Trends in acupuncture billing by a large commercial insurer

Acupuncture therapy is a safe and effective option for acute and chronic pain conditions, particularly chronic low back pain, and is an important component of nonpharmacologic pain care. Overall trends in acupuncture billing by commercial insurers are unclear.

We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis using a large commercial insurance claims database.

Using Optum's deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart database, we tracked acupuncture billing for a large cohort of commercially insured individuals between 2012 and 2021. We measured the primary diagnoses that acupuncture providers billed for; indications of interest included low back pain, joint pain, neck pain, and headaches and migraines.

The number (and share) of patients who used their insurance to pay for acupuncture increased between 2012 and 2021, from 26,596 (0.19% of covered lives) to 30,829 (0.24% of covered lives), respectively, peaking at 43,396 (0.31% of covered lives) in 2019. The most common primary indication that providers billed for was low back pain, followed by neck pain, joint pain, and headaches and migraines. Most acupuncture users were female, White or Asian, high income, and college educated.

Our findings indicate that a large commercial insurer is increasingly covering acupuncture therapy for multiple pain conditions.