Acupuncture & TCM Services

Initial Assessment

Review Consultation

Acupuncture

Treatment without needles

Periodic "maintenance" check-up

Appointments: regular hours and special arrangements

After-hours

Phone consultations

Email consultations

Home visits

Herbal therapy

Insurance Coverage

Assessments and treatments are by appointment only. Wait times vary from a few days to two months depending on practitioner availability and your scheduling flexibility. We keep a cancellation list in case an earlier appointment becomes available.

Initial assessment

Questionnaire, interview and examination, followed by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis and proposal of treatment plan. The assessment is a detailed enquiry to learn as much about your health as possible. The assessment includes examination of the pulse on both wrists, the tongue and other indicators which might not be customary in conventional medical exams.

The initial assessment charge is $94.50. Our assessment can take up to 2 hours. There is special rate of $131.25 for an assessment plus an initial acupuncture treatment at the time of assessment.

Review Consultation

A review for persons who have already had the initial assessment -

1. •for a condition that was not part of previous treatments;
   

2. •if there has been no treatment for at least 6 months;
   

3. •for ongoing herbal treatment;
   

4. •for in-depth discussion of specific topics, such as physical movement and exercise; connectivity between emotional response and physiological symptoms; etc.
   

The Review assessment charge is $31.50 to $63.00. It is usually 30 to 60 minutes.

Acupuncture

A single acupuncture treatment can last anywhere between 10 and 90 minutes. Typically, the treatment is 25 to 45 minutes. Anywhere from 1 to more than 30 points may be used. A typical treatment averages 5 to 20 points.

Acupuncture is usually planned in courses of 10 treatments. After each course, progress is assessed and changes may be made to the treatment plan.

Acupuncture treatments are $63.00 each. West Lake Clinic offers a 20% bonus when a course of ten acupuncture treatments is prepaid.

Treatment without needles

There are several TCM methods of treatment that do not use needles in the skin. These methods can be used in addition to regular acupuncture with needles or without any needle acupuncture:

    cupping; heat application (moxibustion); auriculotherapy (ear points); tapping, etc.

Periodic "maintenance" check-up

Interview, examination, diagnosis and treatment or proposal of treatment. $63.00.

Appointments: regular hours and special arrangements

Regular TCM appointment hours depend on the Practitioner. (Please call for specific practitioner availability.)

After-hours

Evening and weekend appointments may be possible with advance arrangements. There is a surcharge of $15.75 per hour, and availability depends upon the practitioner.

Phone consultations

Consultations by phone may be available for clients who have already had a face-to-face assessment. This service is typically to review conditions when a visit to the Clinic is very difficult, for herbal therapy review, or for discussion about current health conditions and actions that might be taken through the Clinic or with other health care providers. The purpose is to save the client a trip to the clinic. In some cases, it may be used to give general information about other conditions and their possible treatments; phone consultations will not normally be used to diagnose and prescribe treatment without having seen the person.

Phone consultations should be scheduled by appointment as much as possible. The charge is $31.50 per half hour, or part thereof. Most phone consultations do not exceed a half hour.

Email consultations

Consultation by email may be available for clients who have already had a face-to-face assessment. This service is typically to review conditions when a visit to the Clinic is very difficult, for herbal therapy review, or for discussion about current health conditions and actions that might be taken through the Clinic or with other health care providers. It can also be used to provide written information that can be taken to another health care provider. The purpose is to save the client a trip to the clinic. In some cases, it may be used to give general information about other conditions and their possible treatments. Email consultations will not normally be used to diagnose and prescribe treatment without having seen the person.

The charge is $31.50 per consultation. We will do our best to provide email consultations in a timely manner, but we cannot guarantee responses in a specific time frame. The charge is for the practitioner’s time, and does not necessarily include supplemental information such as detailed herbal descriptions, analysis of the patient’s other treatments, reference material, etc., for which there may be a separate charge.

Treatments outside the clinic can be arranged for a surcharge of $31.50 an hour. (Most treatments are 1 to 1 1/2 hours.)

1. •Regina area only
   

2. •Visits outside Regina are arranged on an individual basis
   

3. •Additional time is counted from arrival at address to leaving the address, $15.75 per 1/4 hour.
   

Herbal therapy

The majority of our herbal treatments are customized powder formulas. They are taken in hot water 1 to 3 times a day. Typical herbal treatment would begin with a formula for 7 to 10 days, starting  at a very low dose and increasing gradually to normal therapeutic dose. Then, after a review assessment, the formula might be adjusted or continued for periods of 3 to 6 weeks at a time.

Herbal treatment can be used with or without acupuncture.

Herbal or dietary supplements are priced individually. Typical costs are $30 to $50 per week. Treatment duration is highly variable, ranging from a few weeks to many months, depending on individual conditions. Determination of suitable formulas must take into account your current medications, allergies or intolerances, and availability of ingredients.

The name of the formula is written on the container in pinyin Chinese which might not be understood by non-Chinese speakers. English translations are available upon request, although the translations have little meaning if the person has no background in Chinese herbology. A list of ingredients can be provided in pinyin Chinese, Latin pharmaceutical nomenclature, and common English name, for a nominal fee. A detailed description of formula ingredients can be provided for $15.75. This description includes for each herb the TCM functions and indications, cautions and contraindications, the active chemical compounds if known, and a brief synopsis of some modern research studies. A separate TCM description might also be provided of the base formula. These descriptions are not intended to explain the precise purpose and function of the formula; such an objective would require training in the full theory and application of TCM herbology. Rather, they are intended to provide a little more detail and explanation for those curious about the formulas, or to assist other practitioners who are also providing you with health care.

Insurance Coverage

Many Saskatchewan employee insurance plans cover acupuncture treatments and assessments to some degree. Check your policy or your Human Resources (HR) office. Saskatchewan Health does not cover acupuncture or TCM. SGI Auto does. (We are thinking of adding information to this web page about plans that do cover it. We would appreciate information about insurance plans that people can send us.)