10 Reasons to Start a Community Acupuncture Practice

10 reasons to start a community acupuncture practice 

instead of a traditional or “boutique” practice

1. The median per person income recently dropped to $26,364, which translates to $2165 per month. (Median means 1/2 of Americans make more, 1/2 make less.) Using a disposable income calculator, I think you’ll find that a two earner household with two kids needs to bring in about $50,000 ($3400 per month) before one member of the family could even think about getting acupuncture at $65 per treatment per week. This supposes that the family doesn’t want to go out for the movies or no one needs new shoes. The current economy is not friendly to those who seek to open high-touch and relatively expensive practices.  In short: “it’s the economy stupid!”
2. A  CA clinic is a great atmosphere in which to learn, experiment and grow as an acupuncturist! In a community model in which people are seeing you more often for lower prices you will have the freedom to experiment and patients are less likely to demand instant results. 
3. You will be bathed in gratitude from people who could otherwise not afford this medicine or for that matter any other form of healthcare other than yours. Your friends, your teachers, your chefs, your mechanics, your retirees; your community needs you!
4. Don’t be put off by POCA. Yes, they can get a bit dogmatic and flag-waving, but they’re hearts are in a good place. You don’t have to believe everything they say. Yes, you can use tables, yes you can prescribe herbs, no, not all CA acupuncturists think anyone who wants to should be able to practice acupuncture without a degree.
5. Do you find parking your patient in the treatment room, charting and then puttering around for 20 minutes to be a frustrating/boring/disjointed enterprise? Try community acupuncture! It’s fast paced, challenging, and exciting!
6. You can get great results with simple and frequent treatments. Often people tell me that “acupuncture doesn’t work”. When I ask them how many treatments they received they will tell me “two”. Would you take two doses of an antibiotic and then assume your sinus infection was taken care of? No! Dosage is key! More doses = get better quicker, better results. (Or on the flip side, if acupuncture isn’t going to work for this person we know sooner rather than later and we haven’t wasted too much of their time and money!)
7. CA is kinda magical. I don’t know why or how but often the cancer survivor ends up being in the community room at the same time as the person who just got their diagnosis. The two manic depressives end up sitting right next to each other and getting a deep, long and centering nap. The mother and the daughter come in together for healing and then a lunch date.
8. CA prices are often at or below the prices of patient insurance co-pays. Why not let people decide their own healthcare? Power to the Patients! Also, <NEWS FLASH> dealing with insurance companies can at times be lucrative, but often a giant pain in the rear! Dealing with insurance companies allows an outside entity to decide how much, when and if at all you will be paid. As Daffy Duck says: “What a way to run a rainroad!” Think twice. If you enjoy drowning in paper and playing phone tag, do not start a CA practice!
9. Acupuncture is scary for people. Decrease the threshold of acceptance by making it affordable and approachable. How do you make it approachable? There’s nothing that makes a pregnant mom / buff weight-lifter guy / senior citizen feel more accepting of acupuncture than seeing another pregnant mom / buff weight-lifter guy / senior citizen in your treatment getting a nice, blissed-out treatment!
10. Many folks think it’s impossible to create a relationship with patients in only 15 minutes per week. It really is possible and I find it just as rewarding as treating private patients. It takes time, but it does happen.