November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

Acupuncture for All

(Page 2 of 2)

July-August 2008
by Pamela O’Malley Chang, from Yes! 
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The low fees enable clients to afford enough treatment to obtain good results. Over time, they come to see acupuncturists as health partners rather than remote experts. Vito, a WCA patient, sees his treatments as “taking myself in for a tune-up. It’s managed health care with me in the driver’s seat.”

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“The health care system in the United States is seriously flawed,” says Barbara Chapman of the Sebastopol Community Acupuncture clinic in Sebastopol, California. “More than 50 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. . . . Community acupuncture is an attempt to address this [gap] through a sustainable business model that offers affordable health care to most people in the community while enabling the acupuncturist to make a living.”

Since the Community Acupuncture Network launched, it has sponsored almost a dozen sliding scale workshops that encourage other acupuncturists to adopt the community-supported model. The network’s website (www.communityacupuncturenetwork.org) offers a directory of participating clinics, currently 60 of them in 18 states, as well as clinics that have adopted components of the community acupuncture model.

 

Pamela O’Malley Chang is a founding partner of Sarana Community Acupuncture in Albany, California (www.saranacommunityacupuncture.com). Excerpted from the “Liberate Your Space” issue of Yes!(Winter 2008). Subscriptions: $24/yr. (4 issues) from 284 Madrona Way NE, Suite 116, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110; www.yesmagazine.org.

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  • jill allison 7/23/2008 4:22:48 PM

    The community acupuncture clinic at Country Doctor clinic in Seattle Washington is a unique entity. I do acupuncture in a conventional medical low income clinic. This model provides a way to make acupuncture available to everyone. This is a fee for service acupuncture clinic that charges the sliding scale fee from $15 to $35. The money earned by this clinic also helps suppport the conventional medical clinic. It is a wonderful thing that can be enjoyed by all.

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