Since January 21, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) covers acupuncture for chronic low back pain for up to 12 visits in 90 days. If patients are demonstrating improvement, CMS will cover an additional 8 visits for a total of 20 visits annually. Beginning with dates of service on and after January 1, 2024, CMS will

Effective January 1, 2020, there were 2 new CPT codes to describe dry needling. They are as follows: 20560 – Needle insertion(s) without injection(s), 1 or 2 muscle(s) 20561 – Needle insertion(s) without injection(s), 3 or more muscle(s) Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave these 2 CPT codes a non-covered status for payment under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). This meant that if a physical therapist performed dry needling on a Medicare beneficiary who had traditional Medicare as their insurance, CMS would not pay for this service. Since dry needling is non-covered by CMS, this

On July 15, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposal to cover acupuncture for Medicare patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) who are enrolled participants either in clinical trials sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or in CMS-approved studies. To read the proposed decision memo, click HERE. To submit comments on the proposed decision memo, click HERE.