Happy new year to everyone and to another year of exciting things for the acupuncture profession both in the U.S. and throughout the world. Congratulations to traditional medicine also known as traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, Oriental medicine, Asian medicine, and as WHO is calling it — traditional complementary and integrated medicine.
ICD Coding and TCM
Acupuncture has officially made the it into the next revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Traditional medicine will have its own chapter and the codes will be released in the first part of July.
The U.S. is conducting field trials using traditional medicine codes along with Western ICD codes. This double coding process will help to uncover any potential issues and collect data for future uses. Acupuncture is in the game. Our responsibility is to ensure that licensed acupuncturists are knowledgeable and versed in the usage of these codes. This will help increase visibility and credibility for the profession.
The Future of Herbs
The next question that always seems to be asked with regard to coding is about herbs — will they be included? What formulas and/or single herbs will be included? Yes, this is on the radar — a draft of the 20 most ordered formulas in the U.S. have been submitted for consideration. Also, the FDA has been working to improve GMP standards.
Universal Health Coverage
The World Health Organization (WHO) is talking about universal health coverage — this would mean sharing data to find integrated solutions so no one is left behind. Therefore, it’s important that we as a profession continue to educate each and every patient about acupuncture and its benefits. This also means acupuncturists have the potential to work with other medical providers; with insurance companies; and be part of the diagnosis and treatment process.
Solving the Opioid Crisis
The American Society of Acupuncturists (ASA) authored a white paper on opioids and is working diligently to gain national recognition for the profession, and how it can help combat the opioid crisis. Other groups are also pushing this medicine forward — the Joint Commission issued a mandate in relationship to opioids, and the U.S. Attorneys General sent a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, president / CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans requesting that proactive steps be taken to encourage health care providers to prioritize non-opioid pain management options, including acupuncture and other conservative treatments. All of these position acupuncture to be a great help in the health crisis.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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