New Patient Information
Becoming a patient step-by-step guide
1) Make an appointment by clicking HERE. If you have questions about whether Chinese Medicine can help you, please read the FAQs below and the Conditions Treated page. Also read our Orthopedic Acupuncture page. ​
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2) fill out your online intake form completely, as soon as possible
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3) read our clinic's COVID guidelines and procedures
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Important Notes
- Sean treats musculoskeletal conditions with Orthopedic Acupuncture and internal medicine conditions with Chinese Herbal Medicine. If you want internal medicine conditions treated with acupuncture, this is not an option at our clinic.
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-Regarding insurance, we are in-network with Blue Cross of Idaho. Chinese Medicine visits cannot be billed to any insurance. Acupuncture visits can be billed to Blue Cross of Idaho if you have acupuncture benefits on your plan. We do not bill insurance for United Healthcare, Medicare, Aetna, Cigna, Pacific Source, Select Health, or any other plan. If you have acupuncture benefits through iiia you can submit receipts to iiia for reimbursement using this form. Contact iiia for more information.
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FAQs
Can Chinese Herbal Medicine help me with _________?
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Chinese Medicine treatment is holistic in nature, which means that Chinese herbal medicine is 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 completely 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?
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Duration of treatment is highly variable depending on the person and the severity of their condition. Acute conditions often respond within 2 to 3 weeks of herbal medicine treatment or 2 to 3 acupuncture treatments. Chronic conditions require more treatment. For treatment of chronic conditions, we will often recommend a trial of 8 to 12 weeks with 6 to 8 office visits throughout the course of treatment, or a series of 12 acupuncture treatments.
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Phases of treatment: 1) Relief 2) Stabilization 3) Maintenance
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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 weeks of treatment to get to that place of relief, in the stabilization phase we apply the same amount of treatment (in this example 6 weeks) 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 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?
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New Patient Visit: $150 orthopedic acupuncture / $190 Chinese Medicine visit.
Return Visits: $100 acupuncture follow up /$95 Chinese Medicine follow up.
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Chinese herbal medicine: $30-60/week.
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For more details see our services page.
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Will my insurance cover Orthopedic Acupuncture treatment?
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We are in-network with Blue Cross of Idaho. Acupuncture visits can be billed to Blue Cross of Idaho if you have acupuncture benefits on your plan. Please verify that your benefits before booking an appointment, and fill out your forms as soon as possible so we can also verify your insurance benefits. We do not bill insurance for United Healthcare, Medicare, Aetna, Cigna, Pacific Source, Select Health, or any other plan. If you have acupuncture benefits through iiia you can submit receipts to iiia for reimbursement using this form. Contact iiia for more information.
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Will my insurance cover Chinese herbal medicine treatment?
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No, insurance benefits do not cover Chinese Medicine office visits, or herbal medicine. You may see us listed as acupuncture providers with your insurance. Acupuncture insurance benefits only cover acupuncture services.
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Many HSA and FSA plans can be used for office visits and herbal medicine at our clinic, but it's important to check with your individual plan.
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Cancellations. 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.