Can acupuncture and herbal medicine help me with _________? 

      Chinese Medicine treatment is holistic in nature, which means that acupuncture and herbal medicine are able to help people with a very wide range of conditions. All health conditions arise from imbalance and dysfunction of one or more body systems. By using holistic assessment and treatment methods, the symptoms and the root cause of many conditions can be improved or resolved. Visit our conditions treated page to see some of the conditions that we have helped patients with. If you still have questions about whether we can help you, the best thing to do is to schedule an appointment and fill out our online forms (a few days ahead of your appointment) with the details of your condition. If we don't think we can help, we will let you know ahead of time.

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How much treatment will I need?

    Duration of treatment is highly variable depending on the person and the severity of their condition. Acute conditions often respond within 4 to 6 acupuncture treatments and/or 2 to 3 weeks of herbal medicine treatment. Chronic conditions require more treatment. For acupuncture treatment, in most cases we will recommend a trial of 10 to 12 acupuncture treatments over the course of 6 to 12 weeks for chronic conditions. Some patients will experience immediate relief, some will start seeing relief in 4 to 6 visits, and some patients will start seeing improvement in 10 to 12 visits. For herbal medicine treatment, we will often recommend a trial of 8 to 12 weeks with 6 to 8 office visits throughout the course of treatment.

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   Phases of treatment:        1) Relief         2) Stabilization      3) Maintenance

   When treating any condition, the course of treatment goes as follows. In the relief phase, we aim to get significant (60% or more) reduction in symptoms. If it took 6 visits to get to that place of relief, in the stabilization phase we apply the same amount of treatment (in this example 6 visits) to get the improvement to stick. Once the stabilization phase is complete, we start reducing treatment in the maintenance phase while still maintaining or continuing to see further gradual improvement. For most conditions we aim to cease acupuncture and herbal treatment completely at some point and have patients maintain their new health through exercise and lifestyle measures. In some cases, regular but less frequent acupuncture treatment or low doses or herbal medicine is needed to prevent worsening of degenerative conditions. 

   

    For many people who are new to acupuncture and Chinese medicine, they hope for magical results in 1 or 2 treatments, even when dozens of specialists and years of medications haven't resolved a problem. Unfortunately, that is not how traditional Chinese Medicine works. While we often do have patients get great results when nothing else has worked for them, it rarely happens in 1 or 2 visits. Consistent and adequate treatment is how we achieve great results. 

     

How much does acupuncture and herbal medicine treatment cost? 

   Initial Visit: $150.  Return Visits: $100. Chinese herbal medicine: $30-60/week. For more details see our services page. 

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Will my insurance cover acupuncture & herbal medicine treatment?

   Our clinic is in-network with:

        Blue Cross of Idaho. Find out if your Blue Cross of Idaho plan has acupuncture benefits. Call the customer service number on the back of your ID card, or sign in to view your benefits. 

        Regence. Find out if your Regence plan has acupuncture benefits. Call the customer service number on the back of your ID card, or sign in to view your benefits. 

        VA. Veterans need a referral from the Boise VAMC. 

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        For all other insurance networks we are out-of-network providers, meaning that payment is due at time of service but you may submit superbills to your insurance for reimbursement.  

            Most HSA and FSA plans can be used for acupuncture and sometimes for herbal medicine. 

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Please note that if you cancel with less than  24 hours notice, or miss a booked appointment, you will be billed for the full cost of the appointment.   If there are extenuating circumstances that prevent you from coming to your appointment, please communicate with us.