Five changes to make now in caring for older patients, documenting outcomes, coordinating care, preparing for Medicare, and using AI
By Namwook Cho, L.Ac.
The World Health Organization’s Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034, adopted in 2025, aims to integrate traditional medicine into health systems on a foundation of evidence and safety. That is the policy framework. The more immediate question is: When the next patient walks into my clinic, what should I check differently, and how should I document it?
▲ Is the Symptom Enough to Guide Treatment?
A 72-year-old patient comes in with knee pain. If the practitioner checks only the location and severity of the pain before inserting needles, important information may be missed.
Does the patient take an anticoagulant or aspirin, which may increase the risk of bleeding or bruising? Has diabetic neuropathy or another condition reduced sensation, so the patient may not fully perceive needle stimulation or unusual sensations? The practitioner should also ask about recent falls, walking ability, and treatment of the same area by another provider.
This does not mean acupuncturists should manage the patient’s other chronic conditions. It means they need more information to provide acupuncture safely.
▷ Clinical check: Does the intake form ask about medications, recent falls, concurrent treatment, and functional status?
▲ Replace “Feeling Better” With Numbers
If a chart says only “Patient reports improvement,” an insurer or another clinician reading it six months later may have difficulty determining how much the patient improved.
A record such as “Low back pain: 8/10 → 4/10” or “Standing tolerance: 10 minutes → 30 minutes” gives a clearer picture. Choose one measure of function that matters to the patient and track it consistently: time spent standing or walking for low back pain, getting dressed or raising an arm for shoulder pain, or the number of headaches per week.
Recording both pain and function shows the course of treatment more clearly than a pain score alone. It is also useful when explaining the patient’s response to an insurer or another clinician.
▷ Clinical check: Add one line beside the pain score to track a change in the patient’s daily function.
▲ Can Another Clinician Understand Your SOAP Note?
“Patient better. Continue acupuncture.” That single line does little to explain how the patient’s condition changed or what happens next.
A more useful note might read: S: Low back pain decreased from 6/10 to 3/10; standing tolerance increased. O: Less lumbar tenderness and restriction of movement. A: Symptoms and function improved. P: Treat once weekly and reassess in four weeks.
Even this brief note makes the patient’s condition, treatment response, assessment, and plan clearer. As care coordination increases, practitioners should ask whether another clinician could understand the treatment course by reading the chart alone.
▷ Clinical check: Review a recent SOAP note. Can a reader clearly follow the patient’s condition, treatment response, assessment, and plan?
▲ Prepare for Medicare—Without Assuming the Rules Will Change
Medicare currently covers acupuncture for chronic low back pain when specified criteria are met: up to 12 visits in 90 days, with eight additional visits for patients who show improvement, for a maximum of 20 treatments in a 12-month period. Licensed acupuncturists are not currently recognized as independent Medicare providers who can bill Medicare directly for these services.
The Acupuncture for Our Seniors Act of 2025 (H.R. 1667) was introduced to change that provider status, but it has not become law. It is too early to build a business plan on the assumption that Medicare will soon open to independent acupuncturist billing. Still, as more older patients seek care, clinics need to keep track of coverage and provider requirements. If the law changes, documentation and billing practices may need to change as well.
▷ Clinical check: If your clinic sees many older patients, make sure you accurately understand Medicare’s current acupuncture coverage and provider requirements.
▲ Use AI Wisely—and Check the Final Record
The AI tool an acupuncturist is most likely to encounter first may be one that summarizes a patient conversation and drafts a SOAP note, rather than one that makes a diagnosis.
Convenience does not transfer responsibility for the medical record. If AI switches the left and right sides or adds something the patient never said or a procedure that never occurred, signing the note without checking it can create problems.
Before using AI documentation, ask whether the patient has given appropriate consent to recording, whether the service is suitable for handling patient information, and whether the practitioner reviews and corrects the draft. AI may reduce charting time, but it cannot take over the final clinical judgment or responsibility for the record.
▷ Clinical check: If your clinic uses AI, make sure recording consent, patient information protection, and final practitioner review are part of the actual workflow.
▲ Change Begins With Today’s Chart
The ability to place needles accurately remains essential. What is changing is how practitioners document that care, demonstrate treatment outcomes, and share information with other clinicians.
That change does not require a major investment. Start by adding medication and fall-history questions to the intake form, recording one functional measure beside the pain score, and writing SOAP notes that another clinician can understand.
Preparing an acupuncture clinic to stay competitive beyond 2030 begins not with new equipment, but with the patient seen today: providing care safely, documenting it accurately, and communicating the results clearly.
