Does anyone know if there's evidence for doing same-day massage and acupuncture therapy?

Question

This insurance company won't honor claims for same-day therapy so we're trying to see if we can find anything to back up this sort of treatment plan. Thanks!

Answer 1

Therapy OF WHAT?

Both can offer short lived relief of minor pain, though acupuncture does it entirely through the placebo effect.  There's not a whole lot of evidence massage does any more, but at least it is more hands one, and it does feel good.

Why should your insurance company have to pay for either, never mind both on the same day.  Sounds like you are trying to milk them.

Answer 2

These will produce the placebo effect for temporary pain relief, but they do not help you other than that.

I wouldn't honor the claims if i was a insurance company because the magical voodoo doesn't work.

Answer 3

Firstly, Acupuncture is not just placebo.  Acupuncture works in veterinary medicine and in pediatric patients.  

Dr. Bruce Pomeranz has shown that Acupuncture Analgesia is initiated through stimulation of type II and type III muscle afferent nerves, causing a cascade of effects including enkephalin and dynorphin release at a spinal level, Monoamines are released in the midbrain level (serotonin and norepinephine), and regulation of pituitary-hypothalamic system.

Also, if acupuncture is placebo, why is the pain relief effect removed by giving a patient naloxone?

Oh, and massage has been shown to increase CD4 counts in HIV patients.

Anyway, the question is if there is evidence for doing same-day massage and acupuncture therapy.  There is no evidence per se known to me.  My guess is your insurance company is trying to scrimp on paying up.  There should be a totally different code for acupuncture and massage.

Answer 4

I thought it had more to do with doing the same therapy on the same day - like if the acupuncturist is billing a massage code - they won't get paid.

It is called concurrent therapy.

Acupuncture and massage are totally different types of therapy.  The acupuncturist should be billing a different code than a massage code.