High levels of satisfaction reported
A study of over 89,000 acupuncture patients treated in 2014/2015 within a managed American care network of licensed acupuncturists found high rates of satisfaction, exceeding national benchmarks’ averages. These results were released by American Specialty Health Incorporated, a company that develops and maintains managed care plans for specialised care.
The majority of the patients in the survey were treated for musculoskeletal pain syndromes, with low back and neck pain being the most common.
The positive headline statistics are as follows:
- 95%-99% rated the overall quality of care as ‘good’ to ‘excellent’
- 80% – 87% rated their acupuncturists at 9 or 10 on a 1-10 point scale
- 0.014% (13 out of 89,769) patients reported a minor adverse event and no serious ones
- 88%-93% said their acupuncturist was successful in addressing their primary complaint
“We hope the results of this survey will help to educate consumers, healthcare providers and health policymakers about the role acupuncture and acupuncturists can play in reducing the need for higher risk and often less effective pain interventions,” said Dr. David Miller, MD, President of the American Society of Acupuncturists.