Acupuncture is covered by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in New Zealand when provided by a registered acupuncturist for the treatment of injuries resulting from an accident that has been registered with the corporation. Typically, ACC funds 12 treatments, which must be completed within a year from the date of the accident, although there are exceptions.
Outside of this scope, ACC may consider acupuncture on a case-by-case basis for patients with a covered serious injury, a covered mental injury, or those who have had a recent surgical intervention for a covered injury.
ACC currently funds two sets of treatment modalities within acupuncture services: conventional therapies and adjunct therapies. Conventional therapies consist of traditional acupuncture, Western acupuncture, laser acupuncture, electroacupuncture, and auricular acupuncture. Adjunct therapies include cupping, Gua Sha scraping, tuina massage, and moxibustion. ACC does not fund herbal plasters, liniments, herbalism, nutritional supplements, or ion-pumping cords.