easy to use.
They’re easy to clean because they’re glass. They glide well. And so these are things you want to look for. Also, they should be easy to squeeze. You don’t want to get facial cups that are too stiff or too hard to squeeze. And these smaller glass cups fit well on the face. With the Gua Sha tools jade is certainly preferable to a lot of times they’ll be plastic or synthetic or I’ve even seen metal ones.
Really not designed to be used on the face. They can cause injury. You don’t want to cause any redness. or Payne when you’re working on the face. You don’t want to leave any cupping marks when you’re working with the cups and that’s where the glass is really unique because it will collide and it will work well.
You can go back to the slide. Instructions are important. The the set that I used has instructions in the box and on the box and it really makes it wonderful because you can refer to it yourself and you can also sell them to your patients and they can do some self care at home, which is nice.
So the shape you can see here in the slide, the shape of these Gua Sha tools is very versatile, has notches for around the jawline. These flat sides work underneath the jaw, around the temporalis, across the forehead. And then these rounded edges are really nice for stimulating acupuncture points, for massaging the temples, and for working in between the eyebrows.
And Fosha is wonderful for releasing any fascial adhesions, stimulating blood flow, really getting that Qi moving into the face, and it’s very calming and relaxing at the end of a treatment.
Red light devices tend to come in two general categories. There are the tabletop ones which are nice. You can easily just move them from room to room and they typically have an easy setup. They’re lightweight, easy to store, Get them out of the way. They do have some limitations though over the floor models.
Of course, the floor models, you can easily move them all around a patient and depending on the size of your treatment room would determine whether or not it makes sense for you to have one of these. They Usually are the same power. They come in different powers. Some of them will go as far as a pain setting.
Some of them are really just for cosmetic. But when you’re looking, you want to get one that has really simple controls, a built in timer, that has an automatic shutoff. So if you can’t get back in the room to shut the lamp off, it’ll shut itself off and it should come with some sort of eye protection. So microneedle pens are best for really aging skin deeper scars, discoloration, also for fine lines.
They’re good for normal skin combination oily skin. You certainly don’t want to use it over any inflamed or pustule acne, a very sensitive skin, and it’s great for stimulating collagen in the long term. Dermarollers are better for not quite as severe signs of aging, home maintenance, and again, if someone has very sensitive skin, they’re probably not the best choice.
You don’t want to use them over active acne as well. And that’s it. So more advanced signs of aging, the micro and scarring microneedle pens, derma rollers for less. The hydro rollers are like the hydro roller and hydro needle. are just like a dermaroller, but they will infuse serum right into the skin, and again, you don’t want to use those with very sensitive skin.
So the HydroRoller, you can work quickly over a larger area, whereas with the HydroNeedle, it’s better for spot treatments. fine lines, dark spots just little areas. You certainly can use it all over. And it’s, you can actually take a hydroneedle and put, if you have a hair loss product that you’re using, you can put it right into the hydroneedle and use it for that.
Facial cups are great for puffiness, tension contouring the face. Pretty good with any skin type, but you want to stay away from any broken capitals. capillaries, or any active raised, inflamed, or pustule skin conditions, really good for enhancing the circulation, lymphatic drainage, and giving that healthy glow.
The facial gua sha tools will help with any tension in the face. Relaxes your patient, improves the skin texture, and it’s pretty much good for any skin type, except for any active wounds or infections. The red light device is wonderful for almost every type of skin, anti aging, redness, acne, and the only, there are some contraindications if someone is on a medication that’s sensitive to the light.
And you can use it with some of the other tools, but I don’t usually recommend using red light before or after microneedling just because I like the skin, unless you’re using just the white light, the blue light to clear the bacteria.
So for microneedle pens, you want to optimize your results. You want to clean the skin, disinfect the skin, adjust, adjust the depth of the needles, use good high quality serums, keep the speed and the movement consistent, and then the cartridges. have got to be discarded in your sharps container every time.
For the microneedle derma rollers, you want to choose the right length for your patient’s particular skin. You can either, this should say or before or after, but you can either use the serum before or after. I guess you could do both, but If you put serum on first and then you roll, you’re really going to have to be diligent about cleaning that roller and make sure that when you’re rolling, you work in multiple directions, gentle, consistent pressure, and you’re going to be replacing those rollers about every three as much as six months, depending on how often you use them.
And with the HydroRollers and the HydroNeedles, you’re going to want to use good quality serum and pretty much the same as a DermaRollers. You’re going to work in sections. You don’t want to press too hard. And if you’re doing a deeper treatment, you don’t want to treat more than every two to four weeks weeks.
The same thing with the hydroneedles, and you do want to keep them clean. You clean the head of the device after you use it. With the cups, make sure you’re using a high quality oil and Be careful not to use too much suction. You’re going to follow the lymphatic system and you can do cupping as much as three times a week and you want to choose the right cup size for the person’s face.
With the gua sha tools, again, make sure there’s Good high quality oil and use proper techniques. You’re going to be doing more of an upward and outward movement and you can work on different acupuncture points. I always tell my students you can go for the Gua but not the Sha. And red light devices, you’re going to choose the right wavelength depending on your patient, make sure their skin doesn’t have any product on it, and you can use it as three to five times a week, um, for the best effectiveness.
Bringing these, this all together you really want to tailor combinations of treatments. Depending on your patient you can layer your treatments. So you could do some dermarolling and then some red light. What I do is I sit down with my patient and I am going to adjust my treatment plan depending on their needs.
I might do acupuncture and put the red light over it. I always do. cupping and gua sha after a facial acupuncture treatment. And I educate my patient about what it is I’m going to be doing and A lot of these tools, not the microneedle pen, a lot of these other tools you can sell to your patients for at home care in between treatments and make sure that you take before pictures and really track their care.
progress, speak to them about their goals ahead of time, and then check in with them and see how they’re doing. Again, my name is Michelle Gellis. If you would like to reach me, you can go to my website. FacialAcupunctureClasses. com. You can learn about my classes and any of the products that I spoke about today.
And you can also find me on social media under my name. And I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for this opportunity today.
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Is Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance a professional requirement?
Acupuncture is a widely used alternative treatment, but like all healthcare professions, it carries the risk of malpractice complaints.
A critical item to add to your to-do list is Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance.
One of the many benefits of Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance is Professional Requirement.
In many states, acupuncture practitioners need malpractice insurance to maintain their licenses and certifications or to open an acupuncture business.
Having this coverage can also help you expand your professional network and demonstrate that you operate with the highest level of professionalism and care.
American Acupuncture Council will help to ensure you are fully protected with the right insurance to continue helping patients with care and confidence.
Remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
There is a reason acupuncturists have trusted AAC with their business for 50 years.
Not an American Acupuncture Council member? Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you will save! Click here!
Why is patient compensation an important benefit of Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance?
American Acupuncture Council recognizes acupuncture as a widely used alternative treatment, but like all healthcare professions, it carries the risk of malpractice complaints.
One of the several benefits of Acupuncture Malpractice Insurance is Patient Compensation.
Should a patient experience accidental injury, infection, or other adverse effects following treatment, acupuncture malpractice insurance can cover the financial obligations so you do not need to touch your personal or business funds to cover these expenses.
Remember, the American Acupuncture Council (AAC) offers an unparalleled track record in acupuncture risk management.
There is a reason acupuncturists have trusted AAC with their business for 50 years.
Not an American Acupuncture Council member? Get a Quick Quote and find out how much you will save! Click here!
For today’s lecture, I am going to talk a little bit about each one of the tools, their benefits, some considerations that you might have when you’re looking into these tools, and then also safety concerns.
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, my name’s Michelle Gellis. I am an acupuncture physician, and I am going to be doing this short presentation for the American Acupuncture Council on choosing safe and effective cosmetic tools. For your treatment space and this will be part one of a two part lecture. So go to the first slide, please.
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So a little bit about me I have been teaching cosmetic acupuncture for a little over 20 years. I’m on faculty. at Yosan University, and I have recently published a book which let’s see, you can, let’s see, this way you can see what the book looks like. It’s a hardcover book and it is called Treating the Face.
Oh, thank you. It is over 500 pages of color, Images and information about treating the face, 5L Lumen acupuncture, cosmetic acupuncture, neuromuscular acupuncture, facial motor points, scalp acupuncture, submuscular needling, facial cupping, facial gua sha, microneedling, red light therapy, skincare, and more.
And self care and you can get the book from my website facialacupunctureclasses. com. I know a little bit about buying tools for treating the face because when I am treating patients, I have a few different tools that I use. And I have a where I actually have designed and sell tools. But I have spent a lot of time looking into different tools and devices and their efficacy and their safety.
And in order to save all of you a lot of time, I thought I would just put together some really good information on what you should look for when you’re deciding what sort of tools to bring into your treatment space. Some of the tools that I use in my treatment space that are very popular are microneedle pens, dermarollers, hydrorollers, hydroneedles, facial cups, Facial Gua Sha tools, and red light devices.
For today’s lecture, I am going to talk a little bit about each one of the tools, their benefits, some considerations that you might have when you’re looking into these tools, and then also safety concerns. So first is microneedle pens. These are relatively new devices. They’ve Been around for 20, maybe 30 years, but essentially they are it.
They call them pens because they look like a pen, and at the tip of the pen are tiny little needles that vibrate in and out, and they puncture the skin, and they cause microtrauma to the skin, and they cause microtrauma to the skin. When this microtrauma happens, it causes the skin to remodel to produce collagen, and it can be really effective for things like fine lines and wrinkles.
And the treatments are very fast. They, it doesn’t take very long, about 20 minutes to treat the entire face. You can also use these on the neck, the chest, the back of the hands, pretty much any part of the body. But you do need to be trained in how to use them. It’s not intuitive how to do microneedling.
And, They’re really just treating skin level concerns. Another concern with these is sterilization. So when we talk about safety, we’ll talk about that. Another device is derma rollers, and derma rollers are similar to microneedle pens in the way that they work. However, these are manual. Microneedle pens either run on battery or you plug them in, or some of them are both.
And these devices, you just hold them in your hand and you roll them on the skin. And they have tiny needles which penetrate the skin, which help to stimulate collagen. And, will also help to exfoliate and increase the absorption of any products that you might put on the skin. They’re not going to be as precise as a microneedle pen and they can’t always be sanitized as well.
With the microneedle pens you throw the tips out after you use them, the tip, but with the derma roller you tend to use it over and over again, not from patient to patient, but If you’re doing these as in office treatments, you can use the same device on a treatment on a patient multiple times. A HydroRoller is very similar to a DermaRoller.
As you can see here, there are tiny little needles. on this device and this glass container at the bottom gets filled with serum and you roll it on the skin and it infuses the serum right into the skin. So the benefit is you’re really combining two treatments into one. You’re getting the stimulation of collagen and you’re getting the absorption of the product but It’s really going to be limited as far as how much serum it can hold.
A hydroneedle is very similar to a hydroroller, but this is more of a stamping device, so it has these tiny little needles with a little plunger. And you feel, you fill the reservoir with serum and then you would stamp it into the skin. So it’s very precise delivery and, but you just want to use it in specific.
areas.
Facial cups are wonderful. They’re a great add on to cosmetic acupuncture treatments. They help to stimulate blood flow and qi to the face. They’re non invasive. They don’t hurt and but you do want to Make sure you get trained in using them. You don’t want to leave any bruises or cause any injury to your patient’s face.
Facial gua sha tools are made, I like the ones that are made out of jade. Jade is very much a part of our medicine but they can be made out of various different materials and they can also be made in different shapes and The benefit to using them is they can help with lymphatic drainage and they can break up fascial adhesions and they can really sculpt the face if someone has like puffiness under their eyes.
If their jawline is sagging, you can use a gua sha tool for this. Again, you want to make certain that You are properly trained.
Red light devices are Again, something that are a little bit more modern than let’s say our acupuncture needles, and they come in different forms. Here we have one that just sits on the table, and then this one is a freestanding device, and each one has its Benefits. These tend to be the ones that just go on the table tend to be less expensive.
The freestanding ones are more flexible. You can move them anywhere around and it’s just the important things to look for. We’ll talk about in a little bit, but they are pain free, they’re non invasive, and they can heal with a lot of skin level issues. And some of them even have settings for pain.
Safety first. Most importantly, when you’re looking at devices, you really want to take into account, are these devices safe as well as effective, because there are a lot of devices for sale in many places, online, on TV, at your local store. cosmetics shop or uh, wherever you shop, it seems that they have all different types of devices.
So you really want to make certain that what you’re getting is safe. So first I want to talk about microneedle pens and the things that are important. With a microneedle pen are the needles themselves, because those are the real powerhouse of the device. So the microneedle pen needle cartridge, which is disposable, The needle should be made out of stainless steel or titanium, and then so the stainless steel keeps them stainless steel keeps them strong, and the titanium keeps them strong, and very few people are allergic to it.
Check. to titanium. So it’s good if the needles are made out of that. And also the motor of the pen itself, you want to make certain those needles are going up and down at least 16, 000, preferably 18, 000 RPM, because you don’t want The device to be dragging on the skin. You want to make sure that these cartridges get firmly attached into the pen.
And also make certain your pen is CE certified for safety and reliability. And you can even check with the American Acupuncture Council. The American Acupuncture Council has approved the AcuLift Micro Needle Pen for use in the treatment room. Also, anti backflow technology means that not only do you have three connectors on the tip, But also on the inside of the pen, there’s three places where it connects and that the cartridge itself clicks on and stays in very tightly.
For Dermarollers, again, titanium, stainless steel, very important for durability and safety. And you want to make sure these needles are lined up. and that there are enough needles on the roller so that your patient doesn’t have a lot of pain. If there’s too few needles on the roller head, then they can have pain when they’re being The handle should be well constructed, should fit well, feel well in your hand, and you want to make sure that it rolls smoothly.
It shouldn’t be dragging on the skin. With the hydro rollers, there’s a lot of concerns as well, especially since you’re using these devices over and over again. So you want to make sure once you put the serum in, that it This reservoir is sealed well. Again, needles that are either stainless or titanium.
And with the HydroRollers, having them gold plated can add an additional layer of it being hypoallergenic, microbial, added durability wonderful for conducting serums and Making sure that your device has well made needles for precision and for comfort. And gold can help with the healing response. So these are all things to look for.
And then when you’re buying one of these devices, you want to make sure that it’s packaged properly, that it’s sealed and that it’s sterilized. Many of the same concerns that we have with hydro rollers, we’re going to have with hydro needles. So the material and that the. Top screws on tightly, sterile packaging, easy to clean so the top should be able to come off, you can throw it in with some sanitizing tablets, and again, the gold over titanium needles.
For facial cups, The cups that I like are the glass cups. You don’t want them to be plastic or silicone. They can drag on the face. You want to make certain that everything that’s involved here is non toxic. And cupping sets that have at least two different sized cups, because these are small smaller cups.
They’re only just for comparison, the larger cup, the opening is about the size of a dime, so they’re pretty small. With the Gua Sha tools I already mentioned, I love Jade. If you’re using Gua Sha tools that look like this, make sure they’re actually made out of jade and not green glass. They should have a smooth finish.
They should feel cool in your hand, be chip resistant. And if you can find out where they’re sourced, ethical sourcing is also a nice bonus. For the red light devices, when you’re looking at quality and safety, you want to make sure that they have a minimum of 630 nanometers. 850 is where you’re going to be getting into those pain settings consistent power.
And it should have some sort of heat management. If the device itself does get warm, which it shouldn’t, you should still be safe to touch it. And look for something that’s durable, that’s sturdy, that’s not a flimsy device. Okay, so we’ve talked a little bit about the different devices and safety.
And next time we are going to talk about some more practical considerations. ease of use, matching the tools to different skin types and different treatments, and also integrating different technologies. How do you integrate all of these different devices? So thank you so much, and I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for this opportunity.
Again, my book is available right now only through my website in the US. If somehow you’re catching this in another country, check with your local booksellers online. We have some distribution going on internationally. Thank you so much.
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