Talking about acupuncture

The work of Portland's Working Class Acupuncture (WCA) and the community acupuncture movement that they have spawned raises many important issues and questions about acupuncture.

Five years ago, when I was fresh out of acupuncture school, the issue I saw WCA addressing was that of how to have an acupuncture practice that thrived - very important stuff when you're sitting on 100K in student loans and entering into a profession where largely there are no "jobs" per se. Apparently most acupuncturists make very little money, and many are out of practice within a few years.

Working Class Acupuncture's solution (a new model of doing the business of acupuncture) was and is brilliant. The fundamental premise: charge less/see more people.

By charging less, many more people can first of all actually afford to get acupuncture where before they perhaps could not. But even more importantly, charging less allows people to use acupuncture more realistically and in ways that get better results - i.e., a short course of  frequent treatments for acute scenarios, or long term treatment over the course of potentially months in the case of chronic problems. It also, of course, makes just dropping in when you feel the need more doable.

By seeing more people, from the perspective of the acupuncturist, you get your hands on more bodies and you gain experience rapidly, which makes you a more confident and skilled practitioner. Also, seeing more people means more people spreading the word about your work - which makes growing and sustaining your business happen more easily.

And lastly, there is the paradigm shift that happens when you make using acupuncture realistically something more widely affordable. Namely, acupuncture in this context becomes less about the technical or healing prowess of your acupuncturist, and more simply and directly about the act of getting acupuncture. This is huge.

Chinese medicine is still very alien to many, including many of those who practice the medicine. The culture of the medicine is steeped in antiquity and it's history abounds with lore about miraculous cures. Out of this arises notions about acupuncture and Chinese medicine and how it works that verge on magical thinking, and often the expectation that acupuncture will work in short order where Western medicine has failed. Sometimes it does, and hence the lore of miraculous recoveries. Mostly it takes a lot of doing.

So this brings us to a couple of other topics: How acupuncture works, and what an acupuncturist does...
Next time.

The grand experiment continues...

I'm continuing to play with business hours, but only on Thursdays. I originally pushed my start and end times by a couple of hours to make them 12-8 so I could garden, putz around the house, and visit with my 92 year old mother...

Well, noon seems to be rolling around just a little quickly. Also, people tend to be taking advantage of the later hours. So, for now anyway, Thursday hours are 2pm to 8pm.

Doing Community Acupuncture in Austin, Texas

It's Wednesday and today the clinic is open from 10am - 6pm. It's about 3pm, and my third patient of the day is asleep in one of the nine recliners in our treatment room. The other eight are unoccupied. It looks like I'll see oh, maybe six people today.

As a micro-business owner there's always stuff to do, and I'm not complaining or concerned about the continued existence of South Austin Community Acupuncture - not by a long shot. Some days are just slower than others. I am, none the less, seeing in an eight hour day today the number of people I could see in one hour. Makes for a long day, and prompts me to do things like blog. Today's topic: Doing Community Acupuncture in Austin, Texas.

Austin is a funny town. In other cities around the country, community acupuncture clinics are getting mainstream press and news coverage, and in one instance at least - a very nicely produced program on the local PBS station (Tucson). It seems in other places community acupuncture is viewed as a community resource, and something worth writing about. Go figure.

In our 3+ years of existence we have gotten exactly one mention in the press, and frankly the writer kind of missed the point. It was a piece about the newly formed South Lamar IBIZ district, and she managed to mention that you could get a mohawk at Bird's for $15 - but that you could get an acupuncture treatment for that amount was lost on the writer. 

The Community Impact newsletter did a spread on the Ben White corridor a few months back. We were not included. The only business mentioned in our complex: Bender Bar and Grill. No Shree Jee Grocery; no Fitness Unleashed; no passport pace, etc., They listed every business in the Southwood Center, west of us, including the wound and rehab clinic, the dialysis clinic, etc., and even went so far as to list every single business in Westgate Village - which is not even on Ben White!!! I emailed the editor about this. Her reply: Obviously, not everyone could be included, and they were trying to feature businesses people may not know about but that they could use. I was truly amazed. Sounds like we fit that profile, given that we offer a service that could truly benefit just about anyone at rates ordinary people can actually afford, and that we occupy a stretch of Ben White where Ben White is underground. If you need dialysis, I think you're going to know where the dialysis clinic is. Seriously, thanks for the information.

Oh well...Look for us in the upcoming Beauty issue of another local rag. No, I'm not kidding. I'll take my press where I can get it.

Next up, I'll be writing about - you guessed it - acupuncture! My observations some 10,000+ treatments into practice, what I think might be some misconceptions about acupuncture, and how acupuncture might be better utilized...oh, and happiness!

Goodnight Austin, Texas - wherever you are....

We'll do it again sometime....

Well folks, we're going to give First Free Fridays a rest for now....

With our move in July 2009 to our present Ben White location we figured we ought to do something to get new folks in the door, since we're slightly more off the beaten path - and thus began First Free Fridays. We did them for about 6 months or so, and I would say they were a  success overall. About 1/4 of folks that came have become regulars (so far). That's a pretty good rate of return for essentially free advertising.

The flip side of this is the acupuncture tourist. They're just passing through 'cause it's free...

Or the folks that bring a family member and gawk and giggle as their loved one gets poked full of pins. Anyone who ever studied acupuncture has likely gone through this with their own family. It's fun, but not that fun!

To all who participated in making First Free Fridays a  success - thank you!

We'll do it again sometime.

I'm just sayin'...

I was recently contacted by an insurance company regarding a claim a patient had submitted in an effort to get reimbursed  for one $15 treatment. One treatment. In this case, I believe the patient was in a moving vehicle accident and was trying to get the other driver to pay for their expenses.

Seriously people.
The time and effort on everyone's part: mine, the patient's, the insurers - quickly defeats the purpose of getting an acupuncture treatment for as little as $15. Please, consider what South Austin Community Acupuncture is about, and why you come here in the first place....

We don't bill insurance because we believe it is a hugely inefficient system that has little, if anything, to do with patient care. That's a big part of why we do what we do here at SACA. We'd rather put our energies into actually helping people, instead of dealing with insurance companies. Any insurance co-pay  is going to be somewhere between $20-$40 anyway, so we simply cut out the middleman and just charge the patient directly what is essentially the amount of a co-pay.

I'm just sayin'....

Studies Confirm that Acupuncture is Not Safe in the Hands of Non-licensed Acupuncturists

Duh. You can read about the study here

New Thursday hours starting in June

In part based on the ups and downs in patient volume throughout the week (Some days I'm real busy, some days I'm real not busy),

in part to better accommodate getting more stuff done in my personal life (Gardening, home projects, getting time in with my 92 year old mother),

and in part to have some after work hours for those of you who can't get away during the day...

We're going to try something different:

Beginning in June, our Thursday hours will be 12 - 8, starting late and ending late.