A new milestone survey of 89,000 acupuncture patients being treated for musculoskeletal pain has found that 93% said their acupuncturist was successful in treating their primary complaint. Most of these patients had experienced severe chronic pain for many years and had been seeing the acupuncturist as a last resort, so they were not a group that was likely to get spontaneously better. In addition, 99% of patients surveyed rated their quality of care and service from their acupuncturist as good to excellent. These levels of patient satisfaction exceed national benchmark averages for conventional care providers.
American Specialty Health (ASH, a major supplier of specialty healthcare services to insurance companies throughout the USA) used the Clinician & Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS®) survey tool to investigate what acupuncture patients had to say about their experience with their ASH registered acupuncture provider. This survey tool, created by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is being adopted widely as the standard for measuring patient perceptions of quality by health providers.
The results of the survey were from patients seen within ASH’s credentialed network of 6,000 licensed acupuncturists within the first 6 months of 2014 and 2015 totaling over 89,000 patients ages 18 or over, most of whom were being treated for musculoskeletal pain, with low back and neck pain as the two main conditions.
The statistics include the following findings:
- 99% of national (95% of California) respondents rated their overall quality of care as good to excellent.
- 93% of national (88% of California) respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their acupuncturist was successful in treating their condition.
- 87% of national (80% of California) respondents rated their acupuncturists at 9 or 10 on a 10 point scale.
- 0.014% (13 out of 89,769) patients reported a minor adverse event, with no serious ones reported
This important study shows the real-world results achieved by acupuncture for a large number of people with common health problems treated by well-trained acupuncturists.
‘ACUPUNCTURE: Does Acupuncture Provided Within a Managed Care Setting Meet Patient Expectations and Quality Outcomes? A 2-Year Retroactive Study of 89,000 Managed Network Patients SOURCE: American Specialty Health Incorporated Health Services Department’