Stephen Lee has been practicing acupuncture and Chinese medicine for more than 30 years in the U.K., and is the author of the Electroacupuncture Handbook (www.jcm.co.uk/book-shop). He studied at the College of Traditional Acupuncture in Leamington Spa, U.K., in the early '80s and then studied TCM in London. He worked in the Nanjing College of Chinese Medicine, China, in 1987, before completing a two-year course in Chinese herbal medicine at the School of Chinese Medicine in London. He has been teaching workshops on electroacupuncture for musculoskeletal problems in the U.K. and abroad since 2009, and is a member of the British Acupuncture Council and the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine.
When we talk about fertility, the focus is often placed on the ovaries and the uterus. Yet sperm-related factors contribute to nearly half of all cases of infertility. Whether someone is navigating fertility care alone or with a partner, and whether building a family through intercourse, IVI, IUI or IVF, it’s vital to include sperm health in the picture.
With some plans – and it starts with Medicare (CMS) – there is a payment protocol that may be referred to as a multi-therapy discount, but its official name is the multiple-procedure payment reduction (MPPR). If a health care provider performs multiple procedures during a single patient encounter, Medicare (and many commercial insurers) typically will pay “full price” for only the highest-valued procedure.
Our team of authors offer this paper (and this descriptive AT series) as a support for you as a professional, practitioner and member of the acupuncture community at large. We hope that it will serve to further the needs of acupuncturists everywhere and also act as a guide for those wishing to learn about Acupuncture Medicine – patients, healthcare decision makers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.