Acupuncture for ACC injuries
We need your ACC claim number, but referral is not necessary
When you come to see us for a treatment on ACC, we don’t need a referral. All we need from you is a claim number and/or an injury date. If the injury has not yet been registered with ACC, you can get that sorted through your GP or physiotherapist.
Under the current legislation, acupuncturists are not allowed to register ACC injuries. At the time of writing this article, you can get your injury registered a free of charge at your local White Cross Healthcare clinic.
What ACC doesn’t cover
Your condition must be caused by an accident. Your claim number will be assigned one or more diagnostic codes. To qualify for ACC funding the treatment we provide needs to be within the scope of the diagnoses associated with the injury.
Anxiety, stress, depression, post-traumatic stress can only be covered if they have been linked to the covered injury.
Treatment of infertility cannot be covered by ACC unless this is caused/linked to a covered injury. Most likely we will need prior approval from ACC to be able to treat you in this kind of situation.
ACC doesn’t cover degenerative conditions or conditions related to aging such as arthritis.
How long does ACC cover an injury?
If your ACC covered injury happened recently and you had no acupuncture for it:
that’s great, we are able to treat you within a year of the injury without additional paperwork.
If your covered injury happened less than a year ago, but you already had some treatment from another acupuncturist:
We will need to know the precise number of sessions you had so far. If the trigger number has been reached, we may be able to request a prior approval from ACC over the phone. And if your first treatment is within ACC working hours, we are likely to get the approval during your initial appointment.
If your ACC covered injury happened more than a year ago:
We will need to request a prior approval. This includes submitting an additional information about your injury to the corporation. The processing times can vary depending on their workload.
What is the cost?
There is an ACC co-payment.
Most common ACC injuries treated by acupuncture:
- Lumbar sprain
- Neck sprain
- Sprain of shoulder and upper arm
- Ankle sprain
- Rotator cuff sprain
- Sprain of knee and leg
- Thoracic sprain
- Sprain of elbow and forearm
- Sprain of hip and thigh
- Sacroiliac ligament sprain
- Sprain wrist ligament
- Sprain of medial collateral ligament of knee
- Sprain gastrocnemius
- Foot sprain
- Back sprain
- Sprain, shoulder joint
- Sprain, tendocalcaneus (Achilles tendon)
- Pain in lumbar spine
Less commonly treated injuries:
- Contusion, back
- Sprain, hamstring tendon
- Contusion, knee and lower leg
- Sprain or partial tear, knee, lateral collateral ligament
- Sprain of wrist and hand
- Sprain tendon wrist or hand
- Sprain thumb
- Contusion, knee
- Rib sprain
- Sprain, elbow joint, lateral collateral ligament
- Contusion, shoulder or upper arm
- Knee sprain
- Contusion, chest wall
- Sprain finger
- Sprain, quadriceps tendon
- Whiplash injury
- Sprain, hip joint
- Contusion, foot
- Contusion, hip and thigh
- Sciatica
- Fracture of ankle
- Contusion, elbow or forearm
- Sprain of cruciate ligament of knee
- Sprain of ankle and foot
- Acute meniscal tear, medial
- Contusion, ankle and foot, excluding toe(s)
- Sprain, acromio-clavicular ligament
- Lumbar disc prolapse with radiculopathy
- Muscle injury / strain
- Elbow sprain
- Coccyx sprain
- Contusion wrist or hand
- Shoulder sprain
- Contusion, buttock
- Contusion, toe
- Dislocation or subluxation of shoulder
- Contusion, lower leg
- Contusion, elbow area